Amazon Ads and Roku entered into an exclusive partnership on Monday to create what the companies describe as the largest authenticated footprint in connected TV, enabling advertisers to reach an estimated 80 million U.S. households through the Amazon demand-side platform.
The integration, timed to coincide with the beginning of Cannes Lions, will let marketers activate against Roku’s logged-in audience directly through Amazon’s DSP, creating a pool of users spanning the Fire TV and Roku operating systems, as well as the streaming apps Prime Video and The Roku Channel.
To do so, it uses a shared identifier that enables deduplicated reach, frequency capping, and full-funnel measurement across devices and services. Ultimately, this will let marketers track CTV ad exposure to Amazon sales.
“The partnership will bring unprecedented precision at scale,” said Kelly MacLean, vice president of Amazon Ads. “For the first time in the TV advertising industry, marketers will be able to access logged-in users across all apps and devices in a way that delivers performance in ways that simply weren’t possible before.”
According to Amazon, early tests of the integration led to a 40% increase in unique reach and a 30% reduction in over-frequency, letting advertisers deliver three times more value from their campaigns without increasing spend.
For Roku, the deal underscores its role as a distribution hub: More than 50% of U.S. TV streaming time occurs on Roku, according to the company. It also signals its intention to remain open and interoperable, even as competitive tensions with other DSPs rise.
“With nearly half of all TV streaming time in the U.S. happening on Roku, and the power and depth of Amazon in retail and beyond, we’re uniquely positioned to prove performance and differentiate DSP offerings for our shared advertisers,” said Jay Askinasi, Roku’s head of global media revenue and growth.
Easing fragmentation, trading strengths
The integration builds on recent trends in CTV, where fragmentation has made it difficult to manage frequency, track conversions, and understand reach. According to Amazon, 80% of marketers say fragmentation remains their top challenge in CTV.
“In a world in which marketers complain about fragmentation, this is hugely valuable,” said Adam Epstein, cofounder and CEO of the adtech firm Gigi. “This gives the Amazon DSP the highest fidelity ID layer across CTV and TV media-buying. That becomes a huge bullet point for Amazon reps when they pitch consolidation of spend.”
