Amazon Ads and Roku announce largest authenticated CTV partnership

Amazon Ads and Roku announced June 16, 2025, a new exclusive partnership that creates the largest authenticated Connected TV footprint available to advertisers in the United States. The collaboration provides access to an estimated 80 million U.S. CTV households through Amazon DSP, representing more than 80% of all CTV households according to ComScore data.

The partnership establishes a shared ad identifier system that delivers logged-in reach across both platforms' streaming audiences. This integration creates addressable CTV audience access at unprecedented scale, enabling improved campaign performance, planning, optimization, and measurement capabilities for all advertisers using the system.

Early testing of the integration demonstrated significant performance improvements for participating advertisers. According to internal Amazon data from 2025, advertisers using the new solution reached 40% more unique viewers with identical budgets while reducing ad frequency by nearly 30%. These results translated to three times more value from advertising expenditures compared to previous targeting methods.

"Our exclusive partnership with Roku is a giant leap for advertisers bringing best-in-class planning, audience precision, and performance to TV advertising," said Paul Kotas, Senior Vice President at Amazon Ads. Kotas emphasized that the collaboration removes guesswork from television advertising while providing unprecedented capabilities for driving full-funnel campaign outcomes from awareness through conversion.

Summary

Who: Amazon Ads and Roku, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROKU) announced the partnership, with Paul Kotas (Senior Vice President, Amazon Ads) and Charlie Collier (President, Roku Media) providing official statements.

What: An exclusive integration creating the largest authenticated Connected TV footprint in the U.S., providing access to an estimated 80 million CTV households (80% of all U.S. CTV households) through Amazon DSP with shared ad identifier technology.

When: The partnership was announced on June 16, 2025, with full availability planned for Q4 2025 for all Amazon DSP advertisers in the United States.

Where: The integration operates across major streaming applications including The Roku Channel, Prime Video, and other leading CTV services on Roku and Fire TV operating systems, initially limited to the United States market.

Why: The partnership aims to address connected television advertising challenges by providing unprecedented scale, improved targeting precision, enhanced measurement capabilities, and better frequency control while eliminating media waste for advertisers seeking performance-driven television advertising solutions.

The technical foundation of this partnership centers on a custom identity resolution service. This system allows Amazon DSP to recognize logged-in viewers across Roku OS and devices throughout the United States. The exclusive capability enables advertisers to reach identical viewers deterministically across different streaming channels and devices, providing enhanced audience targeting accuracy and measurement precision compared to existing solutions.

Charlie Collier, President of Roku Media, described the partnership as strengthening Roku's mission to deliver performance-driven, open, and interoperable solutions. "This collaboration delivers a unified, future-ready solution at an unprecedented scale, one designed to drive measurable outcomes by unlocking performance across CTV," Collier stated. He highlighted that nearly half of all television streaming time in the United States occurs on Roku platforms.

The partnership extends across major streaming applications including The Roku Channel, Prime Video, and other leading CTV streaming services available on Roku and Fire TV operating systems. Popular streaming services already integrated include Disney, FOX Corporation, Paramount+, Pluto TV, Tubi, and WarnerBros Discovery, along with all premium publishers accessible through these platforms.

Amazon DSP now offers advertisers three distinct advantages through this Roku integration. First, authenticated reach across two of the largest CTV footprints, combined with Amazon's trillions of shopping, streaming, and browsing signals, enables brands to reach desired audiences with greater precision while connecting advertisements to consumer actions such as purchases.

Second, the system provides measurable results across every stage of the customer journey. Data from advertisements served on the Roku platform combines with Amazon DSP insights to demonstrate exactly how advertisements drive outcomes across the marketing funnel. This intelligence level across Roku properties exceeds capabilities offered by any other demand-side platform.

Third, effective control of advertising frequency becomes possible as Amazon DSP can recognize users across channels and devices. This capability eliminates wasted impressions while creating improved viewing experiences for consumers by delivering appropriate advertisement quantities.

Amazon DSP serves as a technology solution available to Amazon Ads customers, providing choice and flexibility for driving meaningful brand-consumer connections. The platform leverages unique first-party insights paired with sophisticated clean room technology to bring advertisers and publishers closer together, increasing efficiency while improving performance outcomes.

The platform utilizes advanced artificial intelligence to deliver impactful advertisements to relevant audiences through automation that streamlines campaign planning, buying, and measurement processes. This technological approach enables full-funnel advertising solutions for businesses of all sizes seeking to achieve marketing goals at scale.

The importance of this development extends beyond technical capabilities to address fundamental challenges facing the television advertising industry. Traditional linear television viewership continues declining while streaming consumption grows substantially. Roku's September 2024 launch of its Ads Manager demonstrated the platform's commitment to attracting performance-focused marketers accustomed to digital advertising platforms.

Connected television advertising represents a rapidly expanding segment of digital advertising expenditures. Amazon's March 2025 introduction of Complete TV within its DSP platform already signaled the company's intention to capture larger portions of television advertising budgets through centralized campaign management tools.

The partnership addresses identity resolution challenges that have historically limited connected television advertising effectiveness. While other companies have pursued similar goals, the scale achieved through Amazon and Roku's combined authenticated user bases represents a significant advancement for the industry.

Technical implementation relies on both companies' existing logged-in user data rather than third-party cookies or other traditional digital advertising identifiers. This approach aligns with privacy-focused advertising trends while maintaining targeting precision that advertisers require for effective campaign management.

Geographic availability begins in the United States market, where both Amazon and Roku maintain substantial user bases and technical infrastructure. The new solution becomes available to all advertisers utilizing Amazon DSP during the fourth quarter of 2025, providing several months for platform optimization and advertiser preparation.

Industry implications extend beyond the immediate participants to influence competitive dynamics within connected television advertising. The exclusive nature of this partnership may prompt other platforms to pursue similar integrations or develop alternative approaches to achieve comparable scale and targeting precision.

The timing of this announcement coincides with upfront television advertising season negotiations, when advertisers typically commit substantial portions of their annual television budgets. This strategic timing provides the partnership with opportunities to capture advertiser interest during critical decision-making periods.

Revenue models for both companies likely benefit from increased advertiser demand for their combined inventory. Higher demand typically enables premium pricing for advertising inventory while justifying continued investment in platform capabilities and advertiser tools.

Measurement capabilities represent another significant advancement enabled by this partnership. Traditional television advertising measurement has relied on statistical sampling methods that provide approximate audience estimates. The logged-in user approach enables deterministic measurement that precisely tracks advertisement exposure and subsequent consumer actions.

Performance optimization becomes more sophisticated when platforms can definitively identify which users saw specific advertisements and subsequently took desired actions. This level of measurement precision enables real-time campaign adjustments that maximize advertising effectiveness while minimizing waste.

The competitive landscape includes other major connected television platforms and demand-side platforms seeking similar advantages through partnerships or internal development. Google's YouTube TV, Disney's streaming properties, and other significant players continue developing their own audience targeting and measurement capabilities.

Publisher relationships may experience changes as this partnership demonstrates enhanced capabilities. Premium content providers might seek similar partnerships with other technology platforms or develop internal capabilities to match the targeting precision and measurement accuracy offered through Amazon and Roku's integration.

Advertiser adoption rates will determine the partnership's ultimate success. The platform must demonstrate consistent performance improvements that justify any additional complexity or costs associated with utilizing the integrated solution compared to existing alternatives.

Technical infrastructure requirements for maintaining this integration across both platforms' systems represent substantial ongoing investments. Continuous synchronization of user identities, advertisement serving capabilities, and measurement data requires sophisticated technology platforms and operational processes.

Timeline

• June 16, 2025: Amazon Ads and Roku announce exclusive partnership creating largest authenticated CTV footprint
• Q4 2025: New solution becomes available to all Amazon DSP advertisers in the United States
• March 9, 2025: Amazon launched Complete TV system for streaming ad management
• January 18, 2025: Amazon consolidated first-party ad inventory across owned properties
• December 29, 2024: Amazon launched centralized billing system for sponsored ads and DSP
• September 21, 2024: Roku launched Ads Manager self-service platform with Shopify integration