Amazon's Ascendance Reshapes CTV Advertising Landscape

Wednesday, 4 March 20268 min read2 views

Connected TV (CTV) advertising is experiencing substantial growth, with projections indicating a doubling of spend by 2029. While this boom benefits the sector generally, Amazon is increasingly dominating the space, challenging the market position of traditional programmatic leaders like The Trade Desk.

What Happened

•CTV advertising spend is projected to reach $51 billion by 2029, up from $26.6 billion in 2025, representing significant growth.
•Amazon is rapidly expanding its influence in the CTV advertising market.
•The Trade Desk, a major programmatic CTV aggregator, is reportedly losing market share to Amazon despite overall sector growth.
•Amazon's integrated ecosystem, combining retail data with streaming content, provides a strong competitive advantage.
•The shift indicates a consolidation of power towards platforms that control both audience data and content distribution.
•The article was published on 4 March 2026 by AdExchanger.

Why It Matters for NZ Marketers

•NZ marketers must re-evaluate their CTV media buying strategies, considering Amazon's growing dominance in ad inventory and data.
•Increased competition for CTV ad space could lead to higher costs for premium placements, impacting NZ marketing budgets.
•Amazon's retail data integration offers NZ brands a powerful tool for precise audience targeting and attribution, particularly for e-commerce.
•Local agencies need to build expertise in Amazon's advertising platforms to effectively serve NZ clients' CTV objectives.
•The trend highlights the importance of first-party data strategies for NZ brands to compete effectively against platform giants.
•NZ brands reliant on programmatic platforms like The Trade Desk for CTV may need to diversify their channel mix.

Strategic Implications

•Prioritise investment in platforms offering integrated retail and media data for superior targeting and measurement.
•Develop a robust first-party data strategy to reduce reliance on third-party identifiers and platform-specific data.
•Explore direct partnerships with major CTV content providers and retailers to secure prime ad inventory.
•Allocate resources to test and learn within Amazon's advertising ecosystem to understand its full potential for NZ audiences.
•Evaluate the cost-effectiveness and audience reach of various CTV platforms beyond traditional programmatic channels.
•Educate marketing teams on the evolving CTV landscape and the unique advantages of different ad platforms.

Future Trend Signals

•Further consolidation of advertising power within large, integrated tech ecosystems.
•Increased demand for retail media networks and their associated advertising capabilities.
•Greater emphasis on performance-based CTV advertising driven by direct attribution.
•A potential shift away from pure-play programmatic ad tech towards platforms with proprietary data and content.

Sources

Why Amazon Is Gaining Ground In CTV And The Trade Desk Is Losing Its Lead — AdExchanger

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Editorial note: This analysis is original, AI-assisted editorial content. All source material is attributed with links. No full articles are reproduced. Short excerpts are used under fair dealing principles.