By Carl Wartzack, CEO, WBX
Advertising Week has always been a reflection of where the industry is heading — and this year, one message was impossible to miss: Amazon is no longer just in the ad business. It’s building the ad business of the future.
Amazon’s Expanding Grip on the Industry
Amazon’s presence at Advertising Week 2025 says everything about its trajectory. With more panels and sessions than almost any other platform, Amazon isn’t just participating in the conversation — it’s leading it.
Behind the scenes, the company’s latest move — absorbing Microsoft’s demand-side platform (Xandr DSP) into Amazon DSP — represents a major consolidation of power. By early 2026, Microsoft’s ad-buying operations will migrate into Amazon’s ecosystem. That means more advertisers, more inventory, and more control over the open web — all tied to Amazon’s proprietary retail and behavioral data.
It’s not just about e-commerce anymore. It’s about owning the full media and measurement stack, from reach to revenue.
The “Holy Trinity” of Modern Advertising
Amazon’s ad proposition has evolved into what many in the industry are calling the “holy trinity”:
- Reach – Through partnerships with Roku, Disney, Netflix, Spotify, and SiriusXM, Amazon now touches roughly 80 million CTV households in the U.S.
- Measurement – Amazon can connect exposure to verified purchase behavior through its retail ecosystem — something no other platform can match.
- Price – With DSP fees dropping as low as 1%, Amazon is playing an aggressive game to attract and retain global advertisers.
It’s a value equation that’s tough to ignore; premium inventory + first-party data + cost efficiency — all in one stack.
From Retail Media to Open-Web Dominance
What’s most striking about Amazon’s recent evolution is how fast it’s moved beyond retail media. The DSP’s reach now extends to roughly 90% of U.S. consumers, according to internal data. This means advertisers who once came for Sponsored Products are now buying across streaming, display, audio, and the open web, all through Amazon.
In Q2 alone, the ad business generated $15.7 billion, up 22% year over year. That growth isn’t driven by one format — it’s driven by Amazon’s ability to blend shopping intent with content consumption at massive scale.
What This Means for Brands
At WBX, we see Amazon’s transformation as both a challenge and a roadmap for the future of advertising. The challenge is clear — traditional DSPs and siloed strategies can’t compete with a platform that combines commerce, content, and conversion.
But the roadmap is exciting:
- For advertisers, Amazon offers the clearest path to measurable performance across channels.
- For streamers and publishers, it means greater monetization opportunities tied to real data.
- For agencies and partners like WBX, it means a new frontier for optimization — one where creativity, commerce, and AI all work in concert.
The Future Belongs to Full-Funnel Thinkers
Amazon’s ad story is no longer just about growth — it’s about reinvention. Advertising is being rebuilt around data, accountability, and integration, and Amazon is showing what that looks like at scale.
At WBX, we help brands navigate this shift — connecting strategy, creative, and measurement to deliver performance in this new ecosystem. The message from Advertising Week is clear: the future belongs to those who can connect attention to action, at scale.