Amazon Just Partnered With Netflix -- Here’s What It Means for The Trade Desk Stock

Streaming giants collide—and ad-tech tremors follow.

Amazon's surprise Netflix partnership rewrites the streaming ad playbook overnight. The e-commerce titan just swallowed a bigger slice of the $180B digital ad market without breaking a sweat.

Trade Desk investors sweating bullets?

The deal lets Amazon sell Netflix's premium ad inventory through its demand-side platform. Translation: Amazon now controls the pipes, the data, and the eyeballs. It’s a vertical integration masterstroke that sidelines independent ad-tech players.

Why this stings for The Trade Desk

Netflix inventory was supposed to be The Trade Desk's golden ticket to CTV dominance. Now? Amazon holds the keys. The move effectively bypasses third-party platforms, giving Amazon direct access to Netflix's high-value, binge-ready audience.

Wall Street's already pricing in the pain—because nothing makes analysts happier than a good old-fashioned disruption story. (Except maybe a yacht funded by your portfolio's volatility.)

This isn't just another partnership—it's a power move that redefines who controls the future of streaming advertising. The giants are building walls, and the middlemen are left knocking at the gate.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why Netflix Chose Amazon

Netflix has quickly grown its ad-supported tier, reaching more than 90 million global monthly active users across all ad-tier households. To fully monetize that audience, Netflix needs scale, targeting, and attribution tools that resonate with global advertisers.

Amazon brings exactly that strength. Its DSP is one of the largest in the world, fueled by first-party shopping and streaming data from Amazon.com, Prime Video, and Fire TV. For brands, that means they can target Netflix viewers with the same precision they already use across Amazon's ecosystem, while tying exposure directly to purchase behavior.

Operationally, Amazon gives Netflix plug-and-play infrastructure. It also leverages advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to help advertisers run impactful digital ads campaigns with minimal effort, thanks to the automation of campaign planning, buying, and measurement. So, advertisers already allocating billions through Amazon Ads can now extend those campaigns onto Netflix inventory with minimal friction.

In short, partnering with Amazon should help Netflix quickly scale its advertising business.

What it means for The Trade Desk

Here's where the tension lies. The Trade Desk has also promoted partnerships with Netflix,, andon curated supply access. Its pitch to advertisers is neutrality: unlike Amazon, it doesn't own content or compete in streaming, which helps ensure cross-platform transparency and measurement.

But Amazon's new Netflix deal strengthens its hand. With Netflix, Roku, and Disney inventory increasingly accessible through Amazon's DSP, The Trade Desk risks losing some of the premium authenticated CTV supply that has been central to its growth story.

Besides, Amazon has a closed-loop ecosystem that includes e-commerce, CTV hardware, and Prime Video, providing it with unmatched data for precise audience targeting. Combined with the consumer data from Netflix, it could deliver excellent return on advertising capital, rivaling (if not surpassing) that of The Trade Desk's platform.

The silver lining is that advertisers wary of Amazon's dominance may lean harder on The Trade Desk as a balancing force. Many global brands prefer to diversify demand across independent platforms rather than concentrate entirely inside one ecosystem. That gives the tech company a continued role, even if Amazon is now the more dominant gatekeeper for premium inventory.

The bigger picture

This partnership isn't just about Netflix. Amazon has been steadily expanding its CTV footprint:

• Roku: Earlier this year, Amazon Ads struck a deal to make Roku's authenticated inventory available on its DSP, covering more than 80 million U.S. households.
• Disney: Amazon has also partnered with Walt Disney's DRAX exchange, giving buyers access to premium Disney streaming content.

Together, these moves show Amazon's ambition to consolidate premium CTV supply into its advertising stack. For advertisers, this provides an additional option beyond existing DSPs for capital allocation. For publishers, it offers additional demand for their advertising industry. But for independent players like The Trade Desk, it raises the bar for them to remain competitive over the long term.

What does it mean for investors?

For investors, the Amazon-Netflix tie-up highlights a clear industry trend: Premium streaming inventory is becoming increasingly tied to large ecosystems with first-party data advantages. The Trade Desk still has unique strengths in neutrality, transparency, and cross-channel reach, but the competitive bar just moved higher.

If advertisers increasingly default to Amazon for CTV, The Trade Desk could face headwinds in maintaining its share of wallet. On the other hand, if buyers push back against platform dependency, The Trade Desk's neutrality could prove more valuable than ever.

Either way, the stakes in CTV just got higher. For investors in The Trade Desk, this isn't a reason to panic -- but it is a reason to keep a closer eye on how the competitive dynamics evolve.