Observed Signal · Nov 30, 2025 · Partnership · Source: State of Streaming · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Netflix, Amazon, Walmart Compete for TV Infrastructure
A State of Streaming analysis (published 2025-11-30) reports a strategic partnership between Netflix and Amazon that shifts the competitive streaming landscape from content ownership to control over infrastructure: data, measurement and delivery. Jack Wagner, digital media executive and founder of Hawk Digital, argues Netflix is leveraging Amazon’s advertising infrastructure to avoid building its own ad stack, creating a closed-loop premium inventory ecosystem. The piece contrasts that alliance with Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio, which aims to fuse retail commerce with TV experiences via embedded Walmart+ functionality. The article highlights enabling technologies — ATSC 3.0 in TVs and computer-vision-driven “scene activations” — and warns the moves could accelerate hyper-personalized, commerce-driven ad experiences and further consolidation of influence in the streaming ad market.
A partnership between major streaming and cloud/retail platforms that integrates ad infrastructure and delivery shifts competitive dynamics in CTV advertising, encourages walled‑garden monetization, and affects measurement, inventory access and retail-media competition.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Netflix and Amazon entered a partnership to integrate Netflix’s ad business with Amazon’s advertising and delivery infrastructure.
- Jack Wagner, founder of Hawk Digital and member of the Forbes Business Development Council, provided analysis that the streaming competition is moving to control of data, measurement and delivery infrastructure.
- Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio is positioned as a rival move to embed retail commerce (Walmart+) into TVs and build a competing interactive storefront ecosystem.
- The article cites enabling technologies such as ATSC 3.0 chips in TVs and computer-vision “scene activations” for dynamic, in-program brand insertions.
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Amazon's Netflix Deal Advances Ad Infrastructure Dominance
Amazon struck a strategic partnership with Netflix that industry observers see as a test of its effort to move from a platform competitor to a provider of ad infrastructure. Jessica Wright, CEO of AO2 Management, argues the deal signals Amazon’s ambition to capture a cut of transactions and to make its checkout, data and trust the rails that power advertising beyond Amazon.com. The article highlights Amazon’s push to win brand trust (shifting focus from resellers to brands), the evolution of Amazon Marketing Cloud — including a reported five‑year lookback window — and experiments to extend its commerce-ad model into linear local TV. The Netflix deal, and platforms like “Buy with Prime” working with Shopify, Walmart and Adidas, are framed as part of Amazon’s broader attempt to embed frictionless checkout and measurement across streaming and retail ecosystems.
Netflix's $3B Ad Business Built on AWS
Netflix projects $3 billion in ad revenue in 2026 as its ad-supported tier drives the majority of new sign-ups and programmatic buying approaches half of non-live inventory. The company runs its streaming infrastructure on Amazon Web Services (AWS)—serving roughly 300 million subscribers across 190 countries with an estimated annual AWS spend above $1 billion—and has announced an advertising integration that lets advertisers layer Amazon Audiences onto Netflix campaigns starting Q2 2026 in the U.S. (11 countries at launch, expansion planned through year-end). Netflix's programmatic stack includes Google DV360, The Trade Desk, Yahoo DSP, AJA and Amazon. The article highlights that Amazon benefits both from DSP/data revenue when its audiences power Netflix campaigns and from increased AWS contract revenue as Netflix grows, raising structural questions about vendor concentration across identity, planning, measurement and infrastructure.
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