Emma Gladstone is an entertainment journalist dedicated to offering a fresh perspective in today’s media landscape. As a content writer for The Hollywood Insider, her goal is to serve as a break from negativity by focusing on positive, human-centered angles that uplift and inspire. Writing reviews and feature stories for The Hollywood Insider, Emma celebrates the transformative and authentic power of reporting, to promote meaningful change and substance in media. Her passion for global entertainment fuels her writing, creating stories that educate, empower, and resonate deeply with readers. Emma is truly thrilled to be writing for The Hollywood Insider, as their values align closely with hers.
Jun 21, 2025
Table of Contents
Hollywood Insider – Amazon & Roku Strike Ad Pact That Could Redefine Streaming Monetization
The landmark deal gives brands access to 80% of U.S. connected‑TV households, signaling a shift in how Hollywood streamers reach—and profit from—viewers.
Streaming Just Got Smarter
At this year’s Cannes Lions Festival—a global event where media, advertising, and entertainment collide—Amazon and Roku quietly announced something that could change how streaming makes money.
The two tech giants are teaming up to launch a new advertising platform. According to ‘Deadline‘, it will give companies access to 80% of homes with connected TVs in the U.S., leveraging both Amazon and Roku’s massive reach.
This means ads will appear not just on Prime Video or the Roku Channel, but across many popular streaming services that use Roku or Fire TV.
The partnership goes live in late 2025, but early tests are already showing promising results:
Ads reached 40% more unique viewers
Repeated ads shown to the same person dropped by nearly 30%
That means better performance for advertisers—and less annoyance for viewers. In other words, your favorite shows might still have ads—but not the same ones over and over again.
Imagine Paramount promoting ‘Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning‘ teasers or Netflix rolling out previews for ‘Ginny & Georgia’s’ next season—not just on their own apps but across Roku’s top‑ranked CTV services and Prime Video.
That’s the scale now available to media buyers. Through Amazon’s DSP and Roku’s integrated identifier, audience targeting deepens far beyond zip codes and demographics—bridging platform fragmentation and aligning with studio goals like boosting Netflix’s ‘Tires’ or promoting Hulu’s ‘Only Murders in the Building.’
Sources from ‘Investors.com’ note the integration spans popular properties beyond Roku—Disney+, Paramount+, Tubi, Warner Bros. Discovery—bringing big titles like ‘Yellowstone’ and ‘Succession‘ under this newly precise spotlight.
Right now, advertising on streaming can be messy. People watch on different apps, devices, and accounts—so it’s hard for marketers to know who saw what.
Amazon and Roku are changing that by combining their technology. Here’s what they’re doing:
Amazon’s ad system (called a DSP) will now work across Roku’s platform
Both companies will match data from logged-in users to show the right ads to the right people
It’s called identity resolution, and it helps advertisers spend smarter.
The goal is to show fewer but better ads. That means more value for studios and brands—and less frustration for us.
According to ‘AdWeek‘, in effect, brands can connect viewers with actionable metrics like “watched ‘Ted Lasso‘ season finale”
Amazon’s Kelly MacLean, VP of Amazon DSP, described it to Deadline as a “new canvas” where marketers can truly track full-funnel journeys—a major upgrade from blunt tools like Nielsen ratings or cookie-based groupings.
Blockbusters Universal Pictures is reportedly in early talks to use this ad tech for campaigns around ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ (2025), starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey (‘Wicked‘).
Imagine a campaign targeting households who binge-watched similar IP—then hitting them with ‘Jurassic’ trailers across Roku Channel and Prime Video, refining frequency so fans aren’t overwhelmed with ads they don’t even take interest in.
Streaming Stars Booming actors like Pedro Pascal (‘The Last of Us‘) could benefit too. With this tech, ad slots around his key scenes could hit precisely those fans who binge in marathon mode—boosting engagement without doing too much.
Streaming Ads That Adjust to You With Tyler Perry’s ‘Straw’ gaining early buzz, streaming platforms could soon use this Amazon–Roku ad tech to precisely target viewers who just finished high-drama hits like ‘We Were Liars’ or ‘Scandal’.
Especially in the case of Kerry Washington fans—still tuning in for her work in ‘Little Fires Everywhere‘—ads for ‘Straw’ could land in front of highly engaged, genre-aligned audiences at exactly the right moment.
On the genre front, the latest ‘Twilight‘ saga reboot presents another opportunity for synergy.
The whole purpose is to leave viewers with purposeful content, rather than having someone be bored and sick of ads wanting to constantly fast forward.
With identity resolution in place, studios don’t have to rely on broad demos or outdated guesses. Amazon’s DSP can now detect meaningful patterns—like when a household streams the same docuseries twice in one week—and tailor ad delivery accordingly.
Challenges Ahead
Because this system uses logged-in user data, privacy watchdogs will definitely be paying attention. Amazon and Roku say all data is anonymous and opt-in—but as this technology expands, brands will need to be ready to prove they’re handling everything responsibly.
Then again, aren’t we all being tracked anyway? These platforms are already designed to learn our preferences and generate more shows we’ll binge.
Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild may want to understand how their members’ likenesses and performances are being used in these hyper-targeted ad campaigns, especially when they’re appearing across different platforms and devices.
And finally, not every streamer is playing in the game. Netflix and Disney+ are investing in their own ad systems, which means the landscape remains fragmented. But with access to over 80 million connected TV households, Amazon and Roku are hard to ignore.
Staying Up to Speed
As the Cannes Lions festival wraps up, we’re seeing brands get smarter ways to reach the right people.
Studios can actually measure how well their ads work. Celebrities get focused, meaningful exposure. And viewers enjoy buzz-worthy, less repetitive ads.
Paul Kotas from Amazon Ads put it simply: “This is a giant leap for advertisers… delivering performance in ways that simply weren’t possible before.”
Hollywood has been waiting for a streaming renaissance. This partnership might just be the start.
By Emma Gladstone
Click here to read The Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase’s love letter to Cinema, TV and Media. An excerpt from the love letter: The Hollywood Insider’s CEO/editor-in-chief Pritan Ambroase affirms, “We have the space and time for all your stories, no matter who/what/where you are. Media/Cinema/TV have a responsibility to better the world and The Hollywood Insider will continue to do so. Talent, diversity and authenticity matter in Cinema/TV, media and storytelling. In fact, I reckon that we should announce “talent-diversity-authenticity-storytelling-Cinema-Oscars-Academy-Awards” as synonyms of each other. We show respect to talent and stories regardless of their skin color, race, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, etc., thus allowing authenticity into this system just by something as simple as accepting and showing respect to the human species’ factual diversity. We become greater just by respecting and appreciating talent in all its shapes, sizes, and forms. Award winners, which includes nominees, must be chosen on the greatness of their talent ALONE.
I am sure I am speaking for a multitude of Cinema lovers all over the world when I speak of the following sentiments that this medium of art has blessed me with. Cinema taught me about our world, at times in English and at times through the beautiful one-inch bar of subtitles. I learned from the stories in the global movies that we are all alike across all borders. Remember that one of the best symbols of many great civilizations and their prosperity has been the art they have left behind. This art can be in the form of paintings, sculptures, architecture, writings, inventions, etc. For our modern society, Cinema happens to be one of them. Cinema is more than just a form of entertainment, it is an integral part of society. I love the world uniting, be it for Cinema, TV, media, art, fashion, sport, etc. Please keep this going full speed.”
Emma Gladstone is an entertainment journalist dedicated to offering a fresh perspective in today’s media landscape. As a content writer for The Hollywood Insider, her goal is to serve as a break from negativity by focusing on positive, human-centered angles that uplift and inspire. Writing reviews and feature stories for The Hollywood Insider, Emma celebrates the transformative and authentic power of reporting, to promote meaningful change and substance in media. Her passion for global entertainment fuels her writing, creating stories that educate, empower, and resonate deeply with readers. Emma is truly thrilled to be writing for The Hollywood Insider, as their values align closely with hers.
Emma Gladstone is an entertainment journalist dedicated to offering a fresh perspective in today’s media landscape. As a content writer for The Hollywood Insider, her goal is to serve as a break from negativity by focusing on positive, human-centered angles that uplift and inspire. Writing reviews and feature stories for The Hollywood Insider, Emma celebrates the transformative and authentic power of reporting, to promote meaningful change and substance in media. Her passion for global entertainment fuels her writing, creating stories that educate, empower, and resonate deeply with readers. Emma is truly thrilled to be writing for The Hollywood Insider, as their values align closely with hers.
Emma Gladstone is an entertainment journalist dedicated to offering a fresh perspective in today’s media landscape. As a content writer for The Hollywood Insider, her goal is to serve as a break from negativity by focusing on positive, human-centered angles that uplift and inspire. Writing reviews and feature stories for The Hollywood Insider, Emma celebrates the transformative and authentic power of reporting, to promote meaningful change and substance in media. Her passion for global entertainment fuels her writing, creating stories that educate, empower, and resonate deeply with readers. Emma is truly thrilled to be writing for The Hollywood Insider, as their values align closely with hers.
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