Retail media continues to evolve at a rapid pace. What began as a channel defined by isolated consoles and walled gardens is maturing into a more connected, more standardized, and more audience-centric growth engine. Amazon’s recent partnerships, most notably with Netflix and Macy’s, signal a new phase where premium inventory and retail supply live inside a unified ecosystem that advertisers can plan, buy, and measure with greater consistency.
For brands and agencies, the opportunity is clear. Amazon is expanding access to premium inventory, strengthening identity signals, and enabling more full-funnel strategies within a single platform. The challenge is equally clear. Success now depends on understanding how these environments work together and how each placement contributes to outcomes across the shopper journey.
This guide breaks down the most meaningful Amazon-led developments shaping 2026 and offers a practical perspective on how to navigate them with clarity and confidence.
Amazon Ads + Netflix: Why does it matter?
Netflix’s availability through Amazon DSP marks a significant milestone in how advertisers can reach high-quality streaming audiences. For years, CTV offered scale but limited connection to the types of behavioral signals that matter for commerce outcomes. By buying Netflix through Amazon DSP, brands can now activate premium streaming inventory within a familiar workflow and use Amazon’s first party audiences for targeting.
At launch, Netflix inventory provides reporting on spend, impressions, and video completion. These are foundational metrics that allow teams to evaluate delivery and engagement with confidence.
More advanced measurement capabilities, including Amazon Marketing Cloud support and conversion or lift reporting, will be introduced at a later stage. While AMC does not currently surface Netflix impression-level data, it still supports broader analysis of shopper behavior across Amazon surfaces. Teams can understand how upper funnel efforts contribute to downstream retail engagement where AMC measurement is supported.
This gives advertisers a more informed, connected view of how CTV fits into the retail media mix without overstating what is possible today. Netflix becomes part of a scalable full funnel strategy anchored by Amazon’s audience insights, with future measurement expansions expected to strengthen its role even further.
This creates additional benefits for advertisers utilizing platforms like Pacvue. DSP signals and retail readiness indicators, such as inventory, Buy Box strength, and share of voice, appear in one connected environment. This lets teams evaluate not only who they reached and how viewers engaged with the content, but also the retail conditions that influence performance across Amazon surfaces. As Netflix and Amazon evolve in their integration, this connected perspective will become even more valuable for both planning and optimization.
Amazon + Macy’s: A Step toward Standardization
Macy’s adoption of Amazon Retail Ad Services is another important marker in the evolution of retail media. For years, retailers built standalone RMNs with distinct consoles, measurement frameworks, and identity systems. This created fragmentation, operational friction, and variability in how advertisers could plan and report across retailers.
Amazon RAS offers an alternative path. By adopting Amazon’s infrastructure, retailers can activate Sponsored Products with proven technology and immediate advertiser familiarity. For Macy’s, this approach accelerates revenue potential without the timelines or investment required to build an RMN from the ground up.
The broader signal for the industry is a move toward consolidation. Rather than growing into dozens of disconnected platforms, retail media is aligning shared technology and unified workflows. For advertisers, this simplifies testing, comparison, and expansion.
Want to see how Amazon RAS works in practice and how brands can activate Sponsored Products on Macy’s? RSVP for our live webinar.
Online Video (OLV) and CTV Ads on the Rise
As retailers continue to roll out more sophisticated audience capabilities, OLV and CTV placements are becoming increasingly valuable. According to eMarketer:
“Total CTV ad spending will see solid double-digit annual growth rates through our forecast period to reach $46.89 billion in 2028. That year, it will surpass traditional TV ad spending ($45.10 billion) for the first time.”
This growth reflects both the expansion of premium supply and the improved measurement capabilities that help advertisers connect streaming exposure to retail outcomes. In 2026, brands will have a growing range of high-quality placements available through Amazon DSP.
New Video and CTV Ad Inventory to Consider in 2026
Amazon’s expansion into premium CTV environments gives advertisers access to a growing set of high-quality placements within a single DSP. These inventory sources help brands combine upper funnel reach with the behavioral intelligence that Amazon is known for.
- Amazon DSP + Netflix: Netflix’s premium streaming inventory is now available in multiple markets through Amazon DSP. Brands can reach valuable audiences using Amazon’s first party signals and evaluate delivery through metrics such as spend, impressions, and video completion.
- Amazon Prime Video and Freevee: Amazon’s owned and operated streaming environments offer large, engaged audiences with richer data connections. These placements benefit from Amazon’s logged-in ecosystem and consistent measurement capabilities across many surfaces.
- Fire TV Ecosystem: Fire TV reaches millions of authenticated households and supports a broad mix of video inventory across apps and Amazon-owned content environments. This ecosystem allows advertisers to create more cohesive CTV strategies anchored in Amazon signals.
These surfaces represent Amazon-led CTV growth. But Amazon DSP’s supply footprint is expanding even further through new premium publisher integrations.
New Premium Partners Expanding Amazon DSP Reach
Over the past six months, Amazon has broadened its supply footprint through several high-profile publisher integrations, strengthening its role as a centralized cross-channel buying engine.
- Roku: Amazon DSP’s partnership with Roku brings access to one of the largest authenticated CTV footprints in the United States, helping advertisers scale reach through a unified buying workflow.
- Disney Advertising (Disney+, Hulu, ESPN): Through integration with Disney’s ad exchange, advertisers can reach viewers across Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, and other Disney media properties, combining entertainment-driven reach with Amazon’s audience signals.
- SiriusXM Audio: The SiriusXM integration introduces programmatic audio capabilities, enabling brands to extend reach into music, talk radio, and podcasts.
- Spotify: Spotify’s integration gives advertisers global-scale access to music streaming audiences. This supports cross-format planning across playlists, podcasts, and audio-driven moments.
- Microsoft: Amazon’s newest deal with Microsoft will migrate Microsoft advertisers in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific onto Amazon DSP. The transition will be supported through dedicated Amazon representatives or activation partners depending on advertiser size.
With access to a leading streaming service, a major CTV platform, and top music streaming environments, Amazon DSP is becoming a centralized buying solution for cross-channel activation. The only major platform still outside this ecosystem is YouTube, which remains exclusive to Google. The Microsoft agreement is expected to accelerate enterprise adoption of the DSP even further.
What This Means for Advertisers in 2026: New Video Ad Inventory via Amazon Ads
Amazon’s expansion into premium CTV and video environments, including Netflix and authenticated third-party supply accessible through the DSP, gives advertisers a more complete full funnel planning surface within a single workflow. The result is less fragmentation, more consistent workflows, and greater ability to compare performance across formats.
For advertisers, the implications are clear:
1. Upper funnel strategies can now connect more naturally to retail outcomes.
Brands can combine broad-reaching CTV placements with Amazon’s behavioral signals and evaluate performance across Amazon-owned environments.
2. Testing becomes more important than ever.
With new CTV surfaces available through Amazon DSP, 2026 is a strong year for structured experiments that help define the real role of streaming within retail-driven media plans.
3. Audience planning becomes more cohesive.
Shared audiences across retail, CTV, and video allow teams to bring consistency to messaging, pacing, and frequency across formats.
4. Measurement expectations rise.
Advertisers will expect greater transparency into how CTV contributes to the overall path to purchase, especially as AMC expands its capabilities over time.
This moment is less about chasing every placement and more about building a clear, measurable framework for how CTV and retail media influence one another. Inventory expansion matters less than the ability to unify audiences, measure incrementality, and scale learnings.
The Amazon Marketing Cloud Advantage
As Amazon expands its video and CTV footprint, advertisers gain new ways to reach audiences across the funnel. With that expansion comes a greater need for disciplined measurement. The question is no longer whether new inventory is available, but whether each placement contributes meaningful value to the business.
Amazon Marketing Cloud plays a central role in answering that question. While AMC does not yet report on Netflix impression-level activity, it provides the framework advertisers need to understand how upper funnel investment influences downstream engagement across Amazon-owned environments.
AMC helps teams move from siloed reporting to a connected view of the shopper journey and gives marketers the structure to validate incremental lift where measurement is supported.
What AMC Enables Today
- Build and analyze audiences based on purchase behavior, browsing signals, and ad interactions on Amazon surfaces
- Evaluate how exposure on measurable Amazon environments influences detail page views, add to cart activity, and new to brand performance
- Quantify incremental reach by isolating behavior that would not have occurred without advertising
- Compare channels based on their true contribution to Amazon outcomes
This creates a more disciplined, evidence-driven approach to investment and ensures teams scale what works rather than relying on assumptions.
Best Practice Framework: How to Test and Scale New Amazon DSP Inventory
1. Start with a clear hypothesis
Define what you expect and why.
Example: CTV investment will increase branded search within fourteen days.
2. Run a controlled pilot
Use focused budgets and specific audience parameters.
Track AMC-supported signals such as detail page views, add to cart events, and new to brand engagement on Amazon surfaces.
3. Evaluate findings through three lenses
- Overlap: Are audiences genuinely incremental
- Incrementality: Did exposure drive new behavior
- Efficiency: Did the results justify the spend within margin targets
Watch for duplicated impressions, inflated CPM environments, or multi-DSP overlap that may distort results.
If outcomes validate your hypothesis, scale intentionally. If not, refine and test again.
How Pacvue Users Turn AMC Insights into Action
Pacvue supports advertisers through insight activation rather than passive reporting. By bringing retail readiness indicators, DSP performance, and AMC insights into a single environment, Pacvue helps teams decide what to do next.
Teams can:
- Reallocate budgets when AMC highlights wasted overlap
- Forecast ROI using incremental lift trends
- Compare DSP, CTV, and search performance side by side
- Automate decisions tied to retail signals such as inventory coverage or Buy Box strength
Pacvue’s Copilot also makes AMC insights more accessible by reducing the technical barrier to exploring clean-room data.
How Leading Brands Leveraged AMC insights into DSP to Improve Ad Outcomes
Global beauty brand, Filorga, used AMC insights to refine targeting and reduce wasted reach. The shift improved sales efficiency and drove a +51% increase in Detail Page Views. The ‘test and learn’ justified a monthly budget increase of +10%
A global CPG brand paired DSP and Sponsored Ads insights to optimise media mix and messaging across channels. The integrated approach delivered measurable gains including an increase of +9% sales and +13% conversion rate.
Scaling New Retail Media Inventory in 2026 Predictively
Amazon’s growing CTV and video ecosystem will continue to create opportunities for early adopters. Long term success will belong to teams that can test quickly, measure rigorously, and build investment strategies grounded in verified outcomes.
As planning becomes more predictive, Pacvue will help brands accelerate testing and unify insights across Amazon’s expanding inventory landscape. Teams that embrace this discipline now will be best positioned to lead in the next phase of retail media growth.
Connect with a Pacvue commerce expert to find out more about new retail media inventory available through Amazon Ads and other retail media networks.
