CANNES — The convergence of addressability and performance in connected TV is taking a step forward as the two largest streaming platforms join forces.
A new partnership between Roku and Amazon is creating what executives describe as the first authenticated CTV identity graph covering more than 80% of all streaming, a development that promises to reshape how advertisers approach the medium.
“Roku and Amazon just partnered to build the largest identity solution in all of CTV,” said Frances Callaghan, head of product commercialization at Roku, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
Key benefits for advertisers
The collaboration allows media bought on Roku through Amazon DSP to become fully addressable, opening new possibilities for audience targeting across platforms.
“The key benefits for advertisers is now media that they buy on Roku through Amazon DSP is going to be addressable,” Callaghan explained. “That’s really going to allow advertisers to have and reach their audiences in a way that they’ve never been able to do between these two partners.”
Early testing of the partnership has yielded impressive results, with advertisers seeing 40% incremental reach and a 30% decrease in frequency. This improved efficiency has translated directly to bottom-line performance, with increases in return on ad spend also reported.
Solving the frequency problem
One of the most significant advantages of the new identity solution is its ability to address a persistent challenge in the streaming ecosystem: managing ad frequency across platforms.
“Advertisers can frequency cap across their entire omnichannel campaign,” Callaghan said. “For us at Roku, this is a benefit for advertisers, but it’s also a better experience for our consumers, because they’re going to see less of the same ad.”
The partnership represents a major step toward interoperability in a fragmented streaming landscape. Industry forecasts from eMarketer show CTV ad spending in the U.S. projected to grow by 15.8% in 2025, reaching $33.4 billion, making cross-platform solutions increasingly valuable.
Democratizing CTV access
Beyond partnerships, Roku has been expanding access to CTV advertising through its self-service platform, Roku Ads Manager, which launched approximately a year ago.
“Roku Ads Manager is our new product that was really developed to kind of democratize CTV,” Callaghan noted. “It doesn’t come with hefty minimums, you don’t need to be part of an upfront.”
The platform has attracted a surprisingly diverse range of advertisers, from large direct-to-consumer brands to regional businesses like HVAC companies leveraging geotargeting capabilities. Agencies and retail media networks have also begun adopting the self-service option.
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