A first media buyer at an agency, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said 30% of its clients shifted a bulk of their CTV and display budgets from The Trade Desk to Amazon, particularly around Thursday Night Football.
A second media buyer at an agency, speaking anonymously to preserve industry relations, said 30% of the agency’s clients shifted 100% of their total annual ad budgets from The Trade Desk to Amazon in the past six months. Last year, only 10% of the agency’s clients moved budgets. The source wouldn’t share exact figures.
Over 40 brands at Tinuiti have increased their budget on Amazon DSP by 12% collectively as of Q1 this year, according to Elizabeth Marsten, vp, commerce innovation. In Tinuiti’s case, this spend was moved from several DSPs, including The Trade Desk.
Flexibility in inventory access and deal terms
ADWEEK spoke to nine sources for this story and most said that it appeared to them as if Amazon had been making a play to lure The Trade Desk’s clients, partly because the DSP has been offering lower prices and improving its tech stack. Part of Amazon’s appeal has long been that buyers can use its DSP to buy across third-party CTV inventory, beyond Amazon’s owned-and-operated (O&O) properties.
An Amazon Ads spokesperson referred ADWEEK to a blog post and said it is giving “advertisers the control to choose where ads are delivered whether that be APD, third-party exchanges or any combination in between. Advertisers can even exclude Amazon properties if desired.”
According to Karsten Weide, principal and chief analyst, W Media Research, advertisers and agencies are moving budgets from The Trade Desk to Amazon’s DSP, particularly for CTV and cost-sensitive campaigns. “Amazon’s DSP market share has been bigger than The Trade Desk’s for a few years now,” he said. “However, both companies are still growing market share, so Amazon’s market share gain has not come at the expense of The Trade Desk’s share.”
Still, some buyers have other reasons for switching DSPs. A third media buyer at an agency pointed to a lack of flexibility in The Trade Desk’s upfront deals, which require brands to commit to minimum monthly spend thresholds—this amount varies by brand. However, if a brand doesn’t meet the required monthly media spend, they still need to pay a baseline platform fee, which varies. The Trade Desk did not respond to specific questions about its upfront deals.
