As connected TV takes off, Amazon is making a bold move: It’s making its own TVs.
Amazon – which already sells the Fire TV Stick and operates a CTV app store and an AVOD and SVOD service – is branching out into TV manufacturing, according to a report by Insider.
What’s in it for the ad business? Well, Amazon-owned TVs will likely carry Amazon-controlled advertising. They’ll have better measurement (via ACR tech) and, most likely, better attribution if TV watchers sign into their Amazon account.
And who knows … Amazon could even launch a Kindle-like model and offer discounts to people who opt in to personalized advertising. Hey, it’s always fun to speculate.
Also on this week’s episode of The Big Story, we discuss Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging an investigation into Facebook and Google’s “Jedi Blue” deal, which may have been in violation of antitrust laws.
Yes, US senators are talking about header bidding. Even more fodder for the DOJ’s reported plan to file a second antitrust case against Google, this one with its ad tech business in the crosshairs.
As this letter shows, there are still a few Jedi Blue sequels in the works.
