I first got into digital advertising – and hardcore performance marketing – in 1999, completely by accident. Back then, digital marketing was barely a blip on the radar. U.S. brands spent just $4.6 billion online, accounting for a mere 2% of their total advertising budgets. Nobody could have imagined the shift that lay ahead. Seismic barely covers it.

Fast forward to 2025, and digital marketing spend has exploded to $317 billion, capturing 74.4% of total ad budgets. Performance marketing, highly measurable and results-focused, now commands about 65% ($206 billion), while brand advertising takes up the remaining 35% ($111 billion).

With Connected TV (CTV) on the rise, however, the boundaries between brand-building and performance-driven campaigns continue to blur, transforming how marketers strategize and measure success. This convergence is not just reshaping budgets – it's redefining the very essence of digital marketing, making it an incredibly exciting field to play in. (That's why I get out of bed in the mornings.) 

I've never managed to get to the Cannes Lions Festival (yes, I'm still a bit sore about that). But even from afar, this year's standout news from the South of France was about Amazon DSP’s aggressive push into CTV advertising.

Amazon DSP matters enormously, yet still flies under the radar for many marketers. Amazon offers two distinct ad solutions: direct ads on Amazon.com and external ads served through Amazon DSP. DSP is essential for brands such as charities, insurance companies, or subscription services that don't directly sell through Amazon.

Currently, Amazon DSP quietly holds 20% of the U.S. DSP market, placing it just behind Google’s DV360 (47%) and ahead of The Trade Desk (19%). Meanwhile, CTV’s appeal grows steadily, capturing 28% of TV ad budgets and rapidly eating away at linear TV's share. Marketers are flocking to CTV for its superior targeting, precise measurement, and ability to follow audiences migrating en masse from traditional television to on-demand streaming services. The result? A better RoAS and an unrivaled opportunity for savvy marketers to move up faster.

This isn't a commercial for Amazon by the way. But for marketers at service-oriented or recurring revenue brands, dipping into Amazon DSP’s CTV capabilities can quickly elevate your advertising effectiveness. Here’s what I would do if I was a CMO, Marketing director or even Marketing manager these days: 

Step 1 – Get Out of Your Comfort Zone. Allocate a modest test budget – say $25,000 – for a month-long trial. Deploy existing video creative or swiftly make new, cost-effective creative using generative AI tools. Include clear, measurable calls-to-action or QR codes.

Step 2 – Learn a New Skill. Keep it straightforward: Execute CTV ads through Amazon DSP, leveraging Amazon's rich first-party data to precisely target platforms like Roku, Hulu, and Fire TV. Track conversions using Amazon Pixel to measure direct impacts. Utilize View-Through Conversions (VTC) to attribute revenue directly to your campaigns.

Step 3 – Add Value. Even though Amazon’s tracking methods – using IP, device IDs, and cookies – are probabilistic rather than deterministic, they significantly outperform traditional TV's unmeasured reach. Any marketer previously relying on proxies will immediately see improvement. Which will please your CFO. 

Step 4 – Move Up Faster. The great Peter Drucker famously said that businesses exist to create customers through marketing and innovation. Amazon DSP’s CTV offerings embody this philosophy, providing marketers with an enormous opportunity to innovate, measure precisely, and scale rapidly. Marketers who achieve that often find themselves rapidly going up in the world.

(By the way, these four steps make up my Return on Marketing Career (RoMC) framework—more on that here.)

If you’d like to discuss your career journey with me one-to-one, please feel free to email me at [email protected] or message me on LinkedIn.

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