Three platforms captured 62% of 2025 ad revenue
This article analyzes the current state of digital advertising in 2025-2026, highlighting the dominance of walled gardens (Google, Meta, Amazon) and the persistence of guaranteed deals (upfronts, programmatic guaranteed) even as new CTV and AI platforms emerge. It argues that the 'open internet' is a half-truth due to consolidated ad revenue among a few players and the lack of independent, verifiable measurement across the ecosystem. The piece concludes with five recommendations to improve transparency and accountability in ad tech.
Key Takeaways
- Google, Meta, and Amazon produced about $530 billion in ad revenue in 2025, versus a roughly $900 billion global digital ad market.
- The Trade Desk reported $2.896 billion in FY2025 revenue, compared with Google’s roughly $265 billion.
- Netflix’s advertising revenue reached about $2.2 billion in 2025 after launching the Netflix Ads Suite in 2025.
- Disney’s streaming advertising across Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ reached about $5.3 billion, and Disney integrated DRAX with Amazon DSP in June 2025.
- According to eMarketer, 76.2% of US programmatic digital display ad spending is expected to flow through programmatic direct channels by 2026.
Why It Matters
The immediate takeaway is that most digital ad money is still flowing through a handful of platforms, while premium streaming inventory remains dominated by upfronts, PMPs, and programmatic guaranteed deals. That leaves independent ad tech fighting over a shrinking share of spend. The broader streaming angle is that Netflix, Disney, Roku, and Amazon are all building or controlling their own ad stacks, data, and measurement paths. What to watch: whether eMarketer’s 76.2% programmatic-direct forecast for US display spending by 2026 shows up in CTV buying patterns as well.
Read full article at bidstream.amitgoel.me
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