• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 2, 2025

While transparency continues to be a challenging issue for nearly all premium streaming platforms, now it seems there is more light down a dark road.

Amazon Prime Video now gives marketers access to “show-level” reporting including impressions, CPMs, and content adjacency by title, genre, and content rating through its Amazon DSP.

The new tool via Amazon DSP is only for Prime Video and Freevee, and excludes third-party apps that come through Amazon Fire TV. To a great extent, these features come in post-media buying analysis -- especially showing what content their ads ran against.

It seems more will be coming from Prime Video, including a contextual targeting tool.

Amazon Prime Video introduced ads to its service only a year ago. It is looking to separate itself from its competitors in offering more transparency, according to media executives.

Marketers and brands also continue to get more data -- at least from third-party sources -- including Nielsen’s initial efforts when comparing linear TV/streaming when it comes to average viewership per episode.

But there remains a bigger problem overall.

DoubleVerify says only 50% of connected TV (CTV) impressions offered full app transparency where advertisers could clearly see which apps their ads ran on.

This, of course, is a problem for marketers in ensuring that their messaging is not only viewable, but that it comes in content-safe environments -- to get protection against fraud as well as looking to optimize for brand performance.

The expansion of streaming content on CTV services is another issue. Platforms would rather not let brands pick and choose only the best titles -- they prefer to have ad schedules spread across a wider swath of their program content.

In addition, programmatic buying can be a major issue, especially when it comes to disclosing specific levels of impressions -- for example, in a media company’s premium streaming platform versus its free ad-supported/streaming TV (FAST) network.

Down the line, there is trouble ahead with “bundling” of CTV apps/platforms. That can translate into brands having less choice in choosing exactly where their media campaigns might run on specific shows and individual streamers.