We look at some of the biggest announcements from Cannes Lions this year, focusing on DSP tie-ups and partnerships in the agency world. 

It’s been a scorching week, the sun shining down and the thermometers hitting 30° – and that’s just in the UK.  

The sun has been shining down on Cannes too, of course, as the ad tech industry gathered once again in the South of France to connect with other industry members, meet new faces, and rush from meetings to panels to parties.  

We take a look at some of the biggest partnerships that were announced this week on la Croisette…

This week’s DSP deals 

On the first day of Cannes Lions this year, Amazon announced a partnership with Roku giving the e-commerce giant’s demand-side platform (DSP) exclusive access to Roku's connected TV (CTV) ad inventory through a shared identifier. The deal will target approximately 80% of CTV-watching households in the US, equal to about 80 million. Advertisers will be able to access these US households across Roku and Fire TV platforms, including Prime Video. (Roku’s inventory is still available through other DSPs.)

Audiences will be easily identifiable for targeting, as the platforms will require users to be logged in: Amazon’s DSP will recognise logged-in viewers across Roku’s services through a custom identity solution service. The deal aims to facilitate improved campaign management for marketers, through features such as frequency capping. The integration is still being tested, although it’s due to become available to US advertisers using Amazon’s DSP by the final quarter of the year. 

Amazon also announced a partnership with Disney Advertising which brings its DSP to Disney’s Real-Time Ad Exchange (DRAX). This makes Amazon the third DSP to be granted access to DRAX (as well as Google and The Trade Desk). This comes about a year after the launch of DRAX, and the integration will be available to US advertisers using Amazon’s DSP by Q3 2025. Their collaboration supposedly breaks down the barriers between content and commerce signals. 

Netflix revealed a similar deal as its efforts to build out its ad tier ramp up, announcing a tie-up with Yahoo DSP. The deal will allow advertisers to buy Netflix inventory through the Yahoo DSP in the 12 countries where the streamer operates its ad-supported tier. Through the move, Yahoo DSP joins The Trade Desk, Google Display and Video 360, and Microsoft as Netflix’s programmatic partners. 

Agency moves 

In the agency world, Omnicom made many moves, striking partnerships revolving around live content with major players including social media, streaming, and e-commerce giants.  

One of the first to be revealed, its deal with Disney revolves around live sports, the objective being to allow clients to capitalise on major live sporting moments such as NFL games. Elaborating on the move, Megan Pagliuca, North American chief product officer at Omnicom Media Group, said: “It’s about the opportunity to create more addressability, more personalisation, and more relevance within live.” OMG is currently in the process of building a custom algorithm for Disney’s “Magic Words” tool, which should allow its clients the chance to take advantage of these live moments. 

Similarly, a deal with Amazon will centre around the tech behemoth’s coverage of Thursday Night Football. Omnicom intends to access audience data which will give it deeper insight into viewers in a live environment: Amazon expanded access to its look-back window, showing information for audiences who viewed ads as far back as the 2023 Thursday Night Football season. It’s claimed that having access to this data will enable more informed decision-making and improve campaign performance.  

A partnership with Google’s YouTube, revealed on Thursday, allows Omnicom’s clients to target high-traffic livestreaming content on the platform. Up until now, the only way to buy live inventory on YouTube was to do so in part of a larger media buy. Very soon, however, the platform will allow clients to activate their messaging specifically across influencers that fit their marketing strategy with an emphasis on live content. Beta testing is due to begin next month. Clarissa Season, a spokesperson for Omnicom’s Omni, stated that they have integrated live signals into their Influencer Discovery Agent – a database containing information about influencers and creators – to identify which influencers best resonate with their brands’ audiences.  

Elsewhere, a deal with Meta focuses on the influencer industry. It taps into Facebook’s Live Partnership Ads programme, with the goal of gaining deeper insight and understanding of live-streaming influencers and their impact on consumers. Omnicom’s clients will be able to Live Partnership Ads during and after shopping livestreams held by creators, with brands being able to boost live creator content into paid ads. Insight gained will be used to inform Omnicom’s Omni Influencer Discovery Agent. 

And more in the social media space: Omnicom announced a partnership with X. This will again focus on influencers, as X makes efforts to draw more to the platform. Omnicom is apparently looking to tap into the platform’s ability to reflect trends in real time. This trends data will be used for brand and creative execution on X, as well as for influencer discovery and influencer activation. 

A partnership with Walmart also taps into the world of influencers. OMG will gain access to Walmart’s audiences, which will then be used to accelerate the discovery of influences which have a proven ability to drive purchases for the retailer. Creo, the Omnicom’s agency arm, will be largely involved here. A Creo spokesperson highlighted that the move aims to take advantage of influencers’ significant influence over their followers, as it becomes more commonplace for consumers to make purchases simply because an influencer told them to. 

Lastly, Omnicom struck a deal with PayPal. The deal attaches its streaming TV inventory curation to PayPal’s cross-merchant transactional data. The final result lets Omnicom’s clients bid on live as well as pre-recorded streaming inventory based on purchase data. 

Cannes content to come next week 

Meanwhile, the ExchangeWire team caught up with some familiar faces in ad tech to discuss a few of the hottest topics on la Croisette this year. Stay posted for lots of content to come next week…