DSP

Pop art collage of an Amazon-branded Trojan horse rolling onto a Beacon Theatre stage carrying boxes labeled DSP, AMC, and Rufus while a holdco executive signs a multi-year contract.

Amazon Repurposed the Upfront Into a Multi-Year DSP Sales Cycle

Amazon used its 2026 upfront on May 11 to pitch holdco leaders on DSP, Amazon Marketing Cloud, Rufus ads, and a new unified buying system, not just primetime AV inventory. Ad tech contracts run on multi-year enterprise software cycles, which means the upfront's room of senior agency leaders

Isometric illustration of a campaign brief transforming into a digital media plan with connected DSP channels and a stopwatch

Basis Compass Does in Five Minutes What Media Planners Bill Eight Hours For

The part of media buying that everyone assumed was safe from AI wasn't the bidding. Bidding has been automated for years. It wasn't the targeting, either. Lookalike audiences and algorithmic expansion already turned most manual audience selection into a polite suggestion the platform quietly overrides. The