Amazon is deepening its investment in the connected TV advertising space with the acquisition of assets from Fling, a television technology startup. The deal includes the company’s patents and engineering talent, signaling a strategic effort by Amazon to bolster the capabilities of its popular Fire TV platform.
Fling, founded over a decade ago, initially developed technology that allowed users to “fling” content from their mobile devices to smart TVs, a concept similar to Google’s Chromecast. However, the company’s more recent innovations focused on creating synchronized and interactive advertising experiences between the TV and a second screen, such as a smartphone. This technology enables advertisers to deliver interactive polls, coupons, or related content to a user’s phone that directly corresponds to the ad being shown on television.
For Amazon, this acquisition is a significant move to enhance its advertising technology stack. The integration of Fling’s patents and expertise will likely enable Amazon to offer more sophisticated and engaging ad formats on Fire TV, which now has over 200 million devices sold globally. By synchronizing the TV and mobile experience, Amazon can provide advertisers with richer data and new ways to measure ad effectiveness, directly challenging competitors like Google and Roku in the lucrative connected TV (CTV) advertising market.
The move also reflects a broader industry trend where major platform owners are looking to create more compelling ad-supported viewing experiences to attract and retain users on their free streaming services, such as Amazon’s Freevee. By making ads more interactive and less intrusive, Amazon hopes to improve viewer engagement while driving higher revenue for its rapidly growing advertising division. The Fling engineering team is expected to be integrated into Amazon’s Fire TV organization to spearhead these new advertising product developments.
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