Hope Williams. Credit: Podean
Podean's acquisition of Ad Advance is bringing the US company's Streamline analytics platform and deeper Amazon Marketing Cloud capabilities to Australian advertisers, AdNews can reveal.
The move matters for media and ecommerce teams grappling with the growing influence of Amazon in retail media and brand discovery.
"With the acquisition, Australian brands now have access to Ad Advance's proprietary Streamline technology and advanced Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) capabilities," managing director at Podean ANZ, Hope Williams, told AdNews.
"Local brands can now leverage advanced analytics including lifetime value, new-to-brand metrics, cross-channel overlap, purchase timelines, and path-to-conversion insights and build high-intent audiences through AMC using granular data from Streamline, Amazon Marketing Stream and dayparting strategies."
Streamline maps the shopper journey from awareness to purchase across Amazon's ad products and marketing streams, giving brands a single view of what's driving conversion.
The platform will be calibrated for the Australian market and available exclusively to Podean clients within the coming months.
The deal comes as Amazon's advertising business grows fast in Australia. Amazon's ASIC filings, published in 2025, show local ad revenue increased 58% to $242 million in 2024.
Amazon Ads vice president Tamir Bar-Haim has described Australia as one of Amazon Ads' fastest-growing markets globally, with Prime Video Ads now reaching five million Australian customers and an 80% advertiser renewal rate since launch.
Williams said the technology gap between Australia and the US is narrowing, but many local brands still lag in how they use the tools.
"Where Australia genuinely lags is in how brands are actually using these tools. AMC exists here, DSP exists here, but the sophistication with which most Australian brands are activating them is behind the US,” she said.
“That's partly due to market maturity, partly to resourcing constraints, and partly because the local market hasn't had the tools to simplify, visualise, and connect the insights these platforms can provide.
"We're now bringing that capability here, and yes, that closes a real and meaningful gap."
Before the acquisition, one global brand with Australian operations used Ad Advance's Streamline platform and Amazon DSP expertise to run awareness, consideration and conversion activity across the funnel.
Shoppers exposed to both DSP and Sponsored Ads converted at 16.4 times the rate of those exposed to one alone, and AMC uncovered a 139-day purchase journey that validated the need for sustained awareness investment.
Results included 102% year-on-year growth in Amazon sales, a 119% lift in ad-attributed sales and a 231% increase in new-to-brand orders from Sponsored Brands. Category share rose to 8.81% from 1.94%.
Williams said brands ignoring Amazon advertising risk missing a fundamental shift in how Australians discover and buy products.
"Amazon isn't just a sales channel anymore. It's a brand discovery platform," she said.
"Increasingly, Australian consumers are going to Amazon the way they used to go to Google, to find something new, not just to buy something they already know.”
During Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2024, global traffic on Amazon increased 16.4% year-on-year while Australia saw a 109% jump, according to Podean's BFCM insights report.
The acquisition does not trigger new local hires immediately, but Williams said headcount will follow client growth.
Podean has 17 staff dedicated to the Australian market, supported by more than 260 global specialists.
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