Netflix has put its Australian media account up for review after five years with WPP’s Wavemaker.

The global streaming giant confirmed a pitch is active in market but declined to comment further on the process.

Wavemaker remained equally tight-lipped, though the GroupM agency is understood to be contesting the account. According to those close to the pitch, it is going up against IPG Mediabrand’s Initiative, S4's The Monks and indie media shop Kaimera.

There's suggestion that Netflix is undertaking a routine review, having already held and awarded pitches for Taiwan and Southeast Asia earlier in the year. Whatever the local outcome, the account is likely to remain with the incumbent until at least February, to ensure continuity in the lead up to the premiere of the streamer's upcoming local drama series, Apple Cider Vinegar. 

That has not stopped some speculation that the pitch may be in part related to WPP’s new relationship with Amazon. In September the holding company was appointed to run media for the e-commerce and streaming conglomerate in the EMEA and APAC regions, while Omnicom took the Americas.

While not a direct conflict at the agency level, the win does put Netflix in close proximity to Amazon’s Prime Video.

WPP has shed little light on the details of its arrangement with Amazon, instead deferring to the client.

"This decision was made after a careful and extensive review process," Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said in a statement shared with Mi3 in September. "We investigated each agency's marketplace expertise, media planning experience at all levels, media pricing, measurement abilities, and account management in all geographic regions."

As Mi3 understands, WPP’s winning pitch entailed the creation a bespoke group-wide solution for the Amazon account, not unlike Open X – the open-source media, data and creative platform created by the agency for Coca-Cola, and which Coke's top brass in March said is powering growth.

The new Amazon unit is set be called OpenDoor – confirmed by multiple job ads posted to LinkedIn in recent months.

As one listing puts it: “OpenDoor is a unique integration of the best of WPP and Amazon – building on their respective strengths and visions. Whether at WPP or at Amazon, every project is an OpenDoor on new possibilities. Anything and everything can be an opportunity for our people to drive impact – for them to innovate, learn, thrive, and occasionally fail too.

“OpenDoor spans across all WPP agencies and disciplines such as media, business consultancy, communications and brand strategy, tech and commerce, public relations, and production.”