According to a new eMarketer study, Amazon’s ad business will bring in $4.6B this year — up an insane 60% from its previously projected $2.89B in March.
Axios reports that, in recent years, Amazon’s ad biz has swiftly expanded into one of its fastest growing sectors as they invest more in video, sales staff, and ad technology.
Amazon knows a thing or two about scaling
They’ve doubled down on video ads for some of their larger streaming platforms like Twitch — and oh boy, do they have a bulletproof sales pitch for advertisers…
Amazon claims to be more “brand safe” than the likes of the bigger, harder to regulate, social platforms like YouTube and Facebook (who’ve both dealt with advertiser disputes over questionable ad placement in the past year).
That said, according to eMarketer, certain “accounting changes” at Amazon contributed to the bulk of their updated projection (on growth alone, the forecaster still puts Amazon’s market share in 4th place, ahead of Verizon).
There’s still some catching up to do
While the new projection puts them in front of Microsoft in US digital ad market share, 3rd place is still miles behind Google and Facebook.
The powerhouses collectively control 58% of the market today, hauling in over $64B combined. However, some analysts believe Amazon’s market share is growing so astonishingly fast that it stands to close the gap.