Who’s the king of the advertising world? 

You may have seen in our latest Digital News Roundup (you watch it, right?) that recent research indicated that Amazon’s share of the search ads market is set to continue growing.

According to eMarketer, Amazon generated more than $10 billion in ad revenues globally in 2018 – a year that’s already recognised as being a fairly momentous time for the platform’s ads efforts. In fact, it was estimated to be the “third-largest ad seller in the U.S. behind Google and Facebook”. Let’s keep perspective though, we were talking about a 4% market share.

In 2019, however, we were looking at a global search ad market share of around 12.9%, predicted to increase to 15.9% by 2021 – with an increase in paid search revenues taking them to $7.09 billion. Among the top five search advertising companies in the U.S. market, also including Google, Microsoft, Verizon Media and Yelp, Amazon is the only one expected to see an increase in market share in the coming years. But why is this?  

Why is Amazon pushing ahead? 

Many are attributing Amazon’s continued growth as being in part due to the ever-increasing number of people that now start their searches on the Amazon site. In fact, stats earlier this year showed that 66% of consumers start their search for a product on Amazon, which increases to 74% if they have a specific product in mind. That’s a lot of traffic that no longer begins its digital life on Google. 

The other element fueling the momentum behind Amazon’s ad growth is the company’s investment in its advertising UI. Back in 2018 Amazon consolidated its ad products into the Amazon Advertising Platform, and has since worked to enhance its UI and API to boost its campaign management capabilities. While you could argue that it still lags behind Google (and you’d probably be right), the e-tailer is pushing to continue developing and improving its offering. 

Pair this commitment to ad improvement with the platform’s reputation for a top-notch customer experience – from delivery options to subscription buys – and you’ve got a potentially winning combination.

Looking to the future

Naturally, Google isn’t going to take this lying down. A new Shopping experience, which offers “omnichannel opportunities” to merchants, whether they’re selling on their own sites, in-store, or via Google’s universal checkout, is just one way that Google is looking to assert its dominance over the search ad market – and hold onto its throne. 

At GIANT Towers, we’re always looking for ways that we can improve what we’re offering our clients – and in a fast paced industry like digital marketing, that means there’s always a new idea or discipline to explore. Amazon advertising is just one area that we’re scoping out at the moment in a bid to offer our clients the best opportunities when it comes to search advertising. 

Want to know more about advertising on Amazon, or search advertising as a whole? Drop us a message. We’re a friendly bunch.