After several months of beta testing, the e-commerce giant Amazon has finally decided to enter the $129 billion digital advertising market - presently dominated by Google and Facebook Inc. - by selling video spots on its smartphone shopping app.
The brief video spot on the shopping app seems to be quite a handy choice by Amazon, in comparison to scrolling through Facebook or watching videos on Google’s YouTube. It gives advertisers a valuable spot, since people searching for products on the app have a higher propensity to buy over the options provided by FB and Google.
Amazon had initially restrained itself from selling advertising space on its site for fear of disrupting the shopping experience, but selling video ads through its shopping app seems to work just fine for the company. It also helps the company add a new revenue stream for Amazon’s advertising division.
Amazon, over the last few years, has emerged as a fast-growing challenger in the digital advertising market, as it commands 50% of all online sales in the U.S. Slated to grow at 8.8% in 2019, up from 6.8% in 2018, Amazon is all set provide a stiff competition to the digital advertising market-leader Google – who could see its share slip to 37.2% from 38.2% in 2019, according to market estimates.