Amazon to Offer Video Ad Space to Shopping App
Amazon.com, which has emerged into a an advertising giant, will reportedly start selling video spots on its smartphone shopping app.
Amazon has been beta testing the ads on the iOS platform for several months, according Bloomberg. A similar product for Google’s Android platform is planned for later this year, the report says.
The video ad spots will appear in search results on the shopping app, and is obviously valuable for advertisers since people searching for products on the app have a higher propensity to buy than those scrolling through Facebook or watching videos on Google’s YouTube.
Amazon captures 50 percent of all online sales in the US. Amazon’s digital advertising market share will grow to 8.8 percent this year from 6.8 percent in 2018, according to EMarketer Inc. Market-leader Google will see its share slip to 37.2 percent from 38.2 percent.
Amazon declined to comment.
Currently, Amazon’s advertising division mostly sells space featuring brand logos, product photographs and descriptions that are the equivalent of digital billboards. The site is a pay-to-play platform, with the top of the page dedicated to the highest bidder.