Commentary

Amazon Attracts Ad Dollars For Search And Brand Awareness Campaigns

Some 70% of purchases attributed to Amazon’s DSP ads are new to brand advertising, according to a recent benchmark report by Tinuiti. With this increase, performance seems to be the catalyst for higher budgets related to brand awareness and consideration for campaigns running across the marketplace.

Advertisers increased investments in Amazon’s DSP by 30% in the third quarter -- up from the prior quarter -- while CPMs rose 15%, respectively. 

The findings from the Tinuiti Amazon Ads Benchmark Report for the third quarter of 2019 are based on performance data from Amazon programs that the agency anonymized. Samples are restricted to those programs that have remained active and maintained a consistent strategy during the time periods analyzed. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are based on same-client growth.

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Advertisers during the quarter used the DSP to target customers not only on Amazon’s owned-and-operated sites, but also on other sites across the web. About 32% of the amount spent through the Amazon DSP went to sites outside of those controlled by Amazon.

Campaigns targeted at driving increases in brand awareness and consideration accounted for 42% of spend for the quarter, an increase from the 26% in the first quarter of 2019.

Year-over-year growth in ad revenue outpaced growth in the cost per click (CPC) in the U.S. Revenue generated by Sponsored Products rose 30% year-over-year, while average CPC rose by 10%. US advertisers increased Sponsored Products spend by 30% year-over-year, with an 18% increase in clicks during that time.

In countries other than the United States, marketers spend more on Sponsored Products. Spend rose 50% year-over-year and Sponsored Brands spend increased 111% year-over-year.

Advertisers increased investments in Sponsored Brands -- formerly Headline Search Ads -- in the U.S. by 19% year-over-year, driven by 16% click growth.

The CPC grew a mere 3% in the third quarter after growing 27% in the first quarter and 12% in the second.

Manual campaigns accounted for 75% of Sponsored Products spend in the third quarter -- up from 71% last year -- with the remainder attributed to automatic campaigns.

Product Targeting, which rolled out in late 2018, now accounts for 6% of all Sponsored Products manual campaign spend for the median advertiser using these targets.

This column was previously published in the Search Insider on October 23, 2019.

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