Amazon's Advertising Business Shows Significant Growth
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 1 hour ago
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Should l Buy AMZN?
Source: Yahoo Finance
- Advertising Revenue Surge: Amazon's Q1 advertising services revenue reached $17.2 billion, marking a 24% year-over-year increase, with a consistent 22% growth rate over the last four quarters, indicating strong growth potential that enhances the company's profitability.
- High Margin Contribution: Although Amazon does not disclose advertising operating income, it is widely perceived as a high-margin business, and its growth is expected to bolster overall earnings, particularly given the low-margin nature of its retail segment.
- Strategic Partnership Expansion: Amazon deepened its partnership with Netflix through the Amazon Audiences feature, allowing advertisers to leverage proprietary signals from Amazon's shopping and streaming platforms, thereby broadening the reach and effectiveness of its advertising platform.
- AI Tool Innovations: The introduction of AI tools like CreativeAgent, which assists brands in planning ad creatives, and the expansion of Rufus, its shopping assistant, which saw monthly active users increase by over 115%, demonstrates how AI-driven shopping experiences are providing new growth momentum for the advertising business.
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Analyst Views on AMZN
Wall Street analysts forecast AMZN stock price to rise
44 Analyst Rating
41 Buy
3 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 268.260
Low
175.00
Averages
280.01
High
325.00
Current: 268.260
Low
175.00
Averages
280.01
High
325.00
About AMZN
Amazon.com, Inc. provides a range of products and services to customers. The products offered through its stores include merchandise and content it has purchased for resale and products offered by third-party sellers. The Company’s segments include North America, International and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It serves consumers through its online and physical stores and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. Customers access its offerings through its websites, mobile apps, Alexa, devices, streaming, and physically visiting its stores. It also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablet, Fire TV, Echo, Ring, Blink, and eero, and develops and produces media content. It serves developers and enterprises of all sizes, including start-ups, government agencies, and academic institutions, through AWS, which offers a set of on-demand technology services, including compute, storage, database, analytics, and machine learning, and other services.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Advertising Revenue Growth: Amazon's first-quarter advertising services revenue reached $17.2 billion, marking a 24% year-over-year increase and achieving 22% currency-neutral growth over the past four quarters, indicating strong growth potential for its advertising business that could significantly support future profitability.
- High-Margin Business: Although Amazon does not disclose advertising operating income, it is widely regarded as a high-margin business, and given the low margins of retail, the growth of the advertising segment is expected to enhance overall profitability, pushing the company's operating margin to a historic high of 13.1% in Q1.
- Strategic Partnership Expansion: Amazon deepened its partnership with Netflix by launching the Amazon Audiences feature, allowing advertisers to leverage signals from Amazon's shopping and streaming platforms, thereby expanding the reach of its advertising platform and enhancing ad effectiveness.
- AI Tool Innovations: Amazon expanded Creative Agent to seven additional countries and introduced sponsored product and brand prompts within its AI shopping assistant Rufus, which saw monthly active users grow over 115% and engagement increase nearly 400% year-over-year, indicating that AI-driven shopping experiences will provide sustained growth momentum for its advertising business.
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- Advertising Revenue Surge: Amazon's Q1 advertising services revenue reached $17.2 billion, marking a 24% year-over-year increase and a 22% growth on a constant-currency basis, indicating strong market demand and the potential of its advertising business.
- High Margin Impact: While Amazon does not disclose advertising operating income, it is widely viewed as a high-margin business, expected to significantly enhance overall profitability, especially given the low-margin nature of its retail segment, thus providing an additional earnings catalyst.
- Technological Innovation and Partnerships: Amazon has deepened its partnership with Netflix and expanded local advertising collaboration with Comcast Advertising, while also launching interactive video ads and the AI creative assistant CreativeAgent, which enhances ad effectiveness and user engagement.
- Future Growth Potential: With Q1 operating margin hitting a record high of 13.1%, CEO Andy Jassy emphasized that AI-driven shopping experiences will create more opportunities for advertising, suggesting that the advertising segment will continue to play a crucial role in future growth.
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- Advertising Revenue Surge: Amazon's Q1 advertising services revenue reached $17.2 billion, marking a 24% year-over-year increase, with a consistent 22% growth rate over the last four quarters, indicating strong growth potential that enhances the company's profitability.
- High Margin Contribution: Although Amazon does not disclose advertising operating income, it is widely perceived as a high-margin business, and its growth is expected to bolster overall earnings, particularly given the low-margin nature of its retail segment.
- Strategic Partnership Expansion: Amazon deepened its partnership with Netflix through the Amazon Audiences feature, allowing advertisers to leverage proprietary signals from Amazon's shopping and streaming platforms, thereby broadening the reach and effectiveness of its advertising platform.
- AI Tool Innovations: The introduction of AI tools like CreativeAgent, which assists brands in planning ad creatives, and the expansion of Rufus, its shopping assistant, which saw monthly active users increase by over 115%, demonstrates how AI-driven shopping experiences are providing new growth momentum for the advertising business.
See More
- AI Investment Opportunity: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated that the company's massive AI spending reflects a once-in-a-generation opportunity that is expected to drive long-term growth and returns, despite investor skepticism regarding this strategy.
- Capital Expenditure Plans: Amazon plans to invest $200 billion in capital expenditures in 2023, primarily focused on AI infrastructure; this announcement initially caused a stock price drop, but shares recovered within two months and reached a new record high.
- Cloud Growth: Jassy highlighted that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is projected to generate $166 billion in revenue in 2023, indicating that the company is investing in the right areas, with significant returns expected from its AI investments.
- Cash Flow Outlook: Although negative free cash flow is anticipated by 2026, Jassy emphasized that Amazon's investment strategy involves upfront capital expenditures that will lead to profitability over time, similar to the early growth phase of AWS.
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- Market Decline: The S&P 500 index fell by 0.41%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 1.13%, and the Nasdaq 100 index decreased by 0.21%, reflecting investor concerns over escalating tensions in the Middle East, which dampened market sentiment.
- Oil Price Surge: WTI crude oil prices surged over 4% following exchanges of fire between the US and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, raising inflation expectations and pushing bond yields higher, with the 10-year T-note yield reaching a five-week high of 4.46%.
- Strong Economic Data: US March factory orders rose by 1.5% month-over-month, exceeding expectations of 0.6%, marking the largest increase in four months, indicating economic resilience that could provide support to the stock market.
- Earnings Optimism: As of Monday, 82% of the 322 S&P 500 companies that reported Q1 earnings exceeded estimates, with projected earnings growth of 12% year-over-year for Q1, although excluding the technology sector, the growth is only 3%, highlighting performance disparities across sectors.
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