Q: What's the third-largest digital ad business?

Just stop and think about this for a moment. Amazon is now the third-largest digital ad business. Period.

1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Amazon

However, when you ask around town at the agencies managing the largest accounts, most will tell you they are just experimenting with Amazon or hoping to add it to their plans at some point this year.

Here’s another insane stat for you. The business brought in $10 billion in 2018. T-e-n. TEN billion.

What was the forecast? $3 billion.

Just think for a moment how insane that growth is.

Amazon stands a real chance at actually displacing the GoogleBook empire because of the strategic position it has. Amazon AWS actually powers a third or more of the Internet including infrastructures that power companies like Netflix.

Add that on top of the eCommerce empire that moved $72 billion worth of merchandise over the last holiday period. The combined consumer purchase behavior plus infrastructure chops makes them a force to be reckoned with.

So where does the explosive ad revenue growth come from? It is really simple. Imagine being able to advertise direct to the customers that are explicitly known to buy your product or within the category. Also imaging that you could target them at the point of purchase on Amazon.com properties or out on the wider web.

The proof? It actually works. The ROAS is through the roof compared to GoogleBook. Otherwise, overshooting your projections by $7 billion would never happen.

Just take a moment for yourself and peruse the offering. They’ve got a little something for everyone. All the tools to make it easy for marketers to part with their money. Easily.

By the way, I should probably point out that none of this article is an ad for Amazon. We aren’t paid or compensated by Amazon in any way, shape, or form for this post.

A couple years ago, Amazon’s ad business could easily be written off as a hobby. Today? Holy crap.