On April 27, 2023, Amazon released its earnings for the first quarter of 2023.
In a nutshell:
- Amazon generated total revenue of $127.4 billion in Q1
- Advertising revenue increased 23% Y/Y to $9.509 billion
- Amazon's online advertising business continues to grow strongly and is increasingly taking a competitive position against companies such as Google and Meta
Amazon's ad revenue up 23% Y/Y in Q1 2023
Amazon's advertising business continued to perform well in Q1 2023, with revenue of $9.5 billion, up 23% year-over-year. This growth was largely attributed in Amazon's earnings report to the company's ongoing investment in machine learning.
Overall, Amazon's performance in the first quarter of 2023 suggests that the company is well positioned to deliver further growth in advertising and e-commerce. CEO Andy Jassy also states in the earnings report that Amazon's advertising business continues to experience robust growth. Investments in machine learning and customer experience have delivered strong results for Amazon, even in a challenging economic environment.
Amazon on track for success while Google and Meta lag behind
While Amazon was able to increase its advertising revenues by 23% Y/Y, Meta reported an increase in advertising revenues of only 4.3% year-on-year to $28.1 billion. Google's parent company Alphabet reported a decline in advertising revenues of less than 1% Y/Y to $54.5 billion in the past quarter.
Despite a declining trend in the digital advertising industry, particularly evident at Facebook and Google, Amazon's advertising business remains on a sustained strong growth trajectory. Amazon is increasingly becoming a competitor for the established giants of the digital advertising world, such as Facebook and Google.
The latest quarterly figures clearly show the importance of the platform for advertisers. With an e-commerce business that holds considerable potential thanks to its rapid growth, Amazon plays a decisive role in the digital advertising market.
