Amazon just hit another major milestone:
In Q2 2025, its ad business generated a record-breaking $15.69 billion in revenue—accounting for 9.36% of Amazon’s total revenue. At this pace, advertising will soon surpass 10% of Amazon’s entire business by the end of the year.
That’s not a small side hustle. That’s a core pillar of the world’s biggest e-commerce platform.
But what does this mean for sellers? Let’s break it down.
The Big Shift: From Storefront to Ecosystem
Much of Amazon’s ad revenue remains from sponsored search ads — the ones that dominate shopping results pages. But Amazon is no longer confining itself to its own search bar.
They’re growing quickly — serving ads on Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV, and even off-platform buys on services like Roku and Disney.
What began as a shopping media channel is now an end-to-end advertising system with reach to more than 300 million customers worldwide.
This evolution allows your ads to now accompany shoppers far beyond the Amazon mobile app — where they watch, play, and stream.
The Growing Cost of Visibility
But this explosive growth has a price — and it’s mostly being paid by third-party sellers.
Today, visibility on Amazon increasingly requires paid placement. Organic reach is becoming harder, slower, and less reliable. Sellers who once scaled through smart SEO or great products alone are now facing a brutal truth: if you’re not paying, you’re not playing.
And it’s not just about running ads — it’s about running them profitably.
With rising CPCs (cost-per-clicks) and increased competition, many sellers now find themselves paying over 50% of their total revenue in fees—including fulfillment, referral, and ad spend.
The Silver Lining
Despite the cost pressure, there’s also massive upside.
With Amazon’s expanding ad infrastructure, you’re no longer limited to just converting ready-to-buy customers — now you can build brand awareness, retarget, and reach audiences across the entire funnel.
Amazon is positioning itself not just as a marketplace but as the infrastructure for global e-commerce—and advertising is becoming its engine.
That’s powerful for brands that know how to leverage it.
The Bottom Line
Amazon Ads are no longer something you can skip. They’re not an extra you can afford to ignore.
They’re now a must-have if you want to stay in the game.
To compete effectively, you need to treat Amazon PPC as a key part of your business plan — not just a cost, but a way to grow and get more visibility.
But there’s a problem: without the right skills in PPC, you’ll lose money quickly.
Most accounts we look at are spending 20–40% or more of their ad budget wasted — usually because of bad targeting, weak optimization, or no clear strategy.
That won’t last.
So if you’re trying to grow, you need to either hire someone with PPC expertise or work with an agency that knows how to get results in Amazon’s changing ad world.
In 2025 and beyond, the top brands won’t just be the ones with the best products — they’ll be the ones that really know how to use performance advertising on Amazon.
