Amazon’s advertising revenue jumps 24% in the first quarter

Amazon reported 24% growth in its advertising division on Tuesday, the latest sign that the digital ad market continues to recover.

Ad revenue rose to $11.8 billion in the first quarter from $9.5 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected Amazon’s advertising business to bring in $11.7 billion, according to StreetAccount.

Amazon reported $143.3 billion in total revenue for the period, up 13% from a year ago. Although online retail and cloud computing are still big businesses for Amazon, the company is counting on ads for more growth and profit as expansion slows elsewhere.

Digital advertising companies have started to grow again after a brutal 2022, when brands scrambled to spend to keep up with inflation and rising interest rates. Meta, A click and Google parent Alphabet all reported first-quarter results last week and showed better-than-expected revenue growth, which was driven mainly by improvements in their advertising businesses.

Meta, the first of the group to announce results, reported a 27% jump in first-quarter revenue to $36.5 billion, the strongest rate of expansion since 2021.

Alphabet followed, reporting first-quarter ad revenue of $61.66 billion, up 13% from a year earlier, with YouTube ad revenue jumping 21% to $8.09 billion. The company as a whole was up 15%, a rate last seen in 2022, and shares jumped 10% on Friday, the sharpest rise since 2015.

Shares of Snap jumped 28% on Friday after the company reported a 21% increase in revenue to $1.19 billion, the strongest increase in two years. In each of the company’s last six quarters, sales have either grown by single digits or declined.

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