As it continues to grow as the third largest digital advertising platform, Amazon is now set to begin selling video ad spots on its mobile app. Adding mobile video ads to the company’s inventory is Amazon’s effort to expand their presence in the $129 billion digital advertising market that is currently dominated by Facebook and Google.
Amazon’s new video ads are reported to run on both iOS and Android smartphone devices and will populate users’ search results pages based on their queries, just as its static ads currently perform. These brief video ads will autoplay when a user scrolls to them, but it will require the user to trigger the sound.
Video marketing has been trending for a few years now as users are seen watching more and more video content online. Adding the option for mobile video ads to the company’s advertising products is a way for Amazon to grab a piece of the mobile video advertising market, which is expected to increase this year as brands further shift their focus from static content to video content to capture users’ attention.
Amazon currently generates 50 percent of all online sales in the United States, making its digital advertising products especially powerful. Amazon’s mobile video ads also have the chance to target users who typically already have the intent to purchase products when scrolling through the app, unlike with Facebook or Google where users may just be scrolling through their news feeds or watching YouTube videos with no initial intent of purchasing products.
With Amazon becoming a strong advertising platform for brands, the addition of video ads on its mobile app was the obvious next step as they continue to compete with Facebook and Google. Currently still in testing, Amazon’s mobile video ads have the potential to become powerful tools for brands.