Amazon’s advertising business grew 26% year over year during the second quarter of 2026, reaching $19.8 billion in revenue and growing faster than the company’s overall business. The results reflect a business that has expanded well beyond sponsored product listings. Amazon is combining retail media, streaming television, live sports, and AI into a single advertising platform that reaches consumers throughout the buying process.
Amazon Keeps Adding Reasons for Advertisers to Spend More
Sponsored Products remains Amazon’s largest advertising business, but it is no longer the only reason marketers invest in the platform. Amazon’s advertising growth is coming from several established businesses working together: retail media, Prime Video, Twitch, live sports, and AI-powered campaign tools.
Live sports have become one of Amazon’s biggest advertising advantages. Prime Video now carries NFL Thursday Night Football, the NBA, the WNBA, NASCAR, and other premium events. Amazon reported that advertising inventory for those properties sold out during the quarter, reflecting strong demand from brands looking for large streaming audiences.
Sports also strengthen Amazon’s retail business. Advertisers running campaigns across multiple sports achieved 2.3 times greater unduplicated reach than single-sport advertisers, while viewers watching multiple sports spent more and placed more orders on Amazon. Those results give marketers a business case for moving additional television budgets toward Prime Video.
Streaming television extends Amazon’s reach beyond live events. Through Amazon DSP, advertisers can buy inventory across Prime Video and third-party streaming services while using Amazon’s audience data and measurement tools. They can reach viewers through streaming television and then measure how those campaigns influence shopping activity on Amazon.
AI Is Becoming Part of Every Campaign
AI is influencing both campaign management and consumer engagement. Ads Agent automates campaign creation, targeting, and optimization while reducing both cost per impression and cost per acquisition for participating advertisers. Amazon expanded the product into 11 additional countries during 2026, making those capabilities available to more advertisers.
Ads Agent also reduces the amount of time marketers spend managing campaigns. Instead of manually adjusting bids or refining targeting rules, they can devote more attention to creative strategy, audience development, and measurement.
Amazon is also applying AI to the shopping experience. Sponsored Prompts and conversational shopping formats encourage consumers to interact with products before purchasing. Amazon reported stronger conversion rates and higher average order values from shoppers using those experiences.
Video Advertising Is Becoming Shoppable
Streaming television has traditionally excelled at building awareness. Amazon wants it to drive transactions as well. Interactive video ads on Prime Video and Fire TV allow viewers to learn more about products, add items to their shopping carts, or claim offers without interrupting the program they are watching. Amazon is also testing personalized connected TV advertising that adapts creative based on shopping behavior.
Those capabilities move streaming beyond traditional television advertising. Brands can connect video impressions directly to shopping activity instead of relying primarily on reach and frequency metrics.
Retail Media Still Powers the Business
The newer initiatives receive most of the attention, but Amazon’s retail media business continues producing consistent growth. Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display remain the foundation of Amazon Ads, while the company’s newer investments create additional opportunities to reach consumers before they begin shopping. Retail media captures existing demand. Streaming television, sports, and video advertising create new demand. AI improves performance across both.
What Advertisers Should Do
Amazon’s growth reflects more than strong execution. It reflects a platform that is giving advertisers more ways to build awareness, generate demand, and measure sales in one place. Advertisers should adapt their strategies to take advantage of those capabilities.
First, plan campaigns across Amazon’s entire advertising portfolio instead of treating retail media and streaming television as separate investments. Prime Video can introduce a brand to new audiences, while Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands convert that interest into sales.
Second, allow Amazon’s AI tools to manage routine campaign optimization. Automation is becoming increasingly effective at bidding, targeting, and campaign execution. Marketing teams will create more value by focusing on creative development, audience strategy, and measurement.
Third, rethink creative for connected television. Interactive and personalized advertising requires different creative than traditional television commercials. Brands should design video that encourages viewers to take immediate action while preparing multiple creative versions that Amazon can match to different audiences.
Looking Ahead
Amazon’s advertising business has expanded well beyond retail media. The company is assembling an advertising platform that combines mass reach, shopping intent, first-party data, and AI within a single environment. Each new investment makes the platform more valuable because every part reinforces the others.
The opportunity for advertisers extends beyond buying another media channel. Amazon increasingly allows marketers to build awareness, generate demand, capture purchases, and measure business outcomes without leaving the same platform. That is becoming one of the company’s strongest competitive advantages, and it helps explain why advertising continues growing faster than Amazon itself.
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Image source: Rubaitul Azad, Unsplash
