Advertising has emerged as one of the most resilient engines inside Big Tech, and retail media is now driving that shift at scale. In 2025, advertising tied to commerce platforms crossed a new threshold, with Amazon’s ad business generating more than $68 billion in annual revenue.
The momentum accelerated during Q4, when ad sales rose 22% year over year, fueled by a mix of sponsored product listings and growing demand for streaming inventory. Prime Video, now firmly embedded in Amazon’s ad stack, helped push the company beyond performance marketing toward a full-funnel model that captures awareness, consideration and conversion in one ecosystem.
Executives credit this evolution for more than $12 billion in incremental revenue last year. But the success comes amid rising tension with investors, who are increasingly wary of the company’s ballooning AI-driven capital expenditures. Advertising may be growing fast — but it is now expected to justify the infrastructure behind it.
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