Amazon made more than $600m from advertising last year and is on track to make $835m in 2013, thanks to knowing what we buy and not having to share the wealth. The numbers come from eMarketer and are only educated guesses as Amazon doesn't publicly share its figures. The logic is sound, though, and if the trend continues then …

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Thursday 6th June 2013 10:26 GMT Oliver Mayes

Their targeted ads aren't the best

I set up a new account, bought a copy of the Divine Comedy. Came back a few weeks later and there was one item in my 'Suggested Items' list... a mop.

How they came to that conclusion I have no idea.

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1. Thursday 6th June 2013 11:19 GMT Lee D
  
  Re: Their targeted ads aren't the best
  
  When your mop breaks next week, you won't be laughing.
  
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2. Thursday 6th June 2013 11:22 GMT gbru2606
  
  Re: Their targeted ads aren't the best
  
  Since your post, I guess you've been dealing with the burst pipe at home, and cursing Amazon as you faff about with some j-cloths on your hands and knees.
  
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  1. Thursday 6th June 2013 17:09 GMT Spoonsinger
    
    Re: Their targeted ads aren't the best
    
    Umm, have you ever done some late night browsing at say ebay, or overclockers, and five minutes later you get an e-mail from amazon saying something like 'Yeh!, we also do this". It's almost like the are watching you.
    
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3. Thursday 6th June 2013 19:49 GMT Voland's right hand
  
  Re: Their targeted ads aren't the best
  
  First of all, you are mistaking suggested items for adverts. Amazon supplies ads to 3rd parties like the daily mash.
  
  Their ads are spot on and based on your amazon browsing history as much as shopping history and wish-lists. Definitely way better than Google. I have clicked on an amazon ad more than once in the last year.
  
  As a comparison - last time I have clicked on a google ads was many years ago. It was before the ad scum took over and the old statistic science "dumb ass" engine was replaced by the semi-realtime "smart ass". That was the day when their ads stopped being relevant for anyone but the most "obvious" target demographics.
  
  Amazon ads are where Google used to be. You may get weird results when the dataset is small. Once the dataset grows above a certain size their precision becomes uncanny. As expected - think of Google of old, just working of a much better dataset.
  
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  1. Friday 7th June 2013 14:36 GMT Mark 110
    
    Re: Their targeted ads aren't the best
    
    Kind of annoying having to look at ads for the thing you bought three weeks ago everywhere you go. I do need AdBlock switched back on.
    
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Thursday 6th June 2013 11:57 GMT Anonymous Coward

What Ads?

I don't see no stinking Ads? Adblock-plus and Noscript to the rescue once again.

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1. Thursday 6th June 2013 19:53 GMT Voland's right hand
  
  Re: What Ads?
  
  Amazon ads are usually not blocked by adblock and noscript for their target audience. Remember - they work off amazon browsing and shopping records. So if you are target audience you are likely to have amazon and cloudfront whitelisted. Check, mate.
  
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Thursday 6th June 2013 12:50 GMT ADJB

It's not that much of a stretch to say the whole site is one giant advert.

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Thursday 6th June 2013 19:34 GMT h3

Amazon don't really have to do anything.

They are making money in loads of places they don't need to bother putting advertising on mobile.

If they are making 600 Million and they expect to be making quite a lot more anyway next year they don't have to change anything.

Amazon seems to understand that not massively irritating your customers is a good strategy.

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1. Friday 7th June 2013 00:33 GMT Charles 9
  
  Except if the PC presence shrinks, so does the ad visibility. The ads show up on PCs, NOT mobiles. To avoid losing their ad visibility, they need to start migrating the ads. I suspect they'll take this a step at a time, perhaps starting with tablets where there's more real estate to spare and then move on to phones as their resolutions increase.
  
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