Amazon Q1 Ad Revenue Leaps 24% to $11.8 Billion, Helped by Prime Video's Addition of Commercials

Advertising sales for the quarter were up 24% year over year and marked a new Q1 record. The ad revenue beat Wall Street expectations for the quarter of $11.7 billion, according to StreetAccount.

"Our advertising efforts continue to benefit from the growth of our Stores and Prime Video businesses," CEO Andy Jassy said in announcing earnings. On the earnings call, he told investors, "It's very early for streaming TV ads but we're encouraged by the response."

The growth rate of the company's already sizable digital ad biz has outpaced the likes of Meta and Alphabet. "Amazon's advertising growth has bested its large internet peers over the last year or so," Morningstar senior equity analyst Dan Romanoff wrote in a research note.

In his annual letter to Amazon shareholders this month, Jassy announced that Prime Video has more than 200 million monthly viewers and touted the service's addition of advertising starting Jan. 29. In the U.S. alone, the company has told marketers that Prime Video reached an estimated 115 million monthly viewers. To date, Prime Video ads have launched in the United States, the U.K., Germany, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Spain and Mexico.

"Streaming TV advertising is growing quickly and off to a strong start," Jassy said in the letter. He also boasted of Prime Video's "continued development of compelling, exclusive content," calling out its exclusive NFL "Thursday Night Football" games, the "Lord of the Rings" series, "Reacher," "The Boys," "Citadel" and "Road House." In the recent quarter, Amazon announced that Prime Video will stream its first NFL Wild Card playoff game in January 2025.

In February, a lawsuit filed against Amazon on behalf of Prime Video users accused the company of false advertising and deceptive practices over the change by Prime Video to serve ads unless customers pay $2.99/month more. (Amazon has declined to comment on the suit.)

Amazon reported total video and music content expense in Q1 of $4.6 billion, up from $4.0 billion in the year-earlier period.

Amazon, in its earnings announcement, said Amazon MGM Studios released 20 films and series in the first quarter. Those included the debut season of post-apocalyptic video-game adaptation "Fallout," which attracted more than 65 million viewers worldwide to become the second most watched title ever on Prime Video in its first 16 days of release. The company also touted Jake Gyllenhaal's "Road House" as pulling in more than 50 million viewers worldwide in its first two weekends streaming on Prime Video (the biggest debut ever for an Amazon MGM Studios-produced film); "Hazbin Hotel," which had the most total global viewers on its opening weekend for a new animated series on Prime Video; and "The Beekeeper," which ranked in the top-10 of theatrical releases by revenue globally in the first quarter.

In addition, the company called out its deal with mega-influencer MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, who is the most-subscribed YouTube creator, for reality-competition series "Beast Games." In the show, 1,000 contestants will compete for a $5 million prize, which believed to be the largest single cash prize ever in TV or streaming history.

Overall, the company topped quarterly expectations. Amazon posted revenue of $143.3 billion, up 13% and an all-time high in Q1, and net income of $10.4 billion, or 98 cents per share. Wall Street analysts on average expected the company to report revenue of $142.5 billion and earnings per share of 83 cents, according to financial data provider LSEG.

Revenue from Amazon's subscription services grew 11% in the period to $10.72 billion. The segment includes annual and monthly fees associated with Amazon Prime memberships, as well as digital video, audiobook, digital music, e-book and other non-AWS subscription services.

Earlier Tuesday, Amazon announced the general availability of Amazon Q, which it claims is "the most capable generative AI-powered assistant for accelerating software development and leveraging companies' internal data."

AWS, Amazon's cloud computing division, saw revenue rise 17% to $25.0 billion and operating income soar 84% to $9.4 billion. "AWS has transitioned from stabilization to growth, with AI contributing meaningfully," Morningstar's Romanoff commented.

Pictured above: Prime Video's "Fallout"