Amazon’s advertising business reported slower revenue growth in the third quarter of 2026, with ad services revenue increasing 11% year-on-year to USD 19.6 billion, compared with USD 17.7 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. The growth was significantly lower than the 26% recorded in Q2, as the shift in Prime Day’s timing affected advertising revenue.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the change in Prime Day’s schedule had an 850-basis-point sequential impact on year-on-year advertising growth. The event was held in the second quarter this year across most major markets, compared with the third quarter in 2025.
The company also attributed the slowdown to the absence of NBA games on Prime Video during Q3, following their contribution to advertising growth in the previous quarter. Additionally, Amazon faced a tougher comparison against Q3 2025, when changes to its search engine marketing programmes had supported traffic generation and advertising monetisation.
Despite the moderation, Jassy said the company remained pleased with the momentum across its advertising portfolio. Advertising contributed approximately 9.7% of Amazon’s total net sales during the quarter, compared with 9.8% a year earlier.
Amazon expects advertising revenue to grow in the high teens year-on-year in the October-December quarter. Its advertising revenue stood at USD 21.3 billion in Q4 2025.
Amazon strengthens AI-led advertising capabilities
Alongside its financial performance, Amazon expanded its AI-powered advertising solutions during the quarter. The company introduced Amazon Ads Agent, an AI-first platform designed to bring together its advertising offerings and use shopping, browsing and streaming signals to generate insights and support campaign management.
It also rolled out Full-Funnel Campaigns to all advertisers in the US, integrating sponsored ads, display, video and streaming TV into a single campaign. Advertisers can provide inputs such as budgets and campaign duration, while AI supports campaign planning, execution and optimisation.
Addressing the potential impact of third-party AI shopping agents on Amazon’s advertising business, Jassy said their influence remained limited, with relatively few consumers currently using such tools for shopping.
On Prime Video, the fifth season of Thursday Night Football averaged 17.7 million viewers across its first six games, according to Nielsen, representing a 16% increase over the previous season’s full-season average.
Other business segments record growth
Beyond advertising, Amazon’s third-party seller services revenue increased 9% year-on-year to USD 46.5 billion, while subscription services revenue grew 11% to USD 14 billion. Revenue from online stores rose 2% to USD 68.5 billion.
The company’s overall net sales increased 12% to USD 201.9 billion. Amazon said revenue growth would have been approximately 400 basis points higher without the impact of Prime Day’s shift between quarters.
Operating income rose to USD 28.1 billion from USD 17.4 billion in the year-ago period, with the operating margin reaching 13.9%, its highest level on record.
For the fourth quarter, Amazon expects net sales in the range of USD 240 billion to USD 247 billion, with operating income projected between USD 28.5 billion and USD 33.5 billion.
