Amazon's Ad Invasion: Resistance is Futile for 96% of Americans, 25–54

C. Amazon's Advertising Services

90. In 2014, Amazon sought to "unleash monetization of Amazon web pages devices, and mobile apps" (redacted) Amazon saw (redacted). Accordingly, Amazon (redacted) Amazon also (redacted). Amazon was determined (redacted)

91. In 2021, Amazon recorded advertising profits of more than (redacted) in the United States.

92. Each month, adve1tisements on Amazon reach 96% of all Americans between the ages of 25 and 54.

93. Amazon's (redacted) advertisements are shown in connection with specific customer search queries that lead to Search Results Pages. Historically, Amazon's Search Results Pages displayed mostly organic search results-the results most directly responsive to the search query.

94. Today, however, Amazon's Search Results Pages are cluttered with advertisements. The (redacted) types of advertisements on Amazon’s Search Results Pages ”Sponsored Brand” Advertisements, which appear above search results, and “Sponsored Products“ advertisements, which appear within search results, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Search Results Page with Sponsored Brand and Sponsored Product Advertisements Highlighted in Red, Desktop Browser.

95. These advertisements typically occupy the most desirable space on the Search Results Page (redacted). Since (redacted)% of Amazon shoppers do not click past the first Search Results Page, they often see more Sponsored Brand and Sponsored Products advertisements than organic search results.

96. At the same time, Amazon typically buries organic search results beneath advertisements, making them harder to find and less likely to be clicked. In Figure 8a (desktop), no organic search results appear in the first row. The first four results are "Sponsored" advertisements, and the fifth is another non-organic result known as a "recommendation widget." In Figure 8b (mobile), the top two results are "Sponsored" advertisements, and the third is a recommendation widget.

Figure 8a. First Row of Search Results with Sponsored Product Advertisements Highlighted in Red, Desktop Browser.

Figure 8b. Search Results Page with Sponsored Product Advertisements Highlighted in Red, Mobile App.

97. For shoppers on mobile devices, Sponsored Brand and Sponsored Product advertisements are often the only results visible without scrolling, as shown in Figure 8c.

Figure 8c. Search Results Page Showing Visible Screen, Mobile App.