Amazon Sponsored Ads Benchmark Report: Q1 2022
Another day, another ad, and they are not going away anytime soon. Amazon continues to dominate retail media ad revenues, and this year, brands do not plan on holding back. This article examines Amazon sponsored ad efficacy, through advertising-related KPIs, for the first quarter of 2022, which includes the weeks of December 27 to January 1 and through March 31 to April 3.
The last section of the report compares and contrasts Amazon advertising metrics from the first quarter of 2021 with this year’s metrics so that brands can more adequately allocate their advertising budgets for a more profitable first quarter of 2023.
The goal of this quarterly Amazon advertising benchmark report is to provide brands, sellers, and agencies with data and insights on how to better understand the state of advertising on Amazon so that they can adjust their strategies accordingly.
Methodology
The report’s findings are supported by insights gleaned from 1,194 active and anonymized DataHawk user accounts from Amazon’s US Marketplace. Note that the trends and figures in this report are not meant to represent a holistic view of advertising performance on Amazon. Each KPI uses median and weekly values. As a reference, the ad spend interquartile range (IQR), which measures the spread of the middle half of the data, ranges between $250.53 to $3,485.62, and the weekly average price IQR spans between $17.75 to $41.28.
Keep in mind that the trends and figures in this report neither represent the collective performance of Amazon advertising nor the experience of every brand advertising on Amazon, as each benchmark is based on the median of each metric. Nevertheless, the figures are relatable and relevant to a larger share of sellers compared to referencing an average or quartile.
Sponsored Products Ads Dominate
Based on the share of accounts using each Amazon sponsored ad campaign, 55% of them use Sponsored Brands Video ads, 65% use Sponsored Brands ads, 66% use Sponsored Display ads, and 98% use Sponsored Products ads.
Brands spend significantly more on Sponsored Products ads than all other ad types among the four Amazon sponsored ad campaigns. This can be seen in the graph below, which demonstrates how the average share of ad spend weighted by sponsored type for the first three months of the quarter did not vary and followed a similar pattern.
Weekly Median CTR and CPC
Throughout the first quarter of 2022, the weekly median CTR maintained a flat trend line with a weekly average of 0.38%, while the weekly median CPC followed an increasing trend line between December 28th, 2021, and April 4th, 2022.
Interestingly, ad spend for Amazon sponsored ads does not follow a similar trend as CTR. For instance, though marginally, CTR was the highest in February, whereas ad spend for all sponsored ads increased in January and decreased notably the following month.
Knowing which times during the first quarter of the year CPC is at its lowest can help brands launch more profitable ad campaigns in the years that follow. Cost-per-click growth weakened from its December highs in 2021 and reached a low of $0.91 during the week of January 18th to the 24th.
However, CPC grew by the end of the first quarter, climbing back up to $0.99. Given that Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl come shortly after this dip in CPC, Amazon brands should consider launching more CPC ad campaigns during that week to promote their products and increase sales.
Weekly Conversion Rate by Ad Type
Despite brands investing substantially more of their advertising budgets on Sponsored Products ads, Sponsored Brands Video ads yielded the highest weekly Amazon conversion rates throughout the first quarter of the year.
Sponsored Brands Video ads experienced notable peaks of 12% conversion rates during the weeks of January 11th to the 17th and March 1st to the 7th, while the weekly average conversion rate for all sponsored ads remained 9.3% for the first quarter.
Sponsored Display ads were the only ad campaign that did not follow an upward-sloping trend line. Additionally, aside from Sponsored Display ads, all other ad types saw an increase in conversion rates during the week of February 8th to the 14th.
Given that this is the same week that CPC was at its lowest, it may be a good idea for brands to increase their ad spend during the week of February 8th, specifically for Sponsored Brand ads and Sponsored Brands Video ads in 2023.
Weekly Median ACoS by Ad Type
Much like throughout 2021, Sponsored Display ads were the most pricey ad type during the first quarter of 2022, with an average Amazon ACoS of roughly 56%, while the average ACoS for all other ad types was 34%.
Though beyond compare, the sponsored ad campaign with the second-highest ACoS is Sponsored Brands ads, and although marginally, Sponsored Products ads had the lowest ACoS of 31.5% during the week of February 8th to the 15th.
Weekly Median RoAS by Ad Type
Aside from two weeks during the first quarter (January 11th to the 17th and March 22nd to the 28th), Sponsored Products ads were the most profitable ad type, with a weekly average Amazon RoAS of 3.2x.
During the two weeks that Sponsored Products ads did not yield the highest return on ad spend, Sponsored Brand Video ads did, with a RoAS of 3.12x in January and again in March with a RoAS of 3.07x.
On the other hand, Sponsored Display ads generated the lowest RoAS all quarter long. Overall, the trend line appears to increase as the quarter progresses, with a slight dip from February 15th to the 21st.
In all, throughout the first quarter, brands selling on Amazon should consider increasing their ad spend for Sponsored Brand ads and Sponsored Products ads from February 8th to the 14th, as that is the week that yields the highest return on ad spend at large, presumably the time when shoppers are purchasing their Valentines Day gifts.
Sponsored Ads Q1 2021 vs. Q1 2022
Brands, sellers, and agencies can reference the following weekly average summary metrics to benchmark KPIs, assess ad campaign efficacy, and gauge the overall performance of their Amazon Sponsored ad campaigns. When comparing the weekly average Amazon advertising metrics from the first quarter of 2021 with this year, a few things stand out:
- RoAS decreased from 3.46x (Q1 2021) to 2.92x (Q1 2022)
- ACoS increased by 17% from 29.79% (Q1 2021) to 34.93% (Q1 2022)
- CTR remained the same with an average weekly click-through-rate of 38%
- CTR increased by 15% from 0.33% (Q1 2021) to 0.38% (Q1 2022)
- Conversion rate decreased by 8% from 9.88% (Q1 2021) to 9.05% (Q1 2022)
Despite a majority of weekly average metrics decreasing compared to last year’s first quarter, it is essential to note that CTR increased, and while conversion rate and RoAS decreased, they did so marginally relative to other metrics.
Conclusion
For the most part, the sales revenue attributed to all other sponsored ad campaigns during the first quarter of 2022 coincided with ad spend. With the exception of Sponsored Products ads, all other sponsored ad campaigns increased ad spend in January and saw a subsequent growth in ad sales that same month. Similarly, brands on Amazon decreased ad spending in February, which was reflective of sales revenue as it was the month that generated the least sales.
While sponsored ad campaign spending decreased in February for all ad types, conversion rates predominantly increased that same month. Perhaps if brands decided to allocate more of their advertising budgets to sponsored ads in February instead of allocating the lowest amount of their ad budgets, they might see a significant increase in conversion rates.
It goes without saying that rising inflation has undoubtedly influenced advertising, causing ad prices to climb increasingly. However, the comparative findings illustrated in the chart above suggest that although sponsored ad campaigns deployed during the first quarter of 2021 were more effective, the 15% increase in CTR indicates that ads have just as much potential to reach more online shoppers notwithstanding a decrease in clicks.
Click here to download the complete 2021 Amazon Advertising Benchmarks Report
Click here to download the complete 2022 Q2 Amazon Advertising Benchmarks Report
Click here to download the complete 2022 Q1 Amazon Advertising Benchmarks Report
