Amazon’s October Prime Big Deal Days may look like a discount event, but media buyers are treating it as a full-funnel advertising moment. Five agencies told Digiday that client spending on Amazon Ads is up 15-40% compared with last year in the run-up to the sale, and they expect budgets to grow by as much as a third by the end of 2026.
The money is moving up the funnel
Katie Davis, director of retail marketing at Power Digital, said the growth is slower than the 40-50% jumps of previous years, settling at a more conservative 15-20% for her clients. But the mix is changing: dollars are moving from sponsored products into Amazon DSP, CTV and online video. Davis said CTV and Fire TV placements have become the standout additions to media plans.
Darren D’Altorio, svp of paid media at Wpromote, split the trend into two tracks. Endemic brands—those that sell on Amazon—are up about 30% year over year, while non-endemic brands are up around 40%. Endemic clients are staying close to search and display. Non-endemic budgets are tilting toward Prime Video and streaming audio, because those advertisers want Amazon’s audiences and retail data without selling on the marketplace.
- Amazon DSP: Tinuiti’s managed DSP spend is up 25-30% compared with 2025.
- CTV and Fire TV: the standout additions as brands chase top-of-funnel reach.
- Prime Video: Tinuiti calls it the “gateway” for non-endemic brands testing Amazon.
- Twitch and live sports: pulling incremental budgets into Amazon-owned inventory.
Why the CFO is saying yes
Amazon’s ad business remains one of the fastest-growing parts of the company. It brought in $19.8 billion in ad revenue in the second quarter, a 26% year-on-year increase. For marketers, that performance plus Amazon’s closeness to the point of purchase makes budget asks easier. D’Altorio said it is “becoming increasingly more defensible to the CFO why we should be investing there.”
Even the FTC’s investigation into Amazon’s ad auction practices hasn’t cooled demand. Tucker Matheson, co-founder at Markacy, said there had been “no impact” from the case, while Tinuiti’s Joe O’Connor said clients keep investing because the platform is performing.
Discount fatigue is the watch-out
The calendar is getting crowded. The June Prime Day event ran two days this year instead of four in 2025, and buyers say the lower sales have made brands more cautious about how they use October. PMG estimates July’s Prime Big Deal Days accounted for 3% of annual Amazon sales in the U.S., equal to 57% of last year’s longer event haul.
Some brands now use the October sale mainly to clear inventory before the holidays. Most, O’Connor said, keep their eyes on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. At the same time, average discount depth fell from 28% in 2024 to 24% last year, according to PMG, which expects sub-20% discounts to become more common as tariffs and supply chain costs squeeze margins.
What to do now
Marketers can treat Prime Day as a two-speed plan. Use the run-up to build audiences with CTV, Prime Video and DSP, then retarget engaged shoppers with sponsored products during the sale. Keep discount depth and ad spend as separate line items, so a deeper promo doesn’t quietly erase the return from higher media investment. For non-endemic brands, Prime Video is a low-risk way to test Amazon’s retail data before committing to search budgets.
Source: Digiday
