Amazon is testing a self-serve advertising API for Amazon Marketing Services that will allow brands to automate and manage their Amazon advertising campaigns.
According to Digiday, which first reported the news, the new API will offer brands a "systematic approach to adjusting and reporting campaigns and offer capabilities to automate the ways campaigns work." Ultimately, Amazon's goal is said to be to make as much of its ad offerings available via a self-serve model, which means a full suite of advertising APIs is likely.
The new API comes at a critical time for Amazon, which is fast becoming a major player in online advertising. Thanks in large part to the fact that over half of all product searches now start on Amazon, a growing number of advertisers are buying Amazon ads. Amazon's ad business just surpassed $1 billion in revenue and many expect it to increase substantially in coming years. But to fully capitalize on its advertising opportunity, Amazon needs better tools. As one ad buyer told Digiday, Amazon has "a super extensive paid search program, but tools for creating campaigns and reporting and monitoring campaigns are still basic. Any marketer wants capability or more data."
Offering APIs for Amazon Marketing Services will go a long way to giving marketers the capabilities and data they want – the biggest digital ad players have all used APIs to scale their businesses – and fortunately for Amazon, the company is no stranger to APIs thanks to offerings like AWS and Alexa.
Amazon's new advertising API is expected to be made available to all Amazon Marketing Services customers early next year.