Amazon’s advertising business grew 18% in the fourth quarter

Amazon’s online advertising business logged $17.29 billion in the fourth quarter, up 18% from a year ago. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were expecting Amazon to report ad revenue of $17.4 billion.

The online retail giant revealed its latest advertising sales results Thursday as part of its fourth-quarter earnings. The company said fourth-quarter sales were $187.79 billion, which was ahead of analysts’ estimates of $187.3 billion. But the company’s shares fell on disappointing guidance for the current quarter.

Amazon’s online advertising unit has grown considerably over the years and is the third-biggest platform in the global digital advertising market, trailing Alphabet and Meta, respectively, according to data provided to CNBC by Emarketer.

Meta on Jan. 29 reported fourth-quarter sales that rose 21% year over year to $48.39 billion.

Alphabet reported its fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday and said its Google advertising sales and YouTube ad revenue came in at $72.46 billion and $10.47 billion, respectively, representing an 11% and 14% increase from the prior year.

As part of Microsoft’s latest quarterly earnings, revealed Jan. 29, the enterprise tech giant said its search and news advertising sales increased 21% year over year. Microsoft does not disclose that unit’s specific quarterly sales figures.

Also on Thursday, Pinterest reported fourth-quarter sales of $1.15 billion, representing an 18% increase from the prior year during the same period.

Snap on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter sales rose 14% year over year to $1.56 billion.

Reddit will report its latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday.

Watch: Growth in AWS is key to Amazon’s earnings story