Research shows how video ads help enhance organic product rankings on Amazon

Understanding video's impact on organic rankings

For brands selling on Amazon, achieving strong organic rankings remains a key challenge. This is particularly true in emerging countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia (KSA), where competition continues to intensify. Organic rankings represent a valuable form of unpaid media, offering increased visibility and potential sales without ongoing costs. This makes strategies to improve organic positioning especially attractive to brands looking to maximize their return on investment. This analysis provides data-backed insights to help inform your video advertising strategy and potentially improve your products' organic visibility on Amazon's digital shelf.

Recent analysis of over 10,000 products across Amazon.ae and Amazon.sa reveals how video advertising may contribute to improved organic rankings.¹ The study examined daily ranking positions while controlling for various factors including advertising spend, sales, and retail media metrics.

Key findings for UAE and KSA

The data demonstrated that products featuring video ads achieved 117% better ranking performance compared to those without in the UAE.² The benefits of video advertising were even more dramatic in KSA. Products utilizing video ads showed an extraordinary 18.3x better positioning overall.

We further analyzed groups of brands by looking at their starting position during the analysis period to understand how they had moved over time. We discovered that brands who initially started at the bottom had the highest acceleration with those incorporating video ads showing 3.83x better positioning than launches without video content.³ New product launches therefore stand to benefit a great deal by using video ads to accelerate their organic growth.

The overall improvement in ranking performance for products with video ads suggests that UAE consumers are highly responsive to this form of advertising. This could be attributed to the UAE's tech-savvy population and high smartphone penetration rates, which make video content more accessible and engaging for potential customers. These improvements indicate that video content is particularly effective in capturing the attention of UAE and KSA consumers and influencing their purchasing decisions.

Strategic implications for your business

For brands introducing new products, timing is crucial. Video ads may help accelerate organic ranking growth for new products, potentially enabling faster market visibility and customer discovery. This is particularly important in the first 90 days of launch when establishing initial rankings.

Our analysis shows video ads may deliver significant ranking improvements across markets and categories. Further analysis across different categories revealed distinct performance patterns in both the UAE and KSA. In the UAE, products with video ads showed substantial ranking improvements across categories, with consumables achieving 98% better ranking positions and hardlines demonstrating an even stronger 138% improvement in rankings.⁴ KSA showed particularly impressive results in the hardlines category, where products with video ads achieved 11x better ranking positions compared to those without, highlighting the significant potential for video advertising in this country.⁵

Performance by category and locale for brands exposed vs. not exposed to video

KSA shows particularly strong potential benefits from video advertising, suggesting early adopters may gain significant advantages. With lower video ad adoption rates in KSA compared to UAE, this presents a unique opportunity for brands to differentiate themselves in this evolving landscape.

To help optimize your video advertising strategy, there are several key approaches to consider. First, prioritizing video ads for new product launches can potentially accelerate organic ranking growth during crucial initial market entry. Second, focusing on products currently ranking in lower positions (51+) may yield the strongest potential for improvement, as data shows these positions demonstrate the most significant gains from video advertising. Finally, it's important to implement video ads as part of an integrated marketing strategy alongside other advertising solutions, creating a comprehensive approach to improve visibility and performance on Amazon.

Take action today

The data demonstrates that brands utilizing video advertising may achieve faster improvements in their organic rankings, which could lead to increased visibility and sales potential. As the landscape continues to evolve and competition intensifies, video advertising could be a key differentiator for your brand's success on Amazon.

Sources

¹ Amazon internal, UAE, KSA, 2024.

^2–5 Statistical Significance: UAE: Highly significant (p < 0.01) KSA: Significant in non-parametric testing (p = 0.0084). KSA: 2,171 Products. UAE: 8,661 Products. Time Period: January 1–December 31, 2024.