Key Takeaways
- Amazon offers five core Amazon ad types: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, Sponsored TV, and Amazon DSP, each designed for specific goals across the funnel.
- Sponsored Products remain the highest-performing format for direct sales and ranking boosts, while Sponsored Brands and Display support mid-funnel engagement and brand discovery.
- Sponsored TV is now fully self-serve , with no minimum spend, making it accessible for both Amazon sellers and non-sellers looking to run CTV campaigns.
- Amazon DSP offers advanced programmatic capabilities for brands with larger budgets, allowing precise targeting across Amazon and external channels with full-funnel tracking.
- Measurement tools like Amazon Marketing Cloud, Brand Lift, and Attribution are essential for tracking NTB impact, retargeting ROAS, and optimizing cross-campaign performance in 2026.
In 2026, the Amazon advertising platform has become a primary source of revenue for brand owners, especially as more sellers adopt a structured Amazon PPC strategy to compete in crowded marketplaces.
Currently, there are 5 primary Amazon ad types for sellers, brands, and agencies. Understanding the difference between Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, DSP, and the newly launched Amazon Ads TV is essential to compete and scale.
This guide breaks down all major Amazon ad types, formats, costs, targeting options, and strategic applications. By the end of this blog, you’ll have a tactical playbook to run the type of Amazon ads that are most related to your business objectives and goals.
What Do Amazon Ad Types Mean?
Amazon ad types and campaigns refer specifically to paid media formats that involve bidding, audience targeting, and performance tracking. These formats function as auction-based placements within the Amazon Advertising Console or Amazon DSP. They generate impressions and clicks in real-time auctions and are designed to drive measurable marketing outcomes such as conversions, awareness, or retargeting.
The recognized types of Amazon advertising include Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, Amazon streaming TV ads, and Amazon DSP.
How Many Amazon Ad Formats Are There in 2026?
There are 5 primary Amazon ad types in 2026:
- Sponsored Products
- Sponsored Brands
- Sponsored Display
- Sponsored TV
- Amazon DSP
From Amazon headline search ads to Amazon product display ads, each of the Amazon advertising solutions plays a unique role in the customer journey. Advertisers must understand which type aligns with their campaign goal, budget, and available creative assets to make sure the advertising is profitable.
1. Amazon Sponsored Product Ads
What are Amazon Sponsored Product Ads?
Amazon Sponsored Product ads drive direct sales and improve ranking when supported by data-driven Amazon PPC keyword research and targeting strategies.
Where Amazon Sponsored Product Ads Appear?
Amazon Sponsored Products ads appear in:
- Top-of-search Amazon ads placements
- Product detail pages
- Category and carousel placements
What Are the Targeting Options for Amazon Sponsored Product Ads?
In Amazon product ads, advertisers can choose any from the 3 available targeting options:
- Automatic targeting, where Amazon uses listing and behavioral data
- Manual targeting, including keywords, ASINs, and categories
- Audience targeting, Reach specific shopper segments based on demographics, lifestyle interests, and purchase behaviors, similar to Amazon product display ads audience strategies but optimized within Sponsored Products.
What is the average CPC for Amazon Sponsored Product Ads?
Amazon-sponsored products run on the CPC model and typically cost about $1 per click but it may rise or decrease depending on category competition. Campaigns optimized with relevant keywords and Buy Box control can yield 4x to 5x ROAS. Conversion rates range between 9% and 12%, and this Amazon ad format often accounts for 60% to 80% of total ad spend on Amazon.
What Are the Best Practices for Running Amazon Sponsored Product Ads?
Best practices for running Amazon Sponsored Product ads include:
- Launching auto campaigns to find out the search terms that are bringing conversions
- Then, running manual campaigns on those winning terms with exact match
- Using placement multipliers to boost top-of-search exposure
- Targeting competitor ASINs to capture the market share
Avoiding common mistakes advertisers make with Amazon Sponsored Product ads can significantly improve campaign performance.
Amazon Sponsored Product Ads Are Ideal For:
This type of Amazon paid advertising is ideal for:
- New sellers launching their first products and using Sponsored Ads to support an Amazon product launch strategy
- Private Label Brands Competing in Search Results
- Sellers Launching New Products or Variations
- Established Sellers Looking to Scale Sales
- Sellers Running Promotions or Seasonal Campaigns
2. Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads
What are Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads?
Amazon Sponsored Brand ads, also known as Amazon headline search ads, allow sellers to showcase brand identity alongside multiple ASINs or a Store page. These ads appear as the Amazon ad banner at the top of search results and serve to engage shoppers higher in the funnel.
What are the Types of Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads?
There are three Amazon ads sponsored brand formats:
- Product Collection: A brand logo, custom headline, and up to three ASINs
- Store Spotlight: Promotes different subpages of your Amazon Store
- Sponsored Brands Video: Autoplay video ads placed in search results
To use Amazon advertising sponsored brands, you must be enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry and have a live Store with at least three subpages.
What is the Average CPC for Amazon Sponsored Brands Ads?
While the average CPC for Amazon sponsored brands ads, also referred as headline search ads Amazon is 20% to 30% higher than Sponsored Products, they deliver stronger upper- and mid-funnel performance. Sponsored Brands Video frequently drives 2x the click-through rate of static ads. Campaigns often see 60% to 75% of traffic come from new-to-brand shoppers.
Amazon Sponsored Brand Ads Are Ideal For:
Use Sponsored Brands when you want to:
- Tell your brand story visually
- Cross-sell related products
- Guide traffic to high-converting Store subpages
- Defend branded search terms
Pro Tip: For Sponsored Brands Video, always add captions since most users view without sound. Amazon’s autoplay format helps drive attention, especially for product demos and feature callouts.
3. Sponsored Display
What is Amazon Sponsored Display?
Through Amazon display advertising, advertisers can expand reach beyond Amazon.com using dynamic targeting. It’s the only Sponsored ad type with access to both on-Amazon and external display inventory.
Where Does Amazon Display Advertising Appear?
Amazon display advertising appear:
- On product detail pages
- Within Amazon carousels
- On external apps, websites, and Twitch
What Are the Targeting Options for Amazon Product Display Ads?
Amazon advertising Sponsored Display offers two main targeting methods:
- Contextual targeting: Target by product, category, or competitor ASINs
- Custom audiences: Advertisers can import audiences from Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) to build precise remarketing and prospecting strategies.
- Audience targeting: Reach shoppers based on prior behavior such as product views, purchase history, demographics, lifestyle segments, and now AMC-powered custom and lookalike audiences.
What Is the Average Amazon Display Ads CPC?
The average Amazon display ads CPC typically ranges from $1.50 to $3.00+ per click in the U.S., depending on targeting strategy, category competition, and audience demand. However, Amazon Sponsored Display ads have no minimum spend requirement, and advertisers can set flexible budgets. According to Amazon Ads, campaigns can run on CPC or vCPM models.
Amazon Display Advertising Platform is Ideal for:
- Retargeting shoppers who viewed but didn’t buy
- Protecting your product pages by targeting your own ASINs
- Reaching competitor traffic with ASIN-based conquesting
- Prospecting with in-market and lifestyle audience segments
4. Sponsored TV
What are Amazon Sponsored TV Ads?
Amazon ads streaming TV is Amazon’s most recent ad innovation, offering video placement across Prime Video, Fire TV, Freevee, and Twitch. What sets Sponsored TV apart is that it’s fully self-serve, has no minimum spend, and doesn’t require a Seller Central account.
Ad specs for Amazon Streaming ads TV include:
- 15–30 second non-skippable video format
- CPM pricing model
- Targeting by interest, genre, or audience behavior
Amazon Sponsored TV Ads Are Ideal For:
You can run Amazon ads streaming TV campaigns even if you don’t sell on Amazon. It’s ideal for:
- DTC brands seeking awareness on connected TVs
- New product launches that need visual storytelling
- Seasonal campaigns for events like Prime Day or Black Friday
It’s best paired with other video formats like Sponsored Brands Video or DSP OTT to create a full-funnel video strategy, which is why many brands invest in Amazon ads video advertising services to produce optimized creatives for these placements.
Sponsored TV is especially effective for upper-funnel impact, delivering large-screen reach with Amazon audience data precision without needing to commit to DSP.
5. Amazon DSP
What is Amazon DSP?
Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform) is Amazon’s enterprise-grade programmatic platform for brands seeking full-funnel and cross-channel reach. Unlike Sponsored Ads, which live only in the Amazon Ads Console, DSP Amazon Ads allow advertisers to reach audiences across Amazon properties and the open web.
What Ad Formats Can You Run with Amazon DSP?
This is one of the Amazon ad formats through which you can run:
- Display ads on and off Amazon
- Streaming TV (OTT) on Fire TV, IMDb, Twitch
- Audio ads on Amazon Music and Alexa-enabled devices
- Video ads embedded within third-party publisher content
Who Should Use Amazon DSP Advertising?
Amazon DSP campaigns are best suited for:
- Brands with higher ad budgets (managed DSP starts at ~$50K)
- Advertisers want granular audience segmentation
- Brands with creative assets like videos, rich media, or a branded Amazon ad banner
- Retargeting campaigns across devices and placements
What Advanced Targeting and Reach Capabilities Does Amazon DSP Offer?
Amazon DSP allows advertisers to target shoppers using Amazon’s first-party data, such as purchase history, browsing behavior, Prime membership, and customer interests. Advertisers can also create lookalike audiences or exclude previous buyers to avoid showing ads to existing customers. In addition, Amazon DSP supports off-Amazon reach, frequency capping, sequential messaging, and geo-targeting across different devices.
What Amazon Ad Type Should You Use?
Choosing the right Amazon ad type on the Amazon ads portal depends on your campaign goal, available creative assets, and advertising budget. The decision is not one-size-fits-all. Different combinations of Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, Sponsored TV, and DSP campaigns solve different objectives along the Amazon ads funnel.
Select Amazon Ad Types Based on Your Goal:
Below is a goal-driven framework to help advertisers pick the Amazon ad type that aligns with their goals:
- Drive sales for a new ASIN
Use Sponsored Products for ranking, SB Video for storytelling, and Sponsored Display ads Amazon (retargeting) to recover non-converting traffic.
- Increase brand recall and visibility
Use Sponsored TV for upper-funnel impact, DSP Display for scalable awareness, and SB Product Collection to introduce multiple ASINs.
- Retarget traffic from your DTC site or Amazon views
Use Sponsored Display (audience segments) or Amazon DSP remarketing with shopping signal-based targeting.
- Cross-sell products to existing customers
Use Sponsored Brands Collection to promote product bundles and SD contextual targeting to reach category-relevant pages.
- Run omnichannel brand campaigns
Use Amazon DSP for programmatic reach, Sponsored TV for CTV awareness, and SD interest-based segments to reinforce across channels.
- Operate under $1K monthly ad budget
Use Sponsored Products ads Amazon for efficiency and SB Amazon Sponsored Video ads (low CPC, high CTR) to stretch reach on minimal spend.
- Run campaigns without any video assets
Use SP for performance, headline ads Amazon (SB Collection) for mid-funnel navigation, and SD Product Targeting for defense and conquesting.
Creative Specs Quick Reference (2026)
Before launching any Amazon campaign, advertisers need to ensure their creative assets meet Amazon’s 2026 ad spec standards. These specs affect eligibility, delivery, and performance. Understanding the technical and creative requirements of each ad type helps improve approval rates and campaign impact.
Creative Requirements by Ad Format:
The table below will help you understand the creative requirements of each ad type:
| Ad Type | Format | Duration |
| Sponsored Brands Video | Silent autoplay | 6–45 seconds |
| Sponsored TV | Non-skippable | 15–30 seconds |
| Sponsored Display (Custom) | Display ads with optional lifestyle creative | |
| Amazon DSP Video Ads / Audio Ads | OTT: Full-screen videoAudio Ads: Audio spot with companion Amazon ads banner/image | OTT: 15–30 sec videoAudio: 10–15 sec |
Each of these types of Amazon ads requires adherence to Amazon’s ad policy and asset quality standards. Failing to meet size, duration, or caption requirements can lead to delivery issues or rejection.
How to Measure the Success of Amazon Ad Types in 2026?
Amazon advertisers who are good at Amazon store advertising don’t just launch campaigns, they measure, analyze, and optimize. Amazon has expanded its analytics stack in 2026 to include New-To-Brand (NTB) metrics, Amazon Marketing Cloud analytics for cross-campaign attribution and audience insights, Amazon Attribution, and Marketing Stream. These tools offer actionable insights into shopper behavior, time-based performance, and funnel impact.
Key Measurement Tactics for Amazon Online Ads in 2026:
- New-To-Brand (NTB) Tracking
Monitor NTB shoppers in Amazon Ads Console and analyze granular attribution paths in Amazon Marketing Cloud to gauge upper-funnel efficiency.
- Brand Lift Studies
Run Amazon Brand Lift surveys for Sponsored TV and Amazon DSP campaigns to measure shifts in awareness and recall across segments.
- Retargeting Performance
Use Sponsored Display reporting to evaluate audience engagement, ROAS by view window, and CTR uplift from retargeted traffic.
- Cross-Campaign Attribution
Connect Sponsored Brands → Sponsored Products → conversion trails in AMC, especially useful for multi-touch journeys across ad types.
- Dayparting & Amazon Ads Placement Insights
Use DSP or AMC to analyze performance by time-of-day or day-of-week to optimize ad scheduling for high-intent periods.
- Off-Amazon Measurement
Enable Amazon Attribution for Facebook, Google, or email traffic driving to Amazon listings, and monitor real-time data with Marketing Stream for faster campaign adjustments.
Understanding these measurement tools helps advertisers prove return on ad spend, scale what works, and eliminate inefficiencies across channels and audiences.
Conclusion
Running Amazon store ads the right way means knowing how to use each Amazon ad type to your advantage. Our team at AMZDUDES specializes in building Amazon PPC management strategies that bring the results you are desiring for.
We manage campaigns that grow visibility, boost sales, and scale your brand with data-backed strategies. If you want a team that knows the Amazon ecosystem inside out, we have been doing the same for Amazon brands with our expert-driven Amazon PPC management services.
Book a free strategy call now.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are headline search ads on Amazon?
Headline search ads Amazon is the former name for what is now called Sponsored Brands. These ads appear at the top of Amazon search results and feature a brand logo, custom headline, and multiple products or a Store link, helping sellers increase brand visibility and drive higher new-to-brand traffic.
2. Do I need to be Brand Registered to run Sponsored Brands ads?
Yes. To run Sponsored Brands campaigns, you must be enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry and have an active Amazon Store with at least three subpages.
3. How should advertisers choose the right Amazon ad type?
The right format depends on your objective, budget, and creative assets. Sponsored Products are ideal for sales and ranking, Sponsored Brands and Display support mid-funnel engagement, Sponsored TV drives awareness, and DSP enables large-scale omnichannel campaigns with advanced targeting.
4. Which Amazon ad type is best for driving direct sales?
Sponsored Products are best for driving immediate sales and improving organic ranking. They appear in search results and product pages, operate on a CPC model, and typically deliver the highest conversion rates among all Amazon ad formats.
5. What Is the Difference Between Amazon Sponsored Products vs Sponsored Brands?
The difference between Amazon Sponsored Products vs Sponsored Brands is mainly in how ads appear and what they promote. Amazon Sponsored Products vs Sponsored Brands campaigns serve different goals: Sponsored Products promote individual listings within search results and product pages, while Sponsored Brands highlight a brand logo, headline, and multiple products to increase overall brand visibility.
