What sets Amazon DSP apart from other programmatic platforms is its data quality. You don’t need to rely on third-party cookies or modeled audiences—you can target real people based on actual shopping, browsing, and streaming behavior across Amazon’s vast ecosystem. It’s the kind of insight that helps you reach the right audience at the right stage of the customer journey.
Amazon is also pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with campaign attribution and optimization. The DSP leverages a range of AI-driven tools to help you target smarter, upscale creatives, and understand performance so you can allocate your budgets more effectively.
To help marketers maximize these capabilities, the Orange 142 Emerging Channels Council has created this Best Practices Guide to Amazon DSP. Our goal is to provide actionable guidance so you can plan full-funnel, multi-channel campaigns that deliver measurable results and confidently take advantage of one of the fastest-evolving platforms in digital media.
The Emerging Channels Council is a thought leadership body within Orange 142 that focuses on educating, guiding, and encouraging independent brands and agencies to experiment and excel in underutilized and innovative channels. Through collaboration, data-driven insights, and practical resources, the council will help Orange 142 clients obtain strategic growth through sustainable digital advertising practices.
To access all of the Emerging Channels Council resources, please visit: https://orange142.com/emerging-channels-hub
With millions of consumers starting their shopping journey on Amazon, brands and agencies need effective ways to reach this vast audience. Amazon DSP offers precisely that—a way to connect with Amazon's customer base through targeted advertising, even for companies that don't sell products on the platform.
What makes Amazon DSP so valuable is its data. Because it’s based on real shopping, browsing, and streaming behavior across Amazon.com, Prime Video, Fire TV, and Twitch, advertisers can target specific consumers at every stage of the buying journey. Whether introducing a product through a streaming service or retargeting high-intent users on Amazon.com or third-party sites, Amazon DSP makes it possible to deliver relevant, timely messages with precision.
And you don’t have to be an Amazon seller to benefit. Travel companies, banks, car dealerships, universities, and healthcare providers already use Amazon DSP to reach the right audiences in brand-safe environments.
Even so, Amazon has long been a platform for small and medium-sized businesses to build their customer bases and introduce consumers to their brand. According to Amazon, more than 60% of all Amazon sales come from independent third-party sellers, who average over $250,000 in annual sales. With the right strategy, advertisers of all sizes can leverage Amazon’s data and reach to grow their business, whether they sell on the platform or not.
Today, Amazon DSP is mostly used by the world’s largest advertisers, especially big CPG brands that understand where consumers shop and how to convert them. And they’re not wrong: Amazon’s average conversion rate is nearly 10%, compared to just 1.33% on non-Amazon eCommerce sites. With unified reach and frequency metrics across all properties, and access to premium media placements, Amazon DSP offers an amazing, full-funnel marketing opportunity.
Amazon DSP is growing rapidly—projections show its revenue reaching $206 billion by 2032, about ten times what it was in 2023. This growth means more opportunities and more advertisers competing for attention. Working with an experienced partner becomes increasingly valuable as the platform becomes more crowded. Orange 142 has direct access to Amazon DSP, giving advertisers entry to quality ad placements, precise targeting options, and our team's expertise in planning and managing campaigns. Whether your goal is to introduce your brand, reconnect with interested customers, or generate sales, we help maximize the effectiveness of your advertising spend.
Amazon DSP is a programmatic advertising platform that brands and agencies can use to serve ads across Amazon-owned properties and thousands of premium third-party websites and apps. It’s one of the few platforms that lets you reach consumers across the entire funnel—from awareness to conversions—using Amazon’s first-party data.
With Amazon DSP, advertisers can run full ecosystem campaigns that span:
In addition to Amazon-owned properties, Amazon DSP gives advertisers access to a massive pool of high-quality inventory across the open web. Brands can place ads on thousands of premium third-party websites and apps through integrations with other ad exchanges, including Google Authorized Buyers, OpenX, Xandr, Magnite, PubMatic, and Index Exchange.
The real power comes in the cohesive customer journey. You can continue to use Amazon’s first-party data to target customers on any of the properties reached through any of these third-party ad exchanges, websites, and apps. You can introduce a consumer to your brand on Prime Video, then retarget them while browsing a site served through OpenX. And with Amazon’s deduplicated reach and frequency metrics, you can manage exposure across channels and devices, keeping your messaging effective and your budget efficient.
Amazon DSP supports a variety of ad formats designed to meet different goals across devices and channels:
This flexibility allows you to build cross-channel campaigns that reach consumers wherever they are, whether they’re watching, listening, reading, or shopping.
With millions of shoppers beginning their purchasing journeys on Amazon.com, the Amazon DSP can benefit any brand in growth mode. The DSP combines tools, data, and scale to drive real results across the marketing funnel. You can use it to build awareness, re-engage consumers, and convert ready-to-buy shoppers. The platform delivers precision targeting, quality ad placements, and precise performance metrics—all managed through a single interface.
Amazon is more than a digital marketplace—it’s one of the world’s largest and most effective retail media networks. That matters because when people come to Amazon, they’re not just browsing casually but in a shopping mindset. They’ve already signaled intent, whether by searching for hiking boots, reading reviews, or exploring product categories.
For brands, this creates an ideal moment to connect. If someone is considering their options, your ad isn’t a disruption; it’s a helpful guide. A well-timed message doesn’t just raise awareness; it can influence the decision in real time because it reaches them while they’re actively weighing their choices.
And there’s another critical benefit to retail media: Alignment of goals. You want to introduce new customers to your brand and build loyal relationships. When Amazon helps you achieve that goal, it benefits from higher average order values (AOV). And consumers benefit from learning about new products they didn’t know were available, or didn’t realize they needed.
Amazon’s most valuable asset is its data. Unlike platforms that rely on cookies or social engagement, Amazon DSP taps into billions of real-world shopping, streaming, and browsing signals across the Amazon ecosystem, including Amazon.com, Fire TV, Prime Video, Twitch, Alexa, and Kindle.
This means you can target people based on:
But the real advantage isn’t just access; it’s insight. Amazon actively studies how these signals come together to form common customer journeys—how people discover, research, and ultimately purchase products across its ecosystem. These patterns are often shared with advertisers to help guide campaign strategy, inform messaging, and improve performance.
Amazon DSP isn’t just a retargeting tool. It supports your full customer journey, from brand discovery on Prime Video to product consideration on third-party sites, to conversion on Amazon.com or beyond. According to Amazon research:
Amazon DSP automates media buying while giving advertisers greater control. New updates in 2025 make it even easier to manage campaigns, test creative, and optimize performance:
With Amazon DSP, you can run ads across a broad mix of Amazon-owned channels, including:
Through integrations with Amazon's ad tech partners and Amazon Associates, you also gain access to third-party and affiliate websites that align with specific interests, from pet care and gardening to tech reviews and travel gear.
|
Sponsored Products |
Promote individual product listings directly in shopping results. |
|
Sponsored Brands |
Showcase multiple products and drive discovery via branded banners. |
|
Sponsored Display |
Extend reach beyond Amazon.com with interest-based targeting. |
|
Amazon DSP |
Run display, video, and audio campaigns across Amazon properties and beyond. |
|
Brand Analytics |
Access detailed insights into customer shopping and search behavior. |
Amazon DSP offers extensive targeting options, in-depth data analytics, and customizable ad formats, which require expertise to fully utilize. For new users, navigating the Amazon DSP interface and optimizing campaigns requires extensive knowledge of programmatic advertising, audience segmentation, bidding strategies, and performance metrics.
It also has a high entry cost. The self-serve Amazon DSP requires a minimum ad spend of $35,000, which might not be accessible if you represent a smaller brand.
That said, in October 2024, Amazon announced "next-generation ad tech" for its DSP, including improved usability, enhanced interoperability across Amazon ad tech, and simplified campaign optimization with AI-driven performance.
How to Respond:
Amazon DSP’s powerful targeting and automated buying tools can drive results, but without careful monitoring and optimization, these features can quickly burn through budgets.
For instance, Amazon DSP offers advanced targeting options based on demographics, interests, shopping behavior, and purchase intent. While these features enable precise audience targeting, they can also lead to higher costs if campaigns are not optimized effectively.
Automated bidding in programmatic advertising can quickly consume budgets, especially if base bids are too high or targeting is overly broad. Advertisers must actively monitor and adjust bids to avoid overspending.
Amazon DSP will require you to pace your budget carefully throughout the campaign to ensure consistent delivery and avoid spending all of your funds prematurely. On the plus side, Amazon DSP offers bid strategies, such as "Prioritize spending full budget while maximizing performance," which can help you manage pacing.
How to Respond:
While Amazon DSP excels within the Amazon ecosystem, you may find it challenging to capture audiences who discover your brand on Amazon but choose to purchase elsewhere. This happens when the consumer opts to do price comparisons or is a member of another retailer’s loyalty program. In these scenarios, you must find a way to engage these consumers outside of Amazon’s platform.
For instance, while Amazon DSP provides robust targeting options across Amazon-owned and third-party properties, its primary strength is driving conversions within the Amazon ecosystem. Advertisers must implement complementary strategies to fully capitalize on brand discovery to reach audiences who shop across multiple platforms.
How To Respond
While Amazon DSP provides rich insights within its ecosystem, cross-platform attribution can still be challenging if you want a more holistic view of the touchpoints contributing to conversions. Despite Amazon’s reach, tracking users across different devices and platforms can still be difficult. Moreover, there are still some discrepancies in attribution methodologies between Amazon and other platforms.
For instance, Amazon Attribution helps measure the impact of non-Amazon marketing campaigns on Amazon sales. Still, there’s no seamless integration with external platforms such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads. This creates a fragmented view of customer journeys across multiple channels.
Cross-device attribution is particularly challenging due to the lack of consistent identifiers across devices. This makes it hard to accurately assign credit to touchpoints in the customer journey.
How to Respond:
Amazon has a reputation for continuous innovation. It integrates advanced technologies, including AI, machine learning, and predictive analytics, into its DSP platform. These advancements will continue to improve ad performance, streamline campaign management, and provide important insights into customer behavior.
For example, Amazon's machine learning upgrades introduced predictive conversion analytics, which allow you to connect ad impressions directly to sales while maintaining transparency. This focus on AI-driven optimization makes Amazon DSP a powerful tool for campaigns that require precision and scale.
As of January 2025, Amazon DSP consolidates first-party supply across Amazon.com, Grocery online, Fire TV, Fire Tablet, Alexa, IMDb, and Twitch. This integration simplifies campaign planning by letting you manage display and online video ad campaigns across multiple Amazon-owned properties from a single interface.
Additionally, by leveraging these channels, you can achieve full-funnel reach—from awareness on streaming platforms to conversions on Amazon.com—while benefiting from Amazon’s proprietary data and insights.
Amazon DSP has introduced groundbreaking AI-powered tools, including Performance+ and Brand+, designed to optimize campaigns for distinct goals.
Performance+ drives immediate conversions by leveraging machine learning to refine ad placements and adjust real-time strategies. Brands like PepsiCo have reported a 4x Return on ROAS in prospecting campaigns and 2x ROAS in remarketing efforts using this tool.
Brand+, on the other hand, focuses on creating long-term brand awareness by integrating shopping, browsing, and streaming data to engage high-intent audiences across channels like Prime Video, Fire TV, and third-party sites.
Additionally, Amazon DSP now features Amazon Ads AI Creative Studio, which automates a variety of creatives—images, videos, and audio ads—from a single product photo or asset. This tool can reduce production costs and offer unlimited storage for creatives, among other advantages.
Amazon DSP integrates generative AI into its creative workflows with features such as automatic asset upscaling. This ensures that image assets meet resolution requirements for premium placements (e.g. Amazon Shopping App) without extra effort or cost. You can preview and approve the upscaled assets directly within the DSP interface, streamlining the creative process and helping campaigns reach more high-quality inventory.
Amazon has also integrated generative AI into Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) with tools like the SQL Generator. This feature lets you create audience segments using natural language prompts, reducing query development time from hours to minutes.
In January 2025, Amazon rolled out new Campaign and Creative APIs that let advertisers automate DSP campaign management, from setup and performance tracking to optimization. These APIs integrate seamlessly with existing tech stacks, making it easy to sync data and automate real-time updates. This means you can dynamically adjust bids, budgets, and targeting parameters based on live performance data without needing to intervene manually.
Amazon DSP is expected to introduce immersive ad formats such as augmented reality (AR) ads and voice-enabled ads integrated with Alexa. These innovations will further enhance personalization and interactivity in advertising campaigns while expanding reach across emerging platforms.
As privacy rules tighten and consumers become more mindful of how their data is used, you’ll need to be thoughtful about targeting and measuring campaigns. Amazon DSP makes this easier by relying on its own first-party data, which it collects from shopping, browsing, and streaming behavior, rather than third-party cookies. It also enforces strict data policies and privacy protections, so that you can stay compliant while still delivering effective, relevant ads.
As of February 2025, Amazon enforces stricter consent requirements for all third-party data uploads to ensure they align with global privacy regulations. You must include mandatory country codes and consent strings for all data you upload to the platform. Consent strings must follow one of three formats: IAB’s Transparency & Consent Framework, Amazon Consent Signal, or Global Privacy Platform. Data lacking proper consent documentation will be automatically rejected, ensuring compliance with frameworks like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
These measures ensure that advertisers using third-party data meet the highest transparency and user consent standards, reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties.
We’ve discussed Amazon’s first-party data advantage throughout this guide, but it’s worth repeating again. Nearly 61% of US consumers begin their product searches on Amazon, giving the platform unparalleled access to buyer intent and purchase behavior data. Unlike other platforms that rely heavily on third-party cookies (which major browsers are phasing out and consumers opt to block), Amazon remains largely unaffected by these changes.
One of the biggest advantages of Amazon’s first-party data is how clearly it shows what people are interested in and what they’re likely to buy. You can use insights from browsing history, search behavior, and past purchases to build more personalized campaigns that reach the right audience at the right time.
Amazon DSP incorporates robust privacy features to protect user data while maintaining transparency:
These features ensure that your brand complies with global privacy regulations and instill trust with consumers by giving them control over personal information.
Amazon DSP can provide a robust suite of tools to measure your campaign performance and attribute conversions. Amazon is one of the world’s largest retail media networks, and as such, it knows which users see ads and which users convert. It also tracks important metrics and applies sophisticated attribution models that help you understand the effectiveness of your campaigns.
|
Metric |
Definition |
Why Important? |
|
Impressions |
The total number of times your ad was displayed. |
Indicates the reach of your campaign and helps assess visibility. |
|
Click-through Rate (CTR) |
The percentage of impressions that resulted in clicks. |
Measures how compelling your ad is to the target audience. |
|
Cost per Click (CPC) |
The average cost incurred for each click on your ad. |
Helps evaluate the cost-efficiency of your campaign. |
|
Conversion Rate |
The percentage of clicks that result in a desired action (e.g., purchase). |
Reflects how effectively your ad drives results. |
|
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) |
Revenue generated per dollar spent on advertising. |
Provides a high-level view of campaign profitability. |
|
View-Through Conversions (VTC) |
Tracks conversions after users view an ad without clicking on it. |
Helpful in measuring brand influence and awareness. |
|
New-to-Brand Metrics |
Tracks first-time purchases from customers new to your brand. |
Helps gauge customer acquisition success. |
These metrics help you identify strengths and weaknesses in your campaigns in real time, thereby maximizing your ad spend.
Amazon DSP offers attribution models to help you understand how different interactions contribute to conversions. These models also provide insights into the customer journey, so you can better allocate marketing resources.
|
Model |
Definition |
Why Use? |
|
Last-Touch Attribution |
Credits the last interaction before a conversion for the sale. |
Simple and effective for identifying direct drivers of conversions, especially for retargeting campaigns. |
|
First-Touch Attribution |
Credits the first interaction with an ad for the sale. |
Helpful in identifying which touchpoints effectively drive initial interest or awareness. |
|
Linear Attribution |
Distributes credit evenly across all touchpoints in the customer journey. |
Provides a balanced view of how each interaction contributes to conversions. |
|
Time-Decay Attribution |
Assign more credit to touchpoints closer to the conversion event and less to earlier ones. |
Highlights interactions that are most influential as customers approach conversion. |
|
Modeled Attribution |
Uses machine learning to estimate conversions from anonymous or unmeasured supply sources. |
Accounts for off-Amazon conversions, providing a more holistic view of campaign impact. |
Amazon DSP’s default attribution model is 14-day last-touch attribution, but recent updates have introduced modeled attribution capabilities, which provide more comprehensive insights by accounting for off-Amazon conversions.
Modeled Attribution for Off-Amazon Conversions
In August 2024, Amazon DSP introduced modeled attribution for off-Amazon conversions, allowing you to measure the full impact of your campaigns across recognized and anonymous supply sources.
This feature combines directly measured and modeled conversions into unified reporting, so you can get a holistic view of campaign performance, even when direct links between ad interactions and conversion events are unavailable.
Key Features:
This update helps marketers assess ROI across all channels while maintaining compliance with privacy regulations.
Amazon Attribution lets you see how ads running outside of Amazon—e.g., Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or Instagram—drive traffic and sales on Amazon. By adding a simple tracking tag to your external ads, you can measure key actions like clicks, product page views, add-to-cart activity, and actual purchases. It’s a great way to understand how your full marketing mix works together.
Key Features:
In 2025, Amazon will roll out its new multi-touch attribution, a significant upgrade from the traditional last-touch attribution method. This model distributes credit across multiple marketing touchpoints to help you get a holistic view of the customer journey.
By leveraging machine learning and analyzing trillions of shopping, streaming, and browsing signals, MTA offers more profound insights into how different ad interactions contribute to conversions.
Amazon’s MTA introduces several key features designed to enhance measurement accuracy and campaign optimization:
|
Feature |
Description |
Why it Matters |
|
Full-Funnel Visibility |
Tracks all touchpoints leading to a conversion, from upper-funnel ads (e.g., Streaming TV) to lower-funnel ads (e.g., Sponsored Products). |
Provides a comprehensive view of how different ad formats contribute to conversions. |
|
Conversion Path Reporting |
Displays the top-performing conversion paths over a 30-day window. |
Helps advertisers identify which combinations of ads drive the most conversions. |
|
AI-Driven Insights |
Uses machine learning to assign proportional credit to each touchpoint based on its role in the conversion. |
Ensures more accurate attribution compared to single-touch models, improving budget allocation. |
|
Long-Term Impact Analysis |
Measures how upper-funnel strategies influence future sales beyond immediate conversions. |
Enables smarter investment in awareness-stage campaigns that drive long-term growth. |
Amazon’s MTA model analyzes customer interactions across various ad formats and channels within Amazon’s ecosystem:
Multi-touch attribution (MTA) gives you a complete picture of how your ads work across the entire funnel, from awareness to conversion. It helps you see how top-of-funnel tactics like Streaming TV or Sponsored Brands contribute to sales, so you can make smarter decisions about where to invest your budget. With better visibility into long-term impact, you can more accurately measure ROI and confidently plan future campaigns.
Amazon DSP offers powerful tools for reaching your ideal customer across Amazon properties and third-party sites. These tips will help you get the most out of your campaigns, from strategic planning to measurable outcomes.
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