Amazon DSP: Complete Guide to Amazon Programmatic Advertising

Amazon DSP is Amazon Ads’ demand-side platform for programmatically buying digital advertising across display, video, audio, and Streaming TV inventory. In 2026, Amazon moved the capabilities historically associated with Amazon DSP into Amazon Ads Agent, where programmatic controls are available through DVA+ and advanced settings. Existing campaigns, audiences, reporting, and pricing structures continue under the new experience.

Amazon DSP can be used by advertisers that sell products on Amazon and by advertisers that do not sell on Amazon. Depending on the campaign and market, advertisers can reach audiences across Amazon properties and third-party publishers, use Amazon audience signals, and direct traffic to Amazon product pages, Brand Stores, custom landing pages, or external websites.

This guide explains what Amazon DSP is, how Amazon programmatic advertising works, how Amazon DSP audiences and targeting work, campaign structure, ad formats, buying methods, costs, measurement, Amazon Marketing Cloud, India-specific considerations, and how Amazon DSP compares with other advertising options.

What Is Amazon DSP?

Amazon DSP is a demand-side platform that enables advertisers to buy digital advertising programmatically across multiple types of inventory. Amazon defines a demand-side platform as technology that automates and centralizes media buying from multiple sources. Amazon DSP has supported display, video, audio, and Streaming TV advertising across Amazon properties and third-party publishers.

What does DSP stand for?

DSP stands for Demand-Side Platform. A DSP is technology that helps advertisers buy digital advertising inventory programmatically instead of manually negotiating every individual ad placement. A simplified relationship is:

Advertiser → DSP → Ad opportunity → Auction/deal → Publisher inventory → Ad impression

For example, a brand selling running shoes can use a DSP to reach relevant audiences across websites, apps, video environments, and streaming services rather than relying only on people actively searching for running shoes.

Is Amazon DSP still available in 2026?

Yes, but Amazon’s product architecture has changed. Amazon states that Amazon DSP has evolved into Amazon Ads Agent. The programmatic capabilities that advertisers previously used through Amazon DSP now sit within the Amazon Ads Agent experience, including audience targeting, frequency management, deal IDs, and custom bidding through DVA+ and advanced settings.

This distinction matters because “Amazon DSP” remains an important search and industry term, while “Amazon Ads Agent” is the current platform name.

What Is Amazon Ads Agent?

Amazon Ads Agent is Amazon’s unified advertising platform that brings sponsored advertising and programmatic capabilities into a single AI-powered advertising experience. Amazon announced the new platform name at unBoxed 2026 on September 29, 2026. Amazon Ads Agent currently includes campaign experiences for:

• Sponsored Ads
• Display, Video, and Audio
• Full-Funnel Campaigns

The platform adds conversational AI assistance for campaign creation, optimization, audience development, creative and analytics.

What is DVA+?

DVA+ is Amazon Ads Agent’s Display, Video, and Audio campaign experience. Amazon describes DVA+ as a simplified way to reach audiences across streaming TV, online video, display, and audio on Amazon properties and the open internet. Advanced settings provide additional programmatic control.

Important availability note. Amazon’s current DVA+ launch documentation lists DVA+ as being in extended closed beta in the United States and says international expansion is planned through Q4 2026, with general availability across 35 markets targeted for Q1 2027. Therefore, marketers in India should not assume that every DVA+ feature described in U.S. documentation is already generally available in India.

How Does Amazon DSP Work?

Amazon DSP works by allowing advertisers to define an objective, audience, inventory, creative, budget, and bidding strategy and then use programmatic technology to buy eligible advertising opportunities. A simplified workflow is:

1. Define the advertising objective.
2. Select or build audiences.
3. Choose campaign and inventory settings.
4. Upload or create advertising assets.
5. Set budget and bidding parameters.
6. Enter eligible programmatic buying opportunities.
7. Win eligible impressions through auctions or deals.
8. Serve the ad to the selected audience.
9. Measure outcomes.
10. Optimize the campaign based on performance.

Amazon’s India documentation describes the advertiser as the top-level entity and organizes campaign activity around campaign goals, budgets, KPIs, audiences, and ads.

Example: how a footwear campaign could work

A footwear brand wants to promote a new running shoe. The advertiser could define a conversion or sales objective, build audiences related to running and relevant shopping behavior, choose display or video inventory, upload the creative, set the campaign budget, and then evaluate metrics such as reach, frequency, engagement, conversions, and return on advertising spend. The exact targeting, inventory, bidding, and measurement options depend on the campaign type, account configuration, market, and available Amazon Ads features.

What Is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of digital advertising inventory using technology. A DSP allows advertisers to evaluate available ad opportunities and buy eligible inventory according to audience, contextual, placement, bidding, budget, and other campaign criteria. Programmatic advertising can involve several technologies:

Entity	Primary role
DSP	Helps advertisers buy digital advertising inventory
SSP	Helps publishers offer advertising inventory
Ad exchange	Facilitates buying and selling of advertising opportunities
Ad server	Helps manage and deliver advertising
Advertiser	Provides the campaign, audience, creative, and budget
Publisher	Provides the advertising opportunity

What is RTB?

RTB stands for Real-Time Bidding. RTB is a programmatic buying process in which eligible advertising opportunities can be evaluated and auctioned in real time. For example, when a user loads a webpage containing an available advertising placement, programmatic systems can evaluate the opportunity against advertiser targeting and bidding rules. An eligible advertiser can then compete for that impression. RTB is only one part of programmatic advertising. Other buying arrangements can include private marketplace deals and programmatic guaranteed inventory.

What Are Amazon DSP Ad Formats?

Amazon’s programmatic advertising capabilities support multiple formats, including display, video, audio, and Streaming TV. Amazon’s India documentation specifically describes multimedia advertising across desktop, mobile, and connected devices.

Format	What it is	Typical use
Display	Visual ads such as banners or responsive formats	Awareness, consideration, retargeting
Online video	Video advertising delivered in online video environments	Product and brand storytelling
Audio	Audio advertising	Reach users while listening
Streaming TV	Video advertising in streaming environments	Broad reach and brand building

The exact inventory and available formats can vary by market and campaign configuration. Amazon explicitly notes that some advertising options and features vary by region.

Where Can Amazon DSP Ads Appear?

Amazon programmatic advertising can reach audiences across Amazon properties and third-party inventory, depending on campaign type and eligibility. Amazon documentation describes inventory across Amazon websites, apps, devices, and sites and apps that Amazon does not own. Potential environments include:

• Amazon properties
• Prime Video
• Twitch
• IMDb
• Fire TV and connected devices
• Websites and mobile applications
• Third-party publisher inventory
• Streaming TV environments
• Online video environments

The exact inventory available to a campaign depends on market, format, audience, supply, campaign settings, and eligibility.

Who Can Use Amazon DSP?

Amazon DSP can be used by advertisers that sell products on Amazon and by advertisers that do not sell products on Amazon. Amazon explicitly states that Amazon DSP is available to both groups. Amazon DSP can therefore be relevant to:

• Amazon sellers
• Consumer brands
• D2C brands
• Agencies
• Non-endemic advertisers
• Brands seeking display, video, audio, or streaming reach

A non-endemic advertiser does not need to sell a product on Amazon simply to use Amazon’s advertising audience and inventory capabilities. However, specific features, destinations, audiences, and measurement options can have eligibility requirements.

How Does Amazon DSP Audience Targeting Work?

Amazon DSP audience targeting allows advertisers to reach or exclude audiences using Amazon audience segments and custom audiences. Amazon’s India documentation describes prebuilt Amazon audiences, custom first-party audiences, and custom third-party audiences.

• In-market audiences: customers who have recently shown shopping behavior associated with a product category. Amazon describes these audiences as customers who are “in the aisle” and have recently shopped for products in a category. For example, a consumer recently researching or shopping within a relevant electronics category could be part of an in-market audience for an electronics campaign.
• Lifestyle audiences: group customers using aggregated shopping and viewing behaviors to represent broader interests or lifestyles. Amazon gives examples such as Foodies, Sports Enthusiasts, and Tech Enthusiasts.
• Interest audiences: designed around recurring browsing and buying interests. Amazon’s documentation provides examples such as Interior Design and other interest-based categories.
• Life-event audiences: designed around significant life moments or situations, such as traveling soon.
• Custom audiences: allow advertisers to build audience definitions using eligible first-party or third-party data. Amazon’s India documentation says custom audiences can be created using first-party or third-party data and identifies several eligibility rules for audience migration and use.

How Should Amazon DSP Audiences Be Structured by Funnel Stage?

Amazon recommends differentiating audiences according to the purchase journey, including awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty. Amazon’s current audience documentation gives examples for each stage.

Funnel stage	Audience approach	Example
Awareness	Relevant category, interest, or lifestyle audiences	People interested in fitness
Consideration	Customers researching related products/categories	People browsing similar products
Conversion	Product viewers or similar-product viewers	Users who viewed relevant products
Loyalty	Existing purchasers	Customers who previously purchased

This structure helps separate prospecting from lower-funnel activity. A sportswear brand could use broader fitness and lifestyle audiences for awareness, category shoppers for consideration, product-view audiences for conversion, and existing purchasers for loyalty. The exact audience definitions should be based on the campaign objective, available audience signals, product category, and account eligibility.

What Is Amazon DSP Retargeting?

Amazon DSP retargeting is the practice of reaching audiences who have already interacted with relevant products, brands, or digital experiences. Retargeting is generally used to re-engage people who are further along the purchase journey than a broad prospecting audience. Amazon’s current audience documentation includes product-view and similar-product-view audiences within its conversion-stage examples. A simplified structure is:

Prospecting → Product/category interest → Product view → Purchase → Loyalty

Retargeting should not automatically receive the majority of a campaign budget. The appropriate allocation depends on audience size, conversion economics, objective, frequency, and incremental value.

What Is Amazon DSP Campaign Structure?

Amazon DSP campaign structure organizes an advertiser’s objectives, budgets, audiences, ads, and delivery settings into manageable campaign components. Amazon’s India documentation states that an advertiser is the top-level entity and that campaigns organize advertising goals, budgets, and KPIs. A simplified structure is:

Advertiser → Campaign → Ad Group → Audience / Targeting → Ads / Creative

• Advertiser: the top-level entity that can contain campaigns, audiences, and ads.
• Campaign: defines the broader advertising objective, budget, and KPI framework. Campaign-level planning should establish what business outcome the campaign is designed to influence.
• Ad group: organizes targeting and advertising settings used to deliver ads to a selected audience or inventory strategy. Amazon’s India documentation uses ad groups as part of campaign setup and describes ad review as occurring after an ad is attached to an ad group.
• Creative: the actual advertising asset shown to the audience. Amazon’s ad review documentation says most ads are designed outside Amazon DSP, while certain Amazon tools and templates can create specific ad types.

What Are Amazon DSP Buying Methods?

Programmatic buying can use different transaction types depending on the inventory and campaign setup. Common programmatic concepts include RTB, private marketplace arrangements, private auctions, and programmatic guaranteed buying.

• Real-Time Bidding: RTB evaluates advertising opportunities through a real-time auction process.
• Private Marketplace: a PMP is a controlled programmatic buying environment where selected buyers can access designated publisher inventory.
• Private auction: limits participation to eligible buyers rather than opening the opportunity to every potential bidder.
• Programmatic guaranteed: uses programmatic technology to facilitate a guaranteed transaction between buyer and seller under agreed terms.

Important. Availability and implementation of specific deal types can vary by inventory, market, account, and publisher relationship. Do not assume that every buying method is available for every Amazon DSP campaign.

How Much Does Amazon DSP Cost?

Amazon DSP pricing varies by format, placement, service model, market, and campaign configuration. Amazon states that self-service Amazon DSP customers manage their own campaigns without management fees, while managed-service arrangements typically have a minimum spend of US$50,000, with the minimum potentially varying by country.

Amazon’s current Amazon Ads Agent FAQ also states that the pricing structure used with Amazon DSP is carried forward into DVA+, including self-service and managed-service options.

Does Amazon DSP have a fixed CPM?

No. Amazon DSP does not have one universal CPM that applies to every campaign. Pricing can vary according to factors such as inventory, format, placement, audience, market, bidding conditions, and buying arrangement.

What about Amazon DSP cost in India?

Do not apply the US$50,000 managed-service figure directly as an India-specific minimum without confirmation from Amazon Ads. Amazon states that managed-service minimums can vary by country. For an India campaign, advertisers should confirm current access, service model, minimum spend, inventory availability, and pricing with Amazon Ads or their authorized account representative.

What Metrics Should You Track in Amazon DSP?

Amazon DSP measurement goes beyond clicks and impressions. Amazon documents reporting capabilities that include detail page view rate (DPVR), add-to-list (ATL), new-to-brand (NTB), reach, frequency, and viewability metrics. Eligible advertisers can also use third-party measurement such as brand lift and offline sales lift.

Metric	What it helps answer
Impressions	How many ad opportunities were delivered?
Reach	How many unique people were reached?
Frequency	How often did the reached audience see the ads?
CPM	How much did delivery cost per 1,000 impressions?
CTR	How often did users click relative to impressions?
Viewability	How often was the ad considered viewable?
DPVR	How often did ad exposure lead to a detail-page view under the applicable measurement definition?
ATL	How many eligible add-to-list actions were attributed?
NTB	How many attributed customers were new to the brand under Amazon’s measurement definition?
ROAS	How much attributed revenue was generated relative to advertising spend?

What is DPVR?

DPVR stands for Detail Page View Rate. Amazon includes DPVR among the reporting metrics available for Amazon DSP campaigns.

What is NTB?

NTB stands for New-to-Brand. Amazon uses NTB metrics to help advertisers understand customer acquisition from advertising, subject to Amazon’s applicable attribution and measurement definitions.

Should Amazon DSP be optimized only for CTR?

No. CTR should not be treated as the universal success metric for Amazon DSP. A brand-awareness campaign may prioritize reach, frequency, viewability, or video engagement, while a conversion-oriented campaign may emphasize attributed sales, ROAS, DPVR, NTB, or other business KPIs. The correct KPI depends on the campaign objective.

What Is Amazon Marketing Cloud?

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) is an analytics environment that can be used for custom analysis of eligible Amazon Ads data and Amazon DSP campaign activity. Amazon describes AMC as a way for eligible advertisers to conduct custom analytics across Amazon DSP campaigns using event-level datasets. AMC can be useful when standard campaign reports do not answer a specific analytical question.

Example. A marketer may want to investigate how different combinations of ad exposure, audience interaction, and conversion behavior relate to a campaign outcome. Instead of relying only on a single campaign-level metric, the marketer can use eligible AMC datasets and queries to investigate more detailed customer journeys and campaign relationships. AMC access, data availability, and privacy controls depend on advertiser eligibility and Amazon’s applicable policies.

Amazon DSP vs Sponsored Ads: What Is the Difference?

Amazon DSP is primarily a programmatic audience and media-buying solution, while Sponsored Ads are designed around Amazon shopping placements and purchase-intent advertising.

Factor	Amazon DSP / programmatic capabilities	Sponsored Ads
Primary approach	Audience and programmatic media buying	Shopping/search advertising
Formats	Display, video, audio, Streaming TV, depending on availability	Sponsored ad formats
Inventory	Amazon + eligible third-party inventory	Primarily Amazon shopping environments
Funnel role	Awareness through conversion	Strong lower-funnel purchase intent
Buying model	Programmatic	Sponsored advertising, commonly CPC
Audience signals	Amazon and eligible custom audiences	Shopping/search targeting and product context
Best use	Reach, audience development, retargeting, full-funnel media	Capture active shopping demand

Amazon describes Amazon DSP as a solution for programmatically buying display and video ads at scale, while Sponsored Ads are associated with shopping and purchase intent.

Amazon DSP vs Sponsored Display

Amazon DSP and Sponsored Display can both support display advertising, but they are different advertising solutions with different campaign experiences, controls, inventory, and use cases. Sponsored Display is designed as a simpler display advertising option within Amazon Ads, while Amazon’s programmatic capabilities provide broader programmatic buying and audience controls. Because Amazon’s advertising products and interfaces are being consolidated in 2026, advertisers should check the current Amazon Ads interface and documentation rather than relying on older campaign screenshots or historical product names.

Amazon DSP vs DV360 vs The Trade Desk

Amazon DSP, Google Display & Video 360 (DV360), and The Trade Desk are all programmatic advertising technologies, but they have different ecosystem strengths. No platform is universally best; the right choice depends on audience access, inventory requirements, measurement needs, media strategy, and buying relationships.

Factor	Amazon programmatic advertising	Google DV360	The Trade Desk
Core ecosystem strength	Amazon shopping, media, and audience signals	Google advertising ecosystem and broad programmatic buying	Independent omnichannel programmatic buying
Amazon audience/data advantage	Strong	Different ecosystem	Different ecosystem
Amazon-owned media	Strong	Not the primary differentiator	Not the primary differentiator
YouTube ecosystem	Not the core Amazon strength	Strong Google integration	Different inventory access
CTV/streaming	Strong Amazon ecosystem	Broad CTV capabilities	Broad CTV capabilities
Best fit	Commerce and Amazon-centric audience strategies	Google-centric and omnichannel strategies	Independent omnichannel programmatic strategies

This comparison is strategic rather than a claim that one platform will outperform another in every campaign.

How to Plan an Amazon DSP Campaign

A strong Amazon DSP campaign starts with a defined business objective, then connects that objective to audience, inventory, creative, budget, measurement, and optimization.

1. Define the objective. Choose a clear objective such as brand awareness, reach, consideration, product engagement, conversion, customer acquisition or retention.
2. Define the KPI. Awareness → reach, frequency, viewability. Consideration → engagement, DPVR, qualified traffic. Conversion → sales, ROAS, conversions. Acquisition → NTB and new-customer outcomes.
3. Build the audience strategy. Separate audiences according to their position in the purchase journey: awareness → lifestyle / interest, consideration → in-market / category, conversion → product-view / similar-product, loyalty → existing purchasers. Amazon’s current audience guidance explicitly recommends differentiated audiences around these purchase-journey stages.
4. Separate prospecting and retargeting. Prospecting asks: which relevant people have not yet interacted with the product or brand? Retargeting asks: which people have already shown relevant behavior and should be re-engaged? Separating the two makes performance analysis easier.
5. Choose inventory and format. Match the format to the objective: display for visual reach and retargeting, video for storytelling and consideration, audio for screenless reach, Streaming TV for large-screen video reach.
6. Prepare creative. Creative should match the selected format, audience, landing destination, and campaign objective. Amazon’s current ad review documentation says most ads are designed outside Amazon, while certain Amazon tools and templates support specific creative workflows.
7. Set budget and bidding. Set a budget appropriate to the audience size, campaign objective, testing requirements, and expected delivery. Avoid setting a budget simply because a competitor recommends a particular number.
8. Launch and monitor. Monitor delivery, reach, frequency, spend, CPM, viewability, engagement, conversion metrics, audience performance and inventory performance.
9. Optimize. Optimization should be based on the campaign objective. For example, a campaign with excessive frequency may require audience expansion or delivery adjustments, while a conversion campaign with strong reach but weak downstream outcomes may require audience, creative, inventory, or landing-page investigation.
10. Measure business outcomes. Do not stop at media delivery. Where eligible measurement is available, evaluate sales, NTB, brand lift, offline sales lift, or other business outcomes relevant to the campaign.

What Is the Difference Between Prospecting and Retargeting in Amazon DSP?

Prospecting targets potential customers who have not already demonstrated the strongest direct interaction with the promoted product, while retargeting focuses on people who have already shown relevant behavior.

Prospecting	Retargeting
Expands audience reach	Re-engages existing interest
Often uses broader audience definitions	Often uses product/brand interaction signals
Supports awareness and consideration	Often supports conversion
Usually has a larger potential audience	Can have a smaller audience
Requires careful frequency and audience-quality management	Requires careful frequency and incremental-value management

The correct split between prospecting and retargeting depends on campaign objectives, audience size, conversion volume, budget, and customer journey.

Amazon DSP in India: What Advertisers Should Know

Amazon provides India-specific Amazon DSP documentation, but Amazon Ads features and availability can vary by region. Amazon’s India documentation covers Amazon DSP campaigns, audiences, display, video, audio, and Streaming TV. For Indian advertisers, four points are especially important:

1. Do not assume U.S. feature availability equals India availability. Amazon explicitly states that some advertising options and features vary by region.
2. Do not convert U.S. managed-service minimums into an India minimum. Amazon currently states that the managed-service minimum is typically US$50,000 but may vary by country. India-specific commercial terms should be confirmed directly with Amazon Ads.
3. Use India-specific Amazon documentation when planning campaigns. Amazon’s India help center provides market-specific documentation for campaign creation and audience targeting.
4. Treat the 2026 platform transition carefully. Amazon’s current global documentation says Amazon DSP capabilities are now part of Amazon Ads Agent, while the current DVA+ launch page describes phased availability. Indian advertisers should verify which Amazon Ads Agent, DVA+, and advanced-settings capabilities are enabled for their account before planning a campaign around a specific feature.

Common Amazon DSP Mistakes

1. Treating Amazon DSP like Sponsored Products. Amazon DSP is a programmatic media-buying solution. Sponsored Products are designed around shopping searches and product placements.
2. Optimizing only for CTR. CTR is only one metric. Amazon documents broader measurement including reach, frequency, viewability, DPVR, ATL, and NTB.
3. Mixing prospecting and retargeting without separation. Different audience stages can produce different performance patterns. Separating them improves analysis.
4. Ignoring frequency. A campaign can reach a large audience while repeatedly showing ads to a smaller subset. Frequency should therefore be monitored alongside reach.
5. Using unsupported budget benchmarks. There is no single universal Amazon DSP budget that guarantees success. Pricing and access vary by format, service model, market, and campaign conditions.
6. Using outdated Amazon DSP terminology. The 2026 Amazon Ads Agent transition means older articles and screenshots may use product names and interface structures that no longer match the current platform. Amazon states that the programmatic capabilities now live in DVA+ and advanced settings.
7. Confusing attribution with incrementality. An attributed conversion does not automatically prove that the advertising generated the entire incremental outcome. Incrementality requires appropriate measurement methodology.

Is Amazon DSP Worth Using?

Amazon DSP can be worth considering when an advertiser needs programmatic audience reach, Amazon audience signals, display/video/audio/streaming inventory, or a full-funnel media strategy. The value depends on campaign objective, audience scale, measurement capability, budget, creative quality, and access to relevant inventory.

Amazon DSP can be a strong fit when:

• You need programmatic audience targeting.
• You want to use Amazon audience signals.
• You need display, video, audio, or streaming reach.
• You want to combine prospecting and retargeting.
• You need measurement beyond basic clicks.
• Your campaign has enough scale to support meaningful testing.

Another Amazon Ads solution may be more appropriate when:

• The primary objective is capturing active shopping searches.
• The campaign depends mainly on keyword-level product demand.
• The audience is too small for meaningful programmatic scale.
• You need a simpler advertising setup.
• Your measurement framework is not ready for a programmatic campaign.

The correct choice depends on the advertising objective rather than the platform name alone.

Frequently Asked Questions About Amazon DSP

Final Takeaway

Amazon DSP is best understood as Amazon’s programmatic advertising capability, not simply another Amazon PPC campaign type. The platform historically provided programmatic access to display, video, audio, and Streaming TV inventory using Amazon audience and advertising technology.

In 2026, the important terminology change is that Amazon DSP has evolved into Amazon Ads Agent. Amazon says the programmatic capabilities advertisers know—including audience targeting, frequency management, deal IDs, and custom bidding—now live in DVA+ with advanced settings.

For marketers in India, the key is to separate what Amazon documents globally from what is currently available in the Indian market. Amazon provides India-specific DSP documentation, while DVA+ availability is being rolled out by market.

The strongest Amazon programmatic strategy therefore starts with the business objective, builds differentiated audiences around the customer journey, selects appropriate inventory and creative, measures the right outcomes, and optimizes based on business performance rather than a single metric such as CTR.