Amazon Ad Types: Guide to Formats, Benefits  and Best Uses

What are the different Amazon ad types, and how can they benefit your business? In this guide, Amazon ad types include Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display, each designed to boost visibility and drive sales efficiently.

Advertising plays a crucial role for Amazon sellers because it not only increases product visibility but also helps reach potential customers in a highly competitive marketplace, where relying solely on organic listings is often insufficient to stand out among thousands of similar products.

Choosing the right Amazon ad types also allows sellers to target the most relevant audiences while effectively promoting best-selling products, which ensures campaigns are optimized to deliver the highest return on investment.

Finally, understanding the strengths and limitations of each ad type enables sellers to allocate budgets efficiently, minimize wasted spending, and maintain a competitive edge, while ensuring marketing efforts translate into measurable sales results.

Discover the main types of Amazon ads

To maximize your sales and visibility, it’s essential to understand the main types of Amazon advertising. There are three key types: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display, each designed to serve specific purposes and achieve different marketing goals

Sponsored Products

Sponsored Product Ads are a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising solution designed to promote one product at a time.

Sponsored Products allow sellers to reach shoppers by targeting keywords relevant to their products, either manually or automatically. When using automatic targeting, Amazon intelligently selects the most relevant keywords based on shopper behavior, helping your ads appear to the right audience.  

Where are Sponsored Product Ads displayed across Amazon’s platform?

Amazon shows Sponsored Product Ads across both desktop and mobile platforms in multiple positions, including the right-hand column of search results, the footer of search results pages, and within product detail pages.

Who is eligible to run Sponsored Product Ads?

Sponsored Product Ads can be utilized by sellers and vendors who meet Amazon’s eligibility requirements, allowing a wide range of accounts to promote their products and reach targeted shoppers effectively.

To run Sponsored Product Ads as a vendor, your account must be registered under one of Amazon’s recognized vendor categories: 

• Hardlines vendor
• Softlines vendor
• Media vendor
• Books vendor
• Consumables vendor
• Vendors registered under Supplier Express or Vendor Express programs

What is the pricing structure for Sponsored Product Ads?

The cost of Sponsored Product Ads depends on keyword competitiveness and bid amounts, with a minimum daily budget of $1. Most sellers spend more to achieve meaningful visibility, and strategic keyword targeting combined with bid optimization helps reduce advertising cost of sales (ACoS) while improving overall campaign performance.

Sponsored Brands

Sponsored Brands are a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising solution that highlights your brand and up to three products in a single ad.

• Ads operate on a PPC model, charging only when shoppers click, rather than for ad display.
• Keywords are targeted manually or automatically to reach relevant customers.
• Automatic bidding allows Amazon to adjust bids downward for optimization, while manual bidding gives advertisers full control over keyword bids.

Where are Sponsored Brands ads displayed on Amazon?

Amazon places Sponsored Brands prominently to increase exposure:

• Above search results on desktop devices
• To the left of search results
• Below search results
• Displayed inside search results on the Amazon mobile app

Who can use Sponsored Brands?

This ad type is available to Professional Sellers and Retail Vendors who meet specific requirements:

• Professional Sellers: Must be registered in Amazon Brand Registry, maintain an active account, and ship to all U.S. addresses.
• Retail Vendors: Must be categorized as Hardlines, Softlines, Supplier Express or Vendor Express, Media, Books, Consumables, or KDP authors.

What is the cost of running Sponsored Brands ads?

Sponsored Brands require a minimum daily budget of $1, and most campaigns run for at least a month, with spending starting around $30, which often leads sellers to place higher bids due to competition among Amazon’s millions of vendors.

Sponsored Display Ads

Sponsored Display Ads operate on a pay-per-click (PPC) model and promote products by targeting either shopper interests or related products.

• Interest-based targeting: Allows advertisers to reach shoppers with broader interests, expanding brand awareness and potentially boosting long-term revenue.
• Product-based targeting: Focuses on similar, complementary, or competitor products, helping your brand attract relevant customers and encourage add-on purchases.

Unlike other Amazon advertising types, Sponsored Display Ads rely on similarities between your products and shopper behavior, rather than keywords, while still charging only when a shopper clicks the ad.

Where are Sponsored Display Ads shown across Amazon and partner sites?

Amazon places these ads in strategic locations to maximize reach:

• Shown on product detail pages of related items
• Featured on pages containing customer reviews
• Included in promotional emails and marketing campaigns

In addition, they can also appear outside Amazon on sites like IMDb, Amazon Fire TV devices, and through Amazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP), allowing brands to extend their audience even further.

Who is eligible to run Sponsored Display Ads?

This ad type is available exclusively to certain vendors and authors, including:

• Hardlines vendors
• Softlines vendors
• Vendors enrolled in Supplier Express or Vendor Express programs
• Media vendors
• Book vendors
• Consumables vendors
• KDP authors

What is the pricing for Sponsored Display Ads?

With Sponsored Display Ads, a minimum daily budget of $1 is required, and payment is only made when shoppers click on ads. Costs vary depending on market saturation, where highly competitive categories demand higher bids, whereas niche markets may see lower CPC.

To help you grasp key details about Amazon advertising, Megaficus has compiled the following summary table comparing the different types of ads:

Ad Type	Main Purpose	Placement	Key Highlights
Sponsored Products	Promote individual products, drive direct sales	Search results, product detail pages	Reach shoppers actively searching, pay-per-click, full control over bids and budget
Sponsored Brands	Promote brand and multiple products	Above & below search results, mobile app	Increase brand awareness, prominent visibility, custom landing pages with images & videos
Sponsored Display	Promote based on shopper interests or related products	Product detail pages, emails, off-Amazon (IMDb, Fire TV, DSP)	Cross-sell/upsell, expand reach, engage shoppers who haven’t interacted with your product

How to choose the right Amazon ad type for your campaign?

To choose the right Amazon ad type, you should focus on your goals, consider your budget and competition, and explore strategies that deliver the best results.

Aligning ad types with your business goals

Business owners can choose the right Amazon ad types by first identifying their key objectives and then matching each goal with the ad format that best supports it, ensuring campaigns deliver meaningful results and a strong return on investment.

• Sales generation: Use Sponsored Products to drive direct purchases and increase revenue, because this ad type appears in search results and product pages where shoppers are already looking to buy, maximizing conversion potential.
• Brand awareness: Use Sponsored Brands or Sponsored Display to reach a wider audience and strengthen brand recognition, since these ads highlight your brand and multiple products, making it easier for shoppers to remember you.
• Product launch: Use Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands to boost initial visibility and early sales, as these ads quickly put new products in front of potential buyers and help build early traction.
• Customer loyalty: Use Sponsored Display to target past customers and encourage repeat purchases, because this ad type can reach shoppers who have already shown interest, fostering continued engagement with your brand.

Considering the budget and competition level

Choosing the right Amazon ad types requires careful consideration of both your budget and the competitive landscape of your product category. By aligning your ad strategy with these factors, your campaigns can achieve maximum results while optimizing spend.

Establish your advertising budget

• Minimum daily budget: Amazon requires a minimum of $1/day for each campaign, but as Megaficus recommends, starting with at least $10 – $50/day often helps achieve meaningful visibility and sales.
• Budget allocation: A practical approach is to distribute your budget based on campaign goals:
  • 60% for Sponsored Products to drive direct sales
  • 30% for Sponsored Brands to build brand awareness.
  • 10% for Sponsored Display for testing and expanding reach.

Megaficus suggests reviewing your budget weekly to ensure funds are effectively supporting the highest-performing campaigns.

Evaluate the competition level

Megaficus advises that before selecting your ad type, it’s essential to assess the level of competition in your product category, as this will influence both cost and strategy.

• Highly competitive categories: Products in sectors like electronics, home appliances, or beauty often have higher cost-per-click (CPC). In such cases, Sponsored Products is recommended to target buyers who are ready to purchase immediately.
• Low-competition or niche categories: For products with less competition, Sponsored Brands or Sponsored Display can help maximize visibility and brand recognition at a lower cost.

Common mistakes to avoid and best practices for running Amazon ads effectively

After choosing the suitable ad type for your campaign, here are some of our notes and tips for you to run a successful Amazon ad campaign.

Master keyword selection

At MegaFicus, we often see sellers miss out on sales simply because they target the wrong keywords. You might pick a broad term like “headphones” and spend $100/day, only to get clicks from shoppers looking for gaming or toy headphones, not your premium audio line.

By using tools like Jungle Scout Keyword Scout or Rank Tracker, you can find high-performing keywords with low competition, which means every dollar of your ad spend has a better chance of converting. Sellers who focus on long-tail keywords, such as “wireless noise-cancelling headphones,” often see higher purchase intent and fewer wasted clicks.

Finally, keeping an eye on seasonal trends and market shifts is crucial. A keyword that performs well in July might tank in December. Continuous keyword analysis ensures your campaigns stay relevant and ROI-friendly, rather than bleeding money on clicks that never convert.

Craft a winning bidding approach

At MegaFicus, we often see sellers waste money because their bids don’t match campaign goals. You might bid $3 on a broad term like “kitchen tools” hoping for clicks, only to end up paying for shoppers searching for gadgets you don’t even sell. 

By aligning bids with objectives like focusing higher bids on top-of-search placements for high-intent keywords, ads reach the right audience at the right cost.

Strategically manage your ad budget

Many sellers treat ad budgets like a “set and forget” task, only to realize their top-performing campaigns ran out of money while low-converting ads consumed cash.

For example, spreading $100/day evenly across 10 campaigns may leave each one underfunded and unable to gather meaningful data. 

We recommend adjusting budgets based on past performance, putting more money behind high-ROI campaigns during peak seasons, and scaling back underperforming ads.

Track performance metrics that matter to optimize your campaigns 

Sellers often focus on impressions or clicks alone, but these numbers don’t pay the bills. Imagine spending $200 on an ad that gets 1,000 clicks but zero sales, frustrating, right? Monitoring ACOS, CTR, and conversion rates gives insight into what actually drives revenue.

MegaFicus also suggests keeping an eye on TACoS and customer acquisition costs to see the bigger picture of business growth. Consistently tracking these metrics lets you tweak campaigns in real time and ensures ad spend translates into profit.

Keep testing and innovating

Megaficus suggests that you test different keywords, images, and ad copy regularly, so you can discover what resonates best with your audience and drive higher conversions. You should also explore advanced formats, such as video ads, to enhance engagement, differentiate your campaigns, and sustain performance over time.

FAQ about Amazon ad types