Amazon DSP vs Amazon Sponsored Display Ads: A Comprehensive Comparison

In today’s highly competitive eCommerce landscape, advertisers need robust tools to connect with potential customers. Amazon provides two powerful advertising options: Amazon DSP and Amazon Sponsored Display Ads. Both offer distinct features and advantages depending on the advertiser's needs and goals. This article breaks down each ad type and provides a detailed comparison to help you make the best choice for your business.

Overview of Amazon DSP and Amazon Sponsored Display Ads

• Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform): Amazon DSP enables advertisers to buy display and video ads programmatically across Amazon’s network of owned sites (such as IMDb and Twitch), as well as on third-party websites and apps. With Amazon ads reporting, businesses can gain insights into the performance of their campaigns. DSP offers advanced targeting options and is ideal for larger businesses looking to reach audiences beyond Amazon’s platform.

• Amazon Sponsored Display Ads: These are self-serve, display-based ads designed to retarget or engage audiences on Amazon’s marketplace. Sponsored Display Ads are a great choice for sellers and vendors aiming to drive purchases directly on Amazon, with a simpler, more accessible interface.

Comparing Amazon DSP and Sponsored Display Ads

1. Eligibility

• Amazon DSP: Available to Amazon sellers, non-sellers, and external brands. Businesses with higher budgets can access DSP to reach both Amazon and non-Amazon audiences.

• Sponsored Display Ads: Restricted to Amazon sellers and vendors, with no minimum budget requirements. This makes it accessible to smaller businesses looking to promote products directly on Amazon.

2. Audience Targeting Options

• Amazon DSP: Offers highly advanced targeting, including demographic, geographic, behavioral, and interest-based segments. It also allows targeting outside Amazon's platform, reaching customers across a variety of external sites based on purchase intent, lookalike audiences, and retargeting.

• Sponsored Display Ads: Limited to targeting within Amazon, focusing on retargeting and interest-based segments. It helps advertisers reach people who have viewed similar products or browsed product pages.

3. Placements

• Amazon DSP: Ads can appear across Amazon-owned properties such as IMDb, Twitch, and Fire TV, as well as third-party websites and apps through programmatic exchanges. This means advertisers can reach users wherever they are online. Amazon DSP allows access to premium streaming TV and connected TV inventory, including placements across Amazon-owned environments such as Fire TV, enabling brands to execute upper-funnel video campaigns at scale.

• Sponsored Display Ads: Ads are placed within Amazon’s ecosystem, primarily on product detail pages &  search results pages. 

• Sponsored Display Off-Amazon Reach: These ads are no longer restricted to placements on Amazon’s marketplace. And campaign extensions onto third-party websites and apps are available through Amazon’s display network. This extension enables brands to retarget audiences outside of Amazon while still tapping into Amazon’s first-party shopping signals. The reach is not as extensive as Amazon DSP, but Sponsored Display now offers more widespread visibility on the internet.

4. Pricing

• Amazon DSP: Utilizes a CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) pricing model. This makes DSP a better fit for advertisers with larger budgets, as it requires a significant investment to generate impressions at scale.

• Sponsored Display Ads: Works on a CPC (Cost Per Click) model, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. This structure is more cost-effective for advertisers with smaller budgets, providing a lower barrier to entry.

5. Creatives

• Amazon DSP: Supports a wide range of creative formats, including static images, video ads, and interactive media. This variety allows for greater creative flexibility, helping advertisers craft visually compelling campaigns.

• Sponsored Display Ads: Creatives are mostly limited to static image  & video ads. While simple to create, Sponsored Display Ads offer fewer customization options compared to DSP ads.

• Video Capabilities: Sponsored Display Off-Amazon Reach: These ads are no longer restricted to placements on Amazon’s marketplace. And campaign extensions onto third-party websites and apps are available through Amazon’s display network. This extension enables brands to retarget audiences outside of Amazon while still tapping into Amazon’s first-party shopping signals. The reach is not as extensive as Amazon DSP, but Sponsored Display now offers more widespread visibility on the internet.

6. Availability

• Amazon DSP: Available globally but with limited access in certain regions. Importantly, it’s open to both Amazon sellers and non-sellers, making it appealing to brands that want to leverage Amazon's vast audience, even if they don't sell on Amazon.

• Sponsored Display Ads: Available to sellers and vendors in all countries where Amazon operates. However, it is only accessible to those who sell on Amazon.

7. Ads Redirect To

• Amazon DSP: Ads can direct users to external websites, mobile apps, or Amazon product pages. This flexibility helps advertisers meet various Amazon DSP campaign goals, whether that’s increasing off-Amazon traffic or driving product sales on Amazon.

• Sponsored Display Ads: Redirects are mainly focused on Amazon, driving users to product detail pages or storefronts within the marketplace. This ensures a tight focus on converting customers directly within Amazon.

8. Reporting Structure

• Amazon DSP: Provides detailed reporting with insights into campaign performance, audience reach, and engagement metrics both on and off Amazon. You can get granular data on specific audience segments, devices, and placements.

• Sponsored Display Ads: Reports on basic performance metrics such as impressions, clicks, and conversions. The reporting is more straightforward, offering fewer advanced insights compared to Amazon DSP.

9. Measurement & Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) Integration

Both Amazon DSP plus Sponsored Display ads can be evaluated using Amazon Marketing Cloud. AMC enables advertisers to conduct complex attribution analysis, overlap analysis, time-to-conversion analysis, and incrementality analysis.

Although both platforms can utilize data from AMC, Amazon DSP usually offers more flexibility when it comes to activating custom-built audiences on a large scale for programmatic inventory.

10. Ease of Setting Up Ads

• Amazon DSP: Setting up DSP ads requires a higher level of expertise and time. Amazon DSP is available as both a managed service and a self-service. Managed service is best suited for brands that need strategic advice, and self-service DSP enables experienced advertisers to manage campaigns themselves. 

• Sponsored Display Ads: Easy to set up through Amazon’s advertising console. The platform is user-friendly and requires minimal technical knowledge, making it an ideal solution for businesses looking for quick, straightforward ad setups.

11. Optimization Possibilities

• Amazon DSP: Provides advanced optimization tools, including dynamic creative adjustments, real-time bidding strategies, and detailed targeting refinements. Campaigns can be fine-tuned extensively for maximum performance.

• Sponsored Display Ads: While there are fewer optimization options, you can still adjust bids, budgets, and targeting over time. It is less customizable but easy to manage, with a focus on simplicity.

• AI-Driven Optimization: Both services have recently introduced AI-driven optimization capabilities. Sponsored Display features automated bidding and audience expansion to make it easier to scale campaigns. Amazon DSP features algorithmic bidding, predictive modeling, as well as real-time audience optimization to improve performance on both Amazon-owned and third-party inventory.

Which is Right for Your Business?

• Choose Amazon DSP if:

• You need to reach audiences both on and off Amazon.

• You want to leverage advanced targeting options and have flexibility in where your ads are shown.

• You have a large enough budget to support CPM-based advertising and are looking for complex, high-reach campaigns.

• Choose Sponsored Display Ads if:

• You are an Amazon seller looking to drive sales within Amazon’s marketplace.

• You have a smaller budget and want an easy, self-serve platform to manage your campaigns.

• Your goal is to retarget shoppers and encourage product purchases on Amazon.

Use Case Comparison

Use Amazon DSP when:

• You want to advertise across the entire funnel, including outside of Amazon

• You are planning streaming TV or video awareness campaigns

• You require advanced audience segmentation and AMC-based measurement

• You want to drive traffic to other websites or apps

Use Sponsored Display Ads when:

• You are interested in product-level retargeting

• You want to target competitor product pages

• You are looking for an easy, self-serve option

• Your primary objective is to drive conversions on Amazon

Conclusion

Both Amazon DSP and Sponsored Display Ads offer unique advantages depending on your advertising needs. DSP provides a comprehensive, data-driven solution for reaching customers across the web, while Sponsored Display Ads deliver a streamlined and effective way to target Amazon shoppers directly. Understanding the key differences between these platforms will help you choose the right one for your business, ensuring you get the best return on your advertising investment.