What's new in Amazon advertising for 2026?

Main strategies and tips for running successful campaigns:

1. Use AMC (Amazon Marketing Cloud) to build better audiences and see what's driving conversions.

2. Run sponsored video ads. Now, they are available in more placements, including Prime Video and Twitch.

3. Try Amazon's AI bidding tools. They can help you save time and cut ad spend waste. 

4. Test Sponsored Brands with video. This can help you stand out in the search. 

5. Match portfolios to customer types (e.g., "fitness enthusiasts") rather than just match types.

6. Track your ads better. New conversion analytics and cross-channel insights can help you with that. Advanced eCommerce performance analytics is crucial for improving your ad campaigns and maximizing ROI through data-driven optimization, audience targeting, and real-time performance adjustments.

7. Shift your budget up to 40% toward targeting complementary ASINs to "teach" Amazon's AI who your buyers are.

8. Stop looking at one-time sales. Use the new break-even formula that includes 12-month repeat revenue.

In this article, we’re going to learn the fundamental shift in Amazon Advertising for 2026. Forget everything you knew about simple keyword matching; success now depends on training Amazon’s AI to understand your customer personas. 

We’ll also look at the new Complete TV capability and Rufus-integrated ads toimprove your Amazon Advertising and turn your campaigns into ROI.

Amazon Advertising, formerly called Amazon Marketing Services (AMS), is a service that resembles pay-per-click ads on Google. In a nutshell, it is a service that allows businesses to promote their products on Amazon marketplaces. There are various ad formats and placements to choose from, which makes Amazon Ads fit for any business size. Both new and professional sellers can advertise unique and new products, helping customers discover the right fits and driving more sales through sponsored ad campaigns.

Amazon is one of the largest marketplaces in the world. It is fair to say that in many countries, customers look no further than Amazon to get everything and anything they need. So, no wonder Amazon Ads is all the rage right now, and the competition among the sellers is fierce. Amazon sellers use Amazon Advertising to advertise their products and gain more visibility in a crowded market, using different ad types and targeting options to stand out. Getting noticed on such a massive platform is a dream that comes true only for the sellers who master the art of effective advertising and product positioning. Only those who combine data-driven decisions with compelling creatives can turn their listings into top-selling ones and thrive in such a competitive marketplace. 

The reach of Amazon Ads is massive. Amazon Ads helped advertisers reach over 275 million ad-supported viewers each month in the U.S in 2025. through exclusive platforms like Prime Video and Twitch, as well as tens of millions more via direct integrations with premium streaming publishers.

In 2026, the reach of Amazon Ads will take a new "Complete TV" peak. This industry-first tool allows advertisers to plan and manage streaming buys across Prime Video, Netflix, and Paramount+ directly via Amazon DSP.

Plus, interactive ad formats are officially mainstream. Interactive pause ads now allow viewers to "add to cart" or "learn more" via remote control or voice command without leaving their show – turning passive viewing into active shopping.

The rules of profitable PPC were rewritten in early 2026. Amazon’s algorithm has transformed from a keyword-matching engine into a customer-matching recommendation engine.

By 2026, an estimated 35-40% of purchases involve AI-assisted discovery via Rufus – the conversational shopping AI.

Amazon Ads supports every marketing goal with tailored products and solutions. If you are new to advertising, Amazon recommends starting with sponsored ads.

Amazon Sponsored Ads help advertisers of all ranges to reach out to their target audience effectively and get a lot of benefits.

The main advantages of Amazon PPC ads are:

With all the benefits, from better visibility to smart decision-making, it’s clear that Amazon Advertising can help your business grow and flourish. 

Let’s take a look at the evolution of Amazon Ads in 2026. These updates reflect Amazon Advertising's ongoing innovation in the digital advertising space.

Sponsored Products are still the top way to get sales on Amazon, but they have changed a lot. Sponsored Products are especially effective for a successful product launch, helping sellers quickly reach relevant audiences from day one. They are not simply better looking in 2026; they work better, too. Sponsored Products function as a "customer matching" engine: 

All in all, instead of using just one ad type, brands are combining them to guide shoppers from first look to final purchase. 

Amazon’s data tools have moved from "keyword matching" to "persona-based matching." It’s no longer just for big brands with massive budgets.

Now, you can:

These advanced targeting options help sellers reach consumers who are most likely to be interested in their products. So, smarter targeting is now available for everyone. If you're not using it, you're missing big opportunities.

Video ads on Amazon used to be something only big brands could do. In 2025, smaller brands could get the most out of them as well. In 2026, video ads are the cornerstone of an "interactive-first" strategy. They are a requirement for high conversion rates.

 New advantages of video ads include:

It all means that videos are not simply a part of a brand image anymore - they help brands to sell their products. 

In 2026, the trio of Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display remained the engine of Amazon sales. However, the game has changed: you need to train Amazon’s AI (Rufus and Cosmo) to understand your ideal customer persona rather than just add the right keywords.

Selecting high-LTV products is crucial. In 2026, we look for products that anchor a customer into your brand's ecosystem.

Sponsored Products is still the #1 way to drive volume, especially for product launches. In 2026, the focus has moved from "controlling spend" to "guiding the algorithm."

Here are the updated tips for a 2026 Sponsored Products strategy:

Sponsored Brands has evolved into the united "discovery engine" for your brand on Amazon. In 2026, it is used to grab audience attention with rich display and video creatives that put your brand front and center. Create your store-centric journey that turns one-time shoppers into long-term brand advocates.

Some of the best strategies you can use:

Even with a small budget, the low-cost AI creative tools and targeted video placements make Sponsored Brands a "must-have" for any competitive seller in 2026.

In 2026, Sponsored Displays officially turned into a unified Display Ads offering. It’s a structural merger that brings sponsored ads and Amazon DSP workflows into a single, centralized workspace.

If you’re looking to create new campaigns, you’ll no longer find a separate "Sponsored Display" button. Instead, you navigate to "Campaigns" → "Create Campaign" → "Display."

Why this centralized hub is cool for 2026:

Amazon Advertising cost is one of the biggest concerns of businesses considering starting advertising on the platform.

To avoid any possible confusion, let's start with how Amazon Ad spend and billing work. First, billing is based on valid events only. It means that you are charged only for valid ad clicks or viewable impressions. If Amazon notices any invalid activity, it will automatically adjust your charges. 

Another thing to note is that credit limits start small and grow after successful payments. It increases in stages: $10, $25, $50, $150, $200, $350, up to $500. You get charged when you reach your credit limit. You also get charged on the 3rd of each month if you have a balance, even if you haven’t reached your credit limit. If your spending exceeds your limit, you get charged multiple times per month. 

Most campaigns on Amazon use a cost-per-click (CPC) model. However, Sponsored Display and some Sponsored Brands campaigns use the vCPM model (cost per 1,000 viewable impressions). When setting up your campaign, you can specify the maximum amount you are willing to pay per click or impression. This maximum amount directly influences your ad placement and cost efficiency, as Amazon will not charge you more than your set limit. 

Now, let’s get to how Amazon sponsored ads cost in real-life cases. In 2026, the market has matured significantly, and average CPC across the platform has climbed past the $1.00 mark. While the actual price depends on the type of ad you pick and the competitive level of your keywords, the baseline for entry has shifted.

2026 cost benchmarks:

As a high-level strategy for 2026, you should now budget for a higher ACoS around 35-50% in the "discovery" phase. While this might seem high, these campaigns are critical because they train the recommendation engine and fuel your organic growth. For long-term success, focus on the LTV-adjusted break-even, where a higher initial acquisition cost is justified by 12 months of repeat customer revenue.

To display Amazon Ads on your website, you can use either Amazon Associates or Amazon Publisher Services (APS), depending on your traffic and business model:

Select the option that aligns with your website’s scale: If you are a content creator or blogger, Amazon Associates is your go-to. If you are a high-traffic media owner looking to optimize your ad stack via server-side technology, APS is the professional choice.

Amazon product ads can be highly effective. However, they are not a one-size-fits-all solution. Let's take a quick look at the pros and cons of Amazon Advertising solutions to determine whether they are a good idea for your business.

Sponsored ad formats allow Amazon sellers to advertise new products and help customers discover them, making it easier to reach a wider audience and boost sales. 

Let's start on the bright side and knock things off with the pros. 

Now, what are the possible drawbacks of Amazon Advertising?

So, is Amazon Advertising worth it in 2026? Yes, but only if you move beyond tactics and embrace structure. The brands that treat their campaign architecture as a way to "teach" the algorithm will win – who has the best customer signals.

Here's a step-by-step overview of how to get started with advertising on Amazon.

By following these steps, you can launch and optimize effective Amazon ad campaigns to grow your brand and reach more customers.

Speaking of targeting, Amazon Ads allow targeting based on user behavior, demographics, and interests in shopping. 

Amazon's target audience is: 

Amazon uses shopping and browsing data to show the right ads to the right people.

If you wonder how to monitor Amazon Ads, worry not - Amazon Ads offers advertisers a comprehensive measurement ecosystem built on real-world data and case study insights to empower precise optimization, performance tracking, and making optimal data-driven decisions. 

Key features of Amazon Ads analytics.

Together, these linked tools let brands track real shopper behavior, measure multi-channel impact, run custom attribution models, and validate upper-funnel effects, all in a privacy-safe environment.

By early 2026, data showed that combining Display Ads with Streaming TV (STV) video (like Prime Video and Twitch) doubled brand awareness and led to a 3.5x boost in brand favorability compared to single-channel campaigns. For example, brands using AMC to coordinate their streaming ads saw an average 35% increase in total ROI by identifying and retargeting high-intent viewers who engaged with their TV spots.

Together, all of these features help brands see what is working, understand their audience better, and improve their advertising strategies for better ROI.

Stape has developed the Amazon Conversions API tag for server GTM to make it possible to implement server-side tracking for this platform.

The tag supports the same event types and parameters as the Amazon Ad Tag (solution for client-side tracking). Beyond that, Stape’s tag also allows you to set up multiple event types, advanced user identity enrichment, compliance with regional consent frameworks, and detailed logging to both the Console and BigQuery.

We have prepared a detailed guide on how to set up Amazon CAPI and how it differs from Amazon Ad tag.

Using Amazon Ads with sGTM helps you track things like purchases more accurately and safely. It sends data from your website to Amazon through your own server, so it works better with ad blockers and gives you more control over what information is shared.

Also, by using sGTM to send accurate conversion data back to Amazon (via the Amazon Advertising Tag), you are providing the "fuel" the AI needs to find your customers faster.

It's a smart choice if you want better tracking, faster pages, and stronger privacy for your users.