What is Amazon DSP, and what does an agency do with it? Amazon DSP (demand-side platform) is Amazon's programmatic advertising platform. It buys display, video, audio and streaming TV ads, using Amazon's shopping signals to reach audiences on and off Amazon. Marknology plans and runs DSP for product brands alongside Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display, and uses Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) to see how the ads work together.
By Andrew Morgans, founder of Marknology, selling on Amazon since 2011 | Updated September 2026
| Area | What we do | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Readiness check | Review Sponsored Ads results, listing quality, stock and margins before any DSP spend | A clear yes, not yet, or AMC first |
| Audiences | Retarget product page viewers and lapsed buyers, then add in-market, lifestyle and lookalike audiences | Spend split by audience, so each one can be judged on its own |
| Creative | Display and video creative built to Amazon's specs from your listing content, approved by you before launch | Ads that match the product page shoppers land on |
| Campaign management | Budgets, bids and frequency caps by audience, reviewed every week | Money moved toward the audiences that bring buyers |
| AMC analysis | Paths to purchase, new-to-brand buyers, time to conversion and overlap between Sponsored Ads and DSP | What DSP adds on top of search ads, not just what it claims |
| Reporting | Reach, frequency, detail page views, new-to-brand sales, attributed sales and branded search | Plain calls on what to scale and what to stop |
Sources, checked September 25, 2026. Amazon Ads, Amazon DSP and Amazon Marketing Cloud.
Amazon offers two ways to buy DSP, and only one has a stated minimum.
| Self-service | Managed service | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the account | Your team, or an agency on your behalf | Amazon's team, with consultative service |
| Minimum spend | Amazon lists no stated minimum | Amazon says it typically requires a minimum spend of about $50,000, which can vary by country |
| Control | Full control of audiences, creative, bids and reporting | Amazon runs the campaigns to an agreed plan |
| Fits | Brands that want DSP run with their other Amazon ads | Advertisers who want Amazon's support or have little programmatic experience |
Sources, checked September 25, 2026. Amazon Ads, Amazon DSP.
No minimum does not mean any budget works. Each audience needs enough spend to learn, so we start with a small number of audiences, usually retargeting shoppers who already viewed your products, and add more once those show results. More detail in our guide to Amazon DSP and AMC.
Sponsored Ads mostly capture demand that already exists: a shopper searches and your product shows up. DSP reaches people before or after that moment, so the two work best as one plan.
| Sponsored Ads | Amazon DSP | |
|---|---|---|
| How you buy | Self-service in the Amazon Ads console, mostly cost per click | Programmatic, usually priced per thousand impressions |
| Targeting | Keywords, products and some audiences | Audiences built from shopping, viewing and your own data |
| Formats | Product, brand and display ads | Display, video, audio and streaming TV |
| Main job | Win the search and the sale | Reach new buyers and bring back shoppers who left |
If you are deciding where the next dollar goes, read Amazon PPC vs DSP: when to use each and Amazon DSP vs Sponsored Display. Our Amazon PPC and advertising hub covers the search side.
Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) is a privacy-safe clean room. Advertisers run queries on their own ad events together with Amazon signals, without seeing any individual shopper. Amazon says AMC is available at no cost to eligible advertisers: brands registered for Sponsored Ads can access it through self-service, and DSP advertisers request access through their Amazon Ads account team.
Sources, checked September 25, 2026. Amazon Ads, Amazon DSP and Amazon Marketing Cloud.
The Growth Diagnostic reviews your Amazon advertising, listings, your own site, TikTok Shop and other marketplaces, and ends with a 90-day roadmap that says whether DSP, AMC or something else should come next. Its fee is credited to your first month if you continue with us.
See the Growth DiagnosticDSP adds reach. It works best on top of search campaigns that already pay back.
Retargeting needs shoppers to retarget. Products with steady views give DSP something to work with.
Video and streaming TV reach buyers who have not searched yet, which suits brands also sold in stores.
Audiences built from similar products help a new item get seen before it has reviews and rank.
If Sponsored Products are not profitable yet, or listings do not convert, DSP will send more shoppers to pages that lose them. Fix the listings and search campaigns first, and open AMC to learn from the ads you already run. Agency terms are a 90-day minimum, then month to month.
Amazon DSP is Amazon's demand-side platform. It lets advertisers buy display, video, audio and streaming TV ads programmatically, using Amazon's shopping signals to reach audiences on Amazon, on Amazon-owned sites and apps, and on third-party sites. Brands use it to reach new buyers and to bring back shoppers who viewed a product but did not buy.
It depends on how you buy. Amazon says its managed-service option typically requires a minimum spend of about $50,000, and that the minimum can vary by country. Amazon lists no stated minimum for self-service, where your own team or an agency runs the account, but each audience still needs enough budget to learn.
Sponsored Display is a self-service Sponsored Ads format bought in the Amazon Ads console, with a limited set of audience and product targeting options. Amazon DSP is a separate programmatic platform with more audience types, video and streaming TV formats, frequency controls and more placements off Amazon. Many brands start with Sponsored Display and add DSP once retargeting shows it pays.
Amazon Marketing Cloud is a privacy-safe clean room where advertisers analyze their ad events together with Amazon signals, for example paths to purchase, new-to-brand buyers and how Sponsored Ads and DSP work together. Amazon says AMC is available at no cost to eligible advertisers.
No. Amazon says brands registered for Sponsored Ads can access AMC through self-service, while DSP advertisers request access through their Amazon Ads account team. Many brands learn more from AMC about their search ads before they spend anything on DSP.
Management fees are separate from the ad spend you pay Amazon, and they depend on how many audiences, formats and markets you run. Our rate card is on the Amazon agency pricing page. Agency terms are a 90-day minimum, then month to month.