Types of Amazon Ads and How They Actually Work

When you first log into Amazon Ads and see the campaign creation screen, it looks simple enough.

Three options. How complicated can it be?

Pretty complicated, actually. I spent months running the wrong ad type for what I was trying to do. Cost me a lot of money and a lot of frustration before I figured out which one to use and when.

Let me save you that time.

The Three Campaign Types Amazon Gives You

Amazon currently offers three main campaign types from the seller dashboard:

• Sponsored Products
• Sponsored Brands
• Display, Video, and Audio

Each one does something different. Each one costs differently. And each one is suited for a different stage of your business.

Here’s what I’ve learned about each of them.

Sponsored Products, Start Here. Always.

This is the one highlighted in red on Amazon’s own campaign selection screen. There’s a reason for that.

Sponsored Products are the ads that show up directly inside search results. They look almost exactly like organic listings, same image, same title, same price, same star rating. The only difference is a tiny “Sponsored” label.

Buyers don’t really notice that label. They just see a relevant product and they click.

How it works is straightforward. You pick a product. You choose keywords, or let Amazon pick them automatically. You set a bid. When someone searches for those keywords, your product competes in a real-time auction for a top spot. You only pay when someone actually clicks.

Why I always tell new sellers to start here: the feedback loop is tight. You can see exactly which search terms triggered your ad, which ones converted, and which ones wasted money. The data is clean because it’s one product at a time.

I ran Sponsored Products for my first six months before I touched anything else. Learned more about my customers from those campaigns than from anything else I tried.

If you’re new, don’t skip this and jump straight to the fancier options. Start here. Learn your keywords. Understand your conversion rate. Then move on.

Sponsored Brands, Once You Have Something to Show

Sponsored Brands are the banner-style ads you see at the very top of Amazon search results. The big ones with your logo, a custom headline, and usually two or three products displayed together.

They’re more visible than Sponsored Products. More brand-forward. And they cost more, too.

Amazon describes it as “driving brand discovery”, which is accurate. These ads are less about pushing a single product and more about putting your brand name in front of people who might not have heard of you yet.

Here’s where most new sellers go wrong with this one. They set up Sponsored Brands before they’re ready. Before they have a strong brand presence. Before they have multiple solid products. Before they have enough reviews.

I made that mistake. Ran Sponsored Brands with two products, a generic logo, and no real brand story. Spent decent money. Got clicks. Very few conversions.

The truth is, Sponsored Brands work best when buyers actually recognize or trust your brand. They work for sellers who’ve been around a while, have a lineup of products, and want to own the top of the page for their category.

If you’re just starting out, wait on this one. Build your catalog and your reviews first. Then come back to it.

Display, Video, and Audio: The Advanced Stuff

This one is different from the other two in a fundamental way.

Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands show your ads to people who are actively searching on Amazon. They have intent. They’re already looking for something.

Display ads reach people everywhere else, other websites, apps, streaming services, and even back on Amazon as they browse. You’re targeting people based on their past behavior and interests, not what they’re actively searching for right now.

Amazon calls it “re-engage and convert customers wherever they spend time.” That’s a polite way of saying: these ads follow people around the internet.

Video ads play before or during Amazon streaming content. Audio ads play on Alexa devices and Amazon Music. These are awareness tools, not direct-response tools.

Cost-wise, this is the most expensive category. And the ROI is harder to measure because you’re not catching someone mid-search, you’re trying to plant a seed.

Honest opinion? Unless you’re running a well-established brand with a serious marketing budget, these aren’t where you should be spending money early on. The sellers I’ve seen use Display well are either large brands or sellers with very specific retargeting goals, like showing ads to people who viewed their product but didn’t buy.

For most sellers reading this, it can wait.

So Which One Should You Use?

Here’s how I’d think about it based on where you are:

Just launched or under 50 reviews: Sponsored Products only. Auto campaign first, then manual once you have keyword data. Keep it simple.

Established product, growing catalog: Add Sponsored Brands to start building brand recognition. Keep your Sponsored Products campaigns running alongside.

Strong brand, multiple products, larger budget: Now you can experiment with Display, especially retargeting people who visited your listings but didn’t convert.

The mistake most sellers make is trying to run everything at once before they have the budget or the data to do it right. Amazon’s ad platform rewards patience and optimization. Not spray-and-pray.

One Last Thing

The campaign type is just the starting point.

What actually determines whether your ads make money is what happens after you launch, how you read the data, which keywords you cut, how you adjust bids, whether your listing converts the traffic you’re buying.

A bad listing with a great campaign type still loses money.

A great listing with even a basic Sponsored Products campaign can do very well.

Get your listing right first. Then run the ads. Then learn from the numbers.

That’s really the whole game.