Sponsored Products: The Workhorse of Amazon Advertising

Sponsored Products (SP) are the most widely used Amazon ad format — they appear directly in search results and product detail pages, are cost-per-click, and can be activated within minutes. SP campaigns are most effective for: capturing in-market demand, defending your brand terms from competitor capture, and driving velocity on new launches.

Sponsored Brands: Building Awareness and Preference

Sponsored Brands (SB) appear at the top of search results with your brand logo, a custom headline, and multiple products. Unlike SP, SB campaigns create brand awareness that persists even when shoppers don’t click.

• SB typically delivers lower direct ACOS but higher new-to-brand customer rates
• SB Video consistently outperforms static SB on click-through rate in most categories
• SB campaigns work best when targeting upper-funnel, category-level keywords
• Brand Store as the landing destination for SB drives significantly higher basket size

The Right Mix for Your Brand

For brands under $500K in annual Amazon revenue, the right mix is typically 80–90% SP with limited SB. For brands above $1M, the mix should evolve toward 60–70% SP, 20–30% SB (including video), and 10% Sponsored Display for retargeting.

How to Measure Each Format Accurately

SB should be evaluated on new-to-brand percentage, branded search volume trends, and TACOS impact — not just direct ACOS. When you measure both by the same ACOS target, you’ll always underinvest in SB, which is almost always the wrong call for growing brands.