Amazon Sponsored Products

The dominant retail media ad format globally, anchoring Amazon's multi-billion dollar advertising business and setting the standard for on-site sponsored search in e-commerce.

Amazon Sponsored Products, launched in 2012, is Amazon's core self-serve cost-per-click advertising solution that allows sellers, vendors, and brands to promote individual product listings directly within Amazon's search results and product detail pages. Operating under the Amazon Advertising umbrella, it functions similarly to paid search advertising, enabling advertisers to bid on keywords and product targets to increase visibility and drive sales on the world's largest e-commerce marketplace. The platform supports both automatic and manual targeting, giving advertisers flexibility in how they reach shoppers at the point of purchase intent. As part of Amazon's broader advertising ecosystem, Sponsored Products is the most widely used and accessible ad format on the platform, available to third-party sellers, first-party vendors, and book vendors. It operates on a pay-per-click model with no minimum spend requirement, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes — from individual sellers to global brands. The format integrates seamlessly with Amazon's vast first-party shopper data, enabling highly relevant targeting based on search queries, product categories, and customer behavior signals. In the AdTech ecosystem, Amazon Sponsored Products represents a critical pillar of retail media advertising. Amazon's advertising business, which Sponsored Products anchors, generates tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue, making Amazon one of the top three digital advertising platforms globally alongside Google and Meta. The product has also expanded beyond Amazon's own properties, with Amazon making Sponsored Products ads available on third-party sites and apps, further extending its retail media reach and competitive footprint.