Amazon PPC 2026: What’s Changing and How to React

Amazon introduced a whole series of changes to the Advertising Console in 2025 and early 2026, some quietly, others with big announcements. Which ones actually matter for your brand? And what do they mean for your day-to-day work with Sponsored Products, Brands, and Display?

Here’s my take, based on what I see across 50+ brands in practice.

1. Campaign Types Are Merging

Amazon is blurring the lines between Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display. The new „Sponsored Ads“ interface combines campaign types more tightly and offers cross-format recommendations.

What this means for you: Your campaign structure needs to be more flexible. If you’re still thinking in rigid silos (SP here, SB there, SD somewhere else), you’re missing synergies. I recommend a thematic structure: by product group or goal, not by campaign type.

2. From Narrow to Broad Targeting

Alongside AI bidding, the targeting logic itself is shifting too. For years the rule was: go as granular as possible, one keyword per campaign, exact match. In 2025/2026 that’s reversing. Auto campaigns, category targeting, and product targeting are now delivering better scaling results than tightly-scoped exact match structures in a lot of accounts, simply because Amazon’s algorithm has more signal to learn from per campaign.

What this means for you: If your structure is still built entirely on single-keyword exact match, you’re leaving reach on the table. That doesn’t mean scrapping granular campaigns, they still matter for ranking goals. But add broader campaigns on top for scaling and new-customer reach.

3. AI-Powered Bidding Strategies Are Getting More Aggressive

Amazon’s automatic bidding algorithms have improved, but they’ve also gotten hungrier. „Dynamic bids, up and down“ now raises bids more aggressively than a year ago, especially for Top-of-Search placements.

What this means for you: Monitor your placement modifiers more carefully. If you blindly rely on Dynamic Bids, you’ll quickly pay 40 to 60 percent more for Top-of-Search. My recommendation: start with „Fixed bids“ or „Down only“ and test upward deliberately, in steps of no more than 25 percent per optimization round, not in one jump. I cover how to run these adjustments systematically instead of manually in my article on rule-based bid management.

4. Amazon Marketing Stream Delivers Real-Time Data

Hourly performance data is now available for all sellers and vendors, not just through the API but also directly in the Console. This opens up entirely new possibilities for dayparting and budget allocation.

What this means for you: If you notice your conversions drop between 10pm and 6am, you can allocate budgets more strategically. Use the data to concentrate your daily budgets on the most profitable hours, and to check whether your ACoS is systematically running out of control in certain windows. I explain how to read ACoS and TACoS correctly for this kind of analysis here.

5. Sponsored Brands: Video Is Becoming the Standard

Sponsored Brands Video (SBV) now has a higher CTR than classic SB campaigns in many categories. Amazon is also pushing video ads much more prominently in mobile search.

What this means for you: If you don’t have video assets yet, it’s high time. No Hollywood-level production needed, but a clean 15-second product video that shows the USP makes all the difference.

6. Attribution and Reporting Are Improving, But Also Getting More Complex

Amazon Attribution is out of beta and now delivers more solid data for external traffic sources. At the same time, Amazon has redesigned the reporting in the Console, with new metrics like „New-to-Brand“ at the campaign level.

What this means for you: Set up Amazon Attribution if you’re also driving traffic to your listings from Google, Meta, or TikTok. And get familiar with the new report structures, the old ones are being phased out gradually.

What This Means for Your Product Launch

These changes hit especially hard during a product’s launch phase: broader targeting helps build sales velocity, but more aggressive AI bidding can eat through a tight launch budget fast if you’re not actively steering it. I’ve laid out how campaign structure and budget should evolve over the first 90 days in my 90-day plan for Amazon product launches.

My Takeaway

Amazon PPC isn’t getting simpler, but the tools are getting more powerful. The key is to use new features strategically rather than adopting them blindly. Not every update is relevant for every brand. What matters is having a clear strategy, and being able to fit the new tools into that strategy.

Figuring out exactly which update matters for which brand is the starting point of every Amazon Growth engagement I take on.

Frequently Asked Questions About Amazon PPC 2026

Should I switch my campaigns entirely to broad targeting?

No. Granular exact match campaigns still matter for ranking goals. Add auto, category, and product targeting campaigns on top for scaling and new-customer reach, rather than replacing them.

How aggressively should I raise my placement modifiers?

In steps of no more than 25 percent per optimization round, based on the last 30 days of performance data. Bigger jumps distort the data you need for the next round.

Do I need Amazon Marketing Stream if I don’t have an API integration?

No, the hourly data is now also available directly in the Advertising Console, not just through the API. That’s enough for most brands‘ dayparting decisions.

Do I need to use Sponsored Brands Video even without a big video budget?

Yes, at least a simple 15-second product video is worth it. It doesn’t need high-end production value to capture the higher CTR over classic SB campaigns.

When should I set up Amazon Attribution?

As soon as you’re driving traffic to your listings from outside Amazon, for example through Google, Meta, or TikTok. Without Attribution, you can’t see which external channel is actually driving sales.

How do these changes specifically affect a product launch?

Broader targeting helps build sales velocity, but more aggressive AI bidding can burn through a tight launch budget fast if you don’t actively manage placement and bid control.

What’s the biggest mistake brands make with these updates?

Adopting them blindly instead of checking what’s actually relevant for their own brand and category. Not every update fits every campaign structure or goal.