A Major Shift in Amazon Advertising
Amazon is reshaping the landscape of performance advertising once again. Traditionally, Sponsored Product (SP) ads have only shown up within the Amazon ecosystem, on search results, product detail pages, and other native placements. But now, Amazon is taking a bold new step and delivering Sponsored Product ads off-site, placing them on external websites and mobile apps.
This change signals Amazon’s growing ambition to blend performance marketing with a broader audience reach, giving advertisers the ability to tap into new customer acquisition funnels without needing Amazon DSP.
But with great opportunity comes great responsibility and complexity. Let us dive into what this means, why it matters, and how advertisers can take control.
What’s Actually Changing?
Amazon is now showing Sponsored Product ads in off-Amazon environments, such as:
- Third-party publisher websites (e.g., Pinterest, BuzzFeed)
- Mobile apps through Amazon’s publisher network
- Other digital spaces where Amazon believes there’s relevant shopper intent.
This update brings Sponsored Products into territory previously reserved for Amazon DSP, but without the need for advanced setup, massive budgets, or managed service.
Why Is Amazon Doing This?
There are three key motives behind this evolution:
- Maximize Reach While Maintaining Simplicity: With DSP, brands gain access to external traffic, but the barrier to entry is high. Amazon wants to democratize access to off-site reach, bringing DSP-style visibility to Sponsored Product users in a plug-and-play fashion.
- Leverage First-Party Data for Smarter Targeting: Amazon knows what people search for, browse, and buy. Now, it is using that data to serve intent-based ads beyond its ecosystem, without needing third-party cookies.
- Solve the Inventory Crunch: On-Amazon real estate is getting crowded. By expanding Sponsored Product inventory beyond the site, Amazon can scale ad impressions and revenue without hurting the user experience.
You Are Automatically Opted In
Here is the critical detail most advertisers do not realize: By default, all Sponsored Product campaigns are opted into off-Amazon placements. This means, unless you go into your campaign settings and change it, your SP ads may already be appearing on off-site properties and costing you clicks.
Can You Opt Out? Not Fully, But You Can Adjust
As of now, Amazon does not allow advertisers to fully opt out of off-site Sponsored Product placements. However, it does offer two control options under campaign settings:
- Maximize Reach (Default): This setting aims to increase visibility and impressions by allowing more off-Amazon ad placements.
- Minimize Spend: This setting pulls back slightly, reducing the emphasis on off-site placements in favor of cost efficiency.
To change this, go into your campaign settings and look for the Off-Amazon Placement Control options.
It is also worth noting that Amazon has started offering domain-level exclusions, giving advertisers the ability to prevent ads from showing on specific external sites, a small but meaningful step toward brand safety.
How Do You Know if Your Ads Are Showing Off-Site?
You can track off-site performance using the Sponsored Products Placement Report available in Amazon’s Advertising Console. This report includes a section labeled “Off Amazon” and provides data such as:
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Spend
- Sales
This helps identify whether off-Amazon traffic is delivering ROI or eroding efficiency.
Risks and Strategic Considerations
- Conversion Rate Volatility: Off-site traffic might not convert as strongly as on-Amazon traffic, especially if audiences are earlier in the buying journey.
- Budget Cannibalization: Off-Amazon placements could absorb spend that would otherwise go toward high-performing Amazon-native placements, unless managed carefully.
- Lack of Transparency: Advertisers do not have full visibility into where their off-site ads are shown unless they dig into reports or request exclusions.
Best Practices to Stay in Control
- Audit All Campaigns Immediately: Check whether you are opted into “Maximize Reach” and adjust if needed.
- Create Test Campaigns: Run isolated tests with different settings to compare performance with and without aggressive off-site reach.
- Use Brand Analytics and Attribution: Layer in tools like Amazon Attribution or external analytics to monitor upper-funnel activity and traffic sources more effectively.
Final Thoughts: Is This a Game-Changer?
For many advertisers, especially those who do not use Amazon DSP, this is an exciting opportunity to unlock incremental traffic and discovery. But it is not without risk. Amazon’s move to serve SP ads off-site should be seen as a strategic expansion of its advertising footprint, not just a technical change.
Marketers who stay proactive, adjusting settings, monitoring performance, and refining targeting, will be best positioned to turn off-site Sponsored Products into a scalable, controllable growth channel.
