One of the most fascinating (and intimidating) aspects about Amazon advertising is the variety of ad types available. Advertisers can take advantage of new ad placement alternatives such as Sponsored Display advertisements and DSP on a regular basis.
Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform (DSP) and Sponsored Display advertisements are particularly useful for expanding reach and targeting ads both on and off the platform. Both of these ad kinds are compatible with third-party exchanges, published partners, Fire TV, Kindle, Amazon Live, streaming services, and other apps in addition to Amazon.com. They differ, however, in terms of eligibility, pricing, and the amount of creative freedom advertisers have.
Is one better than the other in terms of Amazon DSP vs Sponsored Display? Understanding the key differences between these ad kinds, as well as the objectives they might help you reach, can help you better balance your Amazon marketing strategy.
DSP vs. Amazon Sponsored Display
Customers who search for their products using relevant keywords, consumers who explore related products, and customers who have already purchased from them can all benefit from Amazon Sponsored Display adverts. These advertisements can be found on and off Amazon.
Amazon DSP, like Sponsored Display, is an ad platform where marketers may buy ads programmatically on and off Amazon.com to attract new customers. The latter, on the other hand, gives you more audience targeting options that work on both desktop and mobile. Sponsored Display advertising, on the other hand, solely target mobile visitors.
Amazon intends to expand Sponsored Display adverts to include desktop and laptop computers as well as smartphones in the future.
Aside from that, there are differences between Amazon Sponsored Display advertisements and DSP ads in terms of eligibility, minimum investment, cost structure, and other factors.
Continue reading to learn the basics of both advertising options.
Sponsored Display
The Pros:
There are no budget minimums.
You can begin evaluating the potential of Sponsored Display regardless of your advertising budget. As a result, these ads are more accessible to smaller and growing enterprises.
Setup is simple.
Setting up Sponsored Display is simple, especially if you’re already familiar with the Amazon Advertising Console’s other ad formats.
Advertising Console is visible.
Without having to track different log-ins, you can edit, launch, and monitor your Sponsored Display advertisements in the same place you manage your other ads.
Simple to handle.
You can make changes to budgets, bids, and other aspects of your advertising directly in the Advertising Console. Because the options are rather easy, the optimization levers are relatively limited.
Model CPC.
Sponsored Display, like Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, is based on a cost-per-click (CPC) approach, making it simple to analyze and compare cost and performance.
Support for newer/lower volume products is simple.
This ad kind is for products that haven’t yet made an appearance on the Amazon marketplace.
The Drawbacks:
There is just one retargeting audience available (at time of writing).
The disadvantage of being very simple to set up and administer is that you don’t have as many audience selection options as you do with DSP. Only one retargeting audience is available for SD.
There is no way to negate crowds.
You also can’t select to ignore audiences you don’t want to target.
There is only one optimization lever (One Bid).
You can only adjust your single bid in Sponsored Display; you can’t set a minimum or maximum bid, or do it separately for different placement chances, or optimize the number of times your ad is shown to a single client.
Creative options are limited.
Finally, compared to DSP, Sponsored Display’s creative capabilities are more limited, albeit Amazon just launched some early custom creative options for Sponsored Display.
DSP
The Pros:
Customizable Audiences
You can sort by watchers, purchases, and other criteria using Amazon DSP’s custom audiences. Longer and more adjustable look-back windows are also available (up to 90 to 365 days depending on the audience).
Customized design.
DSP gives you additional creative freedom by allowing you to deploy unique creative, including video content.
Advertising to a pixel audience is possible.
DSP also allows you to target an audience that has been captured using pixels. This implies you may retarget visitors to your DTC site to Amazon.
Multiple Levers for Optimization
Unlike SD, which has only one optimization lever, DSP has several (base supply bid, max supply bid, maximum times you can serve an ad to a customer, etc.).
Tracking ASINs is possible.
DSP allows you to track purchases of specific ASINs (both marketed and non-advertised ASINs) outside of the usual Brand Halo, giving you greater insight into the products you’ve bought.
The Cons:
Minimum Spending Limits
Getting started with DSP does require a substantial budget, which might be a barrier for smaller businesses. Working with AiHello to manage and optimize DSP advertisements, on the other hand, gives you more financial flexibility.
It’s difficult to set up and manage.
DSP is difficult to build and maintain from the start. For these adverts, Amazon does not give an easy or simple user interface.
DSP console is separate.
Because DSP is not available in the Advertising Console like SD, you will need to add it to your workflow by visiting a separate DSP console.
Supporting products with minimal traffic is difficult.
Although it is not impossible, running effective DSP advertising for products with minimal traffic is tough, hence DSP is reserved for brands with a well-established presence on the market.
What Is the Difference Between DSP Ads and Amazon Sponsored Display Ads?
Let’s take a closer look at Amazon Sponsored Display versus DSP to assist you make a better decision.
If you’re thinking about using sponsored media to offer your Amazon business a boost in visibility and sales, it’s important to know the differences between Sponsored Display ads and Amazon DSP.
Here are some key differences between Amazon Sponsored Display and DSP:
DSP and Sponsored Display Eligibility
One of the most significant distinctions between DSP and Sponsored Display is that DSP can be used by firms that do not sell directly on Amazon, but Sponsored Display advertising can only be found on Amazon. Sponsored Display ads on Amazon’s marketplaces help advertisers increase sales and brand recognition. Although advertisements may appear outside of the marketplace, all visitors will be directed to your Amazon listings.
DSP advertisers can either direct traffic to an Amazon product listing or direct traffic to external websites that are not affiliated with Amazon in any way. As a result, DSP is the most effective approach for firms that don’t sell on Amazon to reach Amazon’s audience.
Sponsored Display and DSP Cost Structure
The price of each ad kind should influence where it belongs in your marketing strategy and how you evaluate its success. The cost structure for DSP ads is Cost Per Mille (CPM). This is the average price you pay to deliver 1,000 ad impressions. The Pay Per Click (PPC) structure is used in Sponsored Display adverts, and it is computed based on the average cost you pay each time someone clicks on your ads.
CPM or PPC may be advantageous depending on the conversion rates of your adverts. Which cost structure you select may be influenced by your aims, such as conversions vs. brand awareness.
DSP and Sponsored Display Minimum Investment
Amazon lowers the barrier to entry by directing all traffic back to your Amazon listing via Sponsored Display advertisements. All brands can get started with a $1 minimum expenditure and gradually increase their spend before committing.
DSP, on the other hand, necessitates a larger investment to reap the benefits of the program’s enhanced reporting and audience insights. A minimum monthly spend of $10,000 is required for the self-service advertising solution. A minimum monthly spend of $35,000 is required for Amazon Managed Services DSP. Ad campaigns can be fine-tuned by programmatic advertising buying experts with this additional investment.
While Sponsored Display advertising have a low entry barrier, Amazon’s DSP program provides a more extensive ad option, but at a higher cost.
Creative Control Through DSP and Sponsored Display
Control over creative is one of the more robust options accessible through DSP advertisements. To help boost buyers’ attention to advertisements and improve CTR, Amazon DSP ads can be fully customized, including the headline, brand logo, and custom created image.
Their Dynamic eCommerce Ads (DEA) are currently in beta and can display up to 20 ASINs with eCommerce elements like retail pricing and review ratings.
Sponsored Display advertising generate display ad material that is optimized for outcomes. This ad type does not allow for any personalization, regardless of your budget. However, because it is adjusted automatically using your Amazon product information, it is a low-maintenance alternative for firms who do not have the resources or time to design ad creative.
Curve of Learning
Because Sponsored Display Ads are simple to set up and administer in Seller Central, brands don’t require the assistance of Amazon advertising agency. DSP advertising, on the other hand, is challenging, especially for new advertisers. As a result, brands may need to seek assistance from reputable Amazon advertising agencies.
Retargeting
Gaining new clients, as well as sustaining a current audience, is critical to a company’s success. Retaining existing consumers, on the other hand, is a more cost-effective way to spend ad dollars than attracting new ones.
You can raise brand recognition by teaching your customers about your items using Amazon DSP. You can, however, retarget potential clients who have already purchased or engaged with your product or similar products in the category.
In a nutshell, you may utilize Amazon DSP for:
Top-of-the-funnel conversion – Increase brand awareness and visibility.
Mid-conversion funnel – Increase consideration of your product over a competitor
Low-conversion funnel — Re-engage and retarget shoppers to increase the likelihood of a transaction.
Here are some examples of what you can accomplish with Amazon DSP retargeting:
- Audiences who have shown specific habits in the last 30 days, such as browsing similar products or products in a category.
- Audiences who exhibited specific search and purchasing habits associated with a shared way of life. Veganism, for example.
- Audiences who were on the verge of purchasing your or a competitor’s product, i.e., audiences who looked for, saw, or added your or a competitor’s product to their cart.
- Audience Lookalikes are people who shop in similar ways to your consumers or your competitors’ customers.
- Audiences who expressed interest in your offering by looking at similar products on other websites.
- An audience created by a brand utilizing data from their website, data from a CRM database, or a hashed email list.
For all of these reasons, Amazon DSP may be an excellent choice for you.
Brand Protection
For today’s businesses, brand safety is a top priority. Because so many internet advertising are provided by automation, businesses may be positioned near content that isn’t necessarily the type of environment it would choose manually. Remember that every second, millions—sometimes tens of millions—of programmatic ad impressions are served! Issues are bound to arise at that level of speed.
Users of Amazon DSP can anticipate the highest quality standards and brand safety, since DSP monitors everything from real-time bids to site reviews for brand safety, traffic quality, third-party supply quality, and viewability using both its own and third-party solutions.
Using DSP and Sponsored Display to Target Custom Audiences
Product targeting, views remarketing, and audience interests are the three targeting options available in Sponsored Display adverts. Instead of requiring marketers to create specific audience segments, Sponsored Display focuses on simple, automated retargeting.
DSP advertisements are ideal for advertisers trying to create bespoke audiences. Advertisers can utilize Amazon DSP to create bespoke segments based on Amazon demographic and user activity data. You can also create bespoke audiences with data directly acquired from your clients. This allows you to create audience groups for your adverts that are custom-built, contextual, and highly targeted.
Conclusion
While these two different ad formats each have their own set of advantages, they can be used together or independently to generate tremendous results. Sponsored Display audience retargeting ads, for example, are a less expensive way to collect performance data for individual ASINs that may be utilized to optimize and target DSP campaigns.
