Amazon DSP: what it is now called, how it works, pricing and alternatives

Amazon DSP lets advertisers buy ads with Amazon's own data. Amazon says DVA+ is built on "purchase, streaming, and entertainment insights from 300M+ Amazon customers" (company claim, Amazon Ads). That data reaches buyers inside Amazon's tools; it does not leave as a list.

The inventory has two halves. Amazon-owned supply includes Prime Video, Fire TV, Twitch, IMDb and Amazon.com (Amazon Ads). Third-party supply runs across "thousands of premium third-party sites and apps" (same source). Netflix ads became buyable through Amazon DSP from the fourth quarter of 2025 in eleven countries (Amazon Ads, 10 September 2025).

You do not need to sell on Amazon to use it. Brands that sell elsewhere can run DVA campaigns "to audiences on Amazon and across the open internet" (Amazon Ads). Amazon also became the recommended home for buyers of Microsoft Invest, the former Xandr DSP (Amazon Ads, 7 October 2025). Microsoft Invest closed on 28 February 2026 (MediaPost). The Microsoft Invest migration playbook covers that move.

Amazon changed names three times in eight years. The table maps each one.

Amazon Ads Agent is the console, not the bidder. It offers three campaign types: sponsored ads, DVA, and Full-Funnel Campaigns (Amazon Ads). DVA+ is "a unified campaign type bringing together what was previously created through Amazon DSP, Sponsored Display, and Sponsored TV" (Amazon Ads). Its four steps are an objective, products or a brand URL, AI-made creative, and a budget. Two engines decide delivery: Performance+ for sales and Brand+ for reach.

The old DSP controls have not gone. Audience targeting, frequency limits, deal IDs and custom bidding "all live in DVA+ with advanced settings" (Amazon Ads). Two catches apply. Advanced settings were "currently available to limited advertisers in the US" on 9 November 2026. Buyers in 21 other countries, including the UK, Germany, Japan and Canada, still see the Amazon DSP screen (Amazon Ads).

Agents can drive the platform as well as people. The Amazon Ads MCP Server lets outside AI tools create campaigns and pull reports through the Model Context Protocol (Amazon Ads, 2 February 2026). Full-Funnel Campaigns report new-to-brand and long-term sales (PPC Land, 15 October 2026), and Amazon Marketing Cloud supports deeper analysis.

Amazon publishes no DSP rate card, but its own pages fix a few points. Pricing did not change with the rename: "The programmatic pricing model you used in Amazon DSP, including self-service and managed-service options, continues within DVA+" (Amazon Ads, accessed 9 November 2026). DVA+ "uses cost per mille (CPM) billing with no minimum spend" (Amazon Ads). The managed service "typically requires a minimum spend that varies by country" (Amazon Ads).

Trade press fills in numbers Amazon does not post. Amazon documentation summarised in July 2025 put the fully managed option at a $50,000 minimum, a 15% service fee and a 10% platform fee (PPC Land, 15 October 2026). The same report found no fee change for DVA in coverage of the launch. During the DVA+ beta, billing is by invoice only. The minimums, the managed-versus-self-service trade-off and when the spend pays back are in Amazon DSP cost. The general fee models are in DSP pricing explained.

Strengths

• Signed-in shopper data. Targeting and measurement use Amazon's own purchase and streaming records, which open-web DSPs cannot buy.
• Owned premium video. Prime Video, Fire TV and Twitch sit next to Netflix and third-party CTV in one buy.
• Scale and investment. Amazon's advertising revenue reached $19.6 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up from $17.7 billion a year earlier (Amazon 10-Q, Q3 2026).
• Agent access. An MCP server opens the platform to outside AI tools without one-off integrations.

Limits

• Amazon sells the media it optimises. Amazon's bidder buys both its own inventory and outside supply, so independent checks on allocation matter. Compare the independent model in Amazon DSP vs The Trade Desk.
• Less channel choice in automated modes. In Full-Funnel Campaigns, advertisers "cannot select individual channels or specific audiences", per Digiday's report (PPC Land, 15 October 2026).
• Uneven rollout. DVA+ advanced settings were limited to some US advertisers, and general availability in 35 markets is targeted for the first quarter of 2027 (same source).
• Auction-pricing litigation. In August 2026 the FTC and 22 states sued Amazon over reserve prices in its sponsored ad auctions; Amazon disputes the claims (Amazon 10-Q, Q3 2026). The complaint targets sponsored ads, which DVA+ now sits beside.

• The current managed-service minimum by country, and the self-service technology fee rate. Amazon refers both to account executives.
• The primary Amazon document behind the $50,000, 15% and 10% figures. We saw only PPC Land's summary of it.
• A list of publicly named Amazon DSP customers on Amazon's own pages.
• Whether the FTC complaint covers any DSP or DVA auctions. Amazon's 10-Q describes it as concerning sponsored ad auctions; the FTC release could not be accessed.

1. Amazon Ads, "Amazon DSP is now part of Amazon Ads Agent", product page (accessed 9 November 2026). https://advertising.amazon.com/solutions/products/amazon-dsp
2. Amazon Ads, "Amazon Ads Agent: Omnichannel advertising platform" (accessed 9 November 2026). https://advertising.amazon.com/adtech-solutions/amazon-ads-agent
3. Amazon Ads, "Display, Video, and Audio" (DVA+) product page (accessed 9 November 2026). https://advertising.amazon.com/products/display-video-audio
4. Amazon Ads, "Amazon Ads and Netflix partnership" (10 September 2025). https://advertising.amazon.com/library/news/amazon-ads-netflix-programmatic-buying
5. Amazon Ads, "Microsoft and Amazon DSP partnership" (7 October 2025). https://advertising.amazon.com/library/news/microsoft-amazon-dsp-partnership
6. Amazon Ads, "Amazon Ads MCP Server now in open beta" (2 February 2026). https://advertising.amazon.com/library/news/amazon-ads-mcp-server-open-beta
7. PPC Land, "Meta named a future that never came. Amazon Ads Agent names one that exists" (15 October 2026). https://ppc.land/meta-named-a-future-that-never-came-amazon-ads-agent-names-one-that-exists/
8. Productsup, "Amazon simplifies ad offerings with rebrand to 'Amazon Advertising'" (20 September 2018). https://www.productsup.com/blog/amazon-rebrand-amazon-advertising/
9. Amazon.com, Inc., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 September 2026 (filed 30 October 2026). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000101872426000040/amzn-20260930.htm
10. US Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR submissions record for Amazon.com, Inc. (accessed 9 November 2026). https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001018724.json