- Should you switch to Amazon Full-Funnel Campaigns, or is it better to wait?
- What exactly happened at Amazon's unBoxed 2026?
- How does a Full-Funnel Campaign work in practice?
- Do the beta test numbers really show it works?
- Who is really ready to use Full-Funnel Campaigns today?
- Three real-world scenarios: what changes for an e-commerce store, a manufacturer and an agency?
- Is there a legal risk to consider?
- Why is Amazon pushing so hard on automation right now?
- How do you get started with the new Amazon Ads platform?
- What mistakes are most common when switching to automated targeting?
- How do you know if Full-Funnel Campaigns are working for your business?
- So, is it worth switching to Full-Funnel Campaigns for your business?
- How we see it at SHM
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Amazon has renamed its advertising platform "Amazon Ads Agent" and introduced Full-Funnel Campaigns: with a minimum budget of $100 a day, the AI chooses channels, audiences and bids for you.
- The old Amazon DSP hasn't gone away: it lives on inside DVA+ with advanced settings, but it was still in closed beta in October 2026, while Full-Funnel was already live for US advertisers.
- In the beta tests reported by Amazon, Full-Funnel Campaigns delivered a 67% higher long-term ROAS and a 29% lower new-customer acquisition cost compared to traditional campaigns.
- Only 12% of brands are currently set up to use Full-Funnel Campaigns: if you get organized now, you start with a real advantage.
With $100 a day, Amazon decides on its own where your ads go, who sees them and how much you spend on each format. Manual control still exists, but it's not the path you're offered first.
Should you switch to Amazon Full-Funnel Campaigns, or is it better to wait?
It depends on how much budget you have, how much control you want to keep and how well structured you are to work across multiple formats at once. The answer isn't the same for everyone.
Amazon has changed the rules of the game for anyone advertising on its platform. The new product is called Full-Funnel Campaigns: a single campaign covering sponsored ads, display, video and Streaming TV, with AI deciding how to distribute the budget across formats. The minimum to get started is $100 a day, or about €3,000 a month.
Before deciding if it's the right path for your business, it's worth understanding what really changes compared to before, and where you can still keep control.
| Your situation | Is it worth it? | why |
|---|---|---|
| You sell on Amazon with a monthly budget above €3,000 and want to grow fast | Yes | Full-Funnel scales across multiple formats automatically, with no manual management |
| You already have active Sponsored Products campaigns and want to test programmatic | Yes | DVA+ (advanced settings) gives you access to the old DSP with more control |
| You manage limited budgets or need full transparency on targeting | No, for now | With Full-Funnel, you don't choose audiences and channels: the AI decides by default |
| You're an agency or ads manager with clients who require detailed reporting | Partly | Advanced DVA+ keeps the controls, but it was still in closed beta in October 2026 |
| You're an SME that has never used the DSP and wants to keep things simple | Yes | Full-Funnel lowers the technical barrier, but requires trust in automation |
What exactly happened at Amazon's unBoxed 2026?
On September 29, 2026, Amazon announced the new unified Amazon Ads Agent platform, which absorbs the former Amazon DSP and introduces three distinct campaign types.
At the unBoxed 2026 event in San Francisco, Amazon dropped the name "Amazon DSP" (Demand-Side Platform, the platform that lets you buy ad space automatically across multiple sites and formats). The buying engine stayed, but it was renamed and reorganized under a single conversational interface: Amazon Ads Agent.
The new platform puts an AI assistant front and center, letting you plan, set up and optimize campaigns through chat. Behind it, the three products play different roles.
| Product | What it does | Who's in control | Status as of October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsored Ads | Ads in Amazon search results | The advertiser | Live, available |
| DVA+ (standard) | Display, video, audio: AI manages targeting and bids | Amazon AI | Closed beta in the US, open beta expected end of October 2026 |
| DVA+ (advanced settings) | Old DSP: audiences, deals, frequency, manual bidding | The advertiser | Closed beta in the US |
| Full-Funnel Campaigns | One campaign across all formats, budget allocated by AI | Amazon AI | Live for US advertisers (with eligibility requirements) |
The point that sparked debate in the industry, analyzed by the ADOTAT newsletter and picked up by PPC Land, is this: the most automated product, the one where the AI chooses everything, was already live. The one with manual controls was still in closed testing. It's not about features being removed, but about which path gets offered first.
How does a Full-Funnel Campaign work in practice?
You set the goal, products, creatives and a daily budget of at least $100. Amazon's AI does the rest: it chooses where to show your ads, to whom, in which format and how much to spend on each.
- 1 · AdvertiserDefine your goalChoose between new customers, long-term sales or awareness. It's the only strategic choice that stays in your hands.
- 2 · AdvertiserAdd products and creativesYou upload the products to promote and the creatives you have (images, videos). Amazon can generate new ones with AI.
- 3 · AdvertiserSet your daily budgetMinimum $100 per day. Amazon distributes the spend across Sponsored Ads, display, video and Streaming TV.
- 4 · Amazon AIPlans, executes and optimizesThe AI agent chooses channels, audiences, bids and formats. It tracks results using Amazon's proprietary data and adjusts in real time.
- 5 · AdvertiserRead the reportsSee the aggregated results. How granular the data is depends on how much Amazon exposes in the reporting settings.
The stated advantage is simplicity: you don't need to know the DSP, and you don't need to manage manual bids or audience segments. The downside is the flip side: you don't know exactly why the AI chose a certain channel or audience. For anyone running campaigns with precise margin targets or very specific audiences, that can be a problem.
Do the beta test numbers really show it works?
The figures Amazon reports from its beta tests are positive, but they need to be read carefully: they come from controlled tests under ideal conditions, not from large-scale live campaigns.
A ROAS (Return on Ad Spend, meaning how much revenue you generate for every euro spent on advertising) that is 67% higher in the beta tests is a number that grabs attention. But the beta tests Amazon reports, as covered by Common Thread Collective, come from selected conditions. Results on live campaigns, with real budgets and competitive categories, could be different.
The conversational targeting figure, more than 25% additional unique customers and a CPM drop of over 10%, is attributed directly to Amazon and reported by Relevant Audience. Here too, the source is Amazon itself: useful as a reference, not as a guarantee.
Who is really ready to use Full-Funnel Campaigns today?
Very few. According to research by Skai cited at unBoxed 2026, only 12% of brands are currently set up to use Full-Funnel Campaigns.
Full-Funnel Campaigns require cross-functional skills: Sponsored Ads, programmatic inventory, video and Streaming TV have to work together. Most companies manage these channels in separate silos, with different teams, separate budgets and KPIs that don't talk to each other.
According to the Skai research cited at unBoxed 2026 and reported by Pare.so, only 12% of brands currently have the internal structure to do it. Those who get organized now, even just by setting shared goals across teams, start with a real edge over the competition.
For an Italian e-commerce business selling on Amazon Marketplace, the practical question is: do I have a team (in-house or external) that can oversee campaigns across multiple formats at once? If the answer is no, starting with DVA+ in advanced mode, once it's available, probably makes more sense than relying on full automation right away.
Three real-world scenarios: what changes for an e-commerce business, a manufacturer and an agency?
Choosing between Full-Funnel and advanced DVA+ depends on budget, goals and in-house management capacity. Here's how that plays out in three typical situations.
Illustrative examples: numbers are meant to show the reasoning, they are not real customer data.
| Company type | Situation | Recommended path | why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer goods e-commerce | €5,000/month budget on Amazon, goal of acquiring new customers, in-house marketing team of 2 people | Full-Funnel Campaigns | The AI handles multi-format complexity without requiring in-house DSP skills |
| B2B manufacturing company | Sells spare parts on Amazon Business, very specific audience (industrial sector) | DVA+ advanced settings | Manual targeting on B2B audiences is more precise than general-purpose automation |
| Ads agency with multiple clients | Manages 10+ Amazon accounts, clients want transparency on audiences and placements | Advanced DVA+ plus Full-Funnel in testing | Keeps control and reporting for clients, tests Full-Funnel on a dedicated budget |
Is there a legal risk to consider?
Yes. On August 31, 2026, the FTC and 22 state attorneys general accused Amazon of manipulating advertising auctions since 2019, with estimated damages of over $20 billion borne by about 1.2 million advertisers.
The issue is serious and directly affects anyone spending on Amazon Ads. According to the complaint filed by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission, the US antitrust authority) and reported by GeekWire, Amazon allegedly applied a hidden "soft reserve price", a secret minimum price, that made advertisers pay their maximum bid in 80% of auctions instead of the minimum needed to win.
The estimated damage exceeds $20 billion and involves over 500,000 SMEs. Amazon denies the allegations. The proceedings are ongoing.
What does this mean for anyone running campaigns today? Relying entirely on Amazon's AI to manage bidding, as happens in Full-Funnel Campaigns, also means relying on a system whose fairness is under scrutiny. It's not a reason to stop advertising on Amazon, but it is a reason to monitor costs closely and not give up visibility into spend data altogether.
Why is Amazon pushing so hard on automation right now?
Amazon's advertising revenue reached $68.6 billion in 2025 and is growing 26% in 2026. Retail media is the most dynamic segment of digital advertising in Europe and worldwide.
Amazon isn't simplifying the platform to do advertisers a favor. It's doing it because advertising is its fastest-growing engine. Ad revenue reached $68.6 billion in 2025, up 22% year over year, and in the second quarter of 2026 it hit $19.8 billion for the quarter (+26%), according to data reported by Business Chief.
In Europe, retail media, meaning advertising sold directly by e-commerce platforms like Amazon, grew 22.1% in 2025, versus 6% for total ad spend over the same period, according to Adtelligent. In France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, more than two thirds of retail media spend went to Amazon in 2025, according to WARC Media as reported by Marketing Report.
Lowering the technical barrier with automation means opening the platform to millions of sellers who have never used the DSP. More advertisers, more auctions, more revenue.
How do you get started with the new Amazon Ads platform?
For most Italian companies, the smartest path is a gradual one: don't give up manual control before you've understood how automation behaves on your specific account.
- 1 · Marketing team / ads managerCheck your accessSee whether your Amazon Ads account has access to Full-Funnel Campaigns (available to US advertisers who meet eligibility requirements) or whether you're on the waitlist for DVA+.
- 2 · Marketing teamSet a measurable goalPick one goal for the test: new customers, a minimum ROAS or sales volume. Without a clear goal, you can't tell whether the AI is doing a good job.
- 3 · Ads managerLaunch a Full-Funnel campaign on a separate budgetDon't move budget away from your existing Sponsored Products campaigns. Use an incremental budget (e.g. €100-150 a day) to test Full-Funnel in parallel.
- 4 · Ads managerTrack acquisition costs weeklyCompare the cost per new customer between Full-Funnel and manual campaigns. Keep an eye on CPM and impression share for each format too.
- 5 · Marketing team / managementDecide after 30-60 daysWith real data from your account, you can decide whether to scale Full-Funnel, move to advanced DVA+ once it's available, or stick with a hybrid approach.
If you run campaigns across several platforms, it's worth reading about how Google Ads handles priority and budget allocation by channel: the automation logic is similar, but the control mechanisms are different.
What mistakes do people make most often when they switch to automated targeting?
The most common mistake is to stop monitoring costs because "the AI has it covered." Automation optimizes toward the goal you gave it, not necessarily toward the margin you want.
| Error | Why it happens | How to avoid it |
|---|---|---|
| Moving the entire budget to Full-Funnel right away | You want to simplify management in one go | Test on a separate budget for at least 30 days before scaling |
| Not defining a measurable goal | You assume the AI already knows what to optimize for | Choose one main KPI (e.g. cost per new customer) before you launch |
| Comparing Full-Funnel with Sponsored Products on different metrics | The two products measure different things by default | Align the comparison metrics before the test |
| Ignoring impression costs and CPM | You focus only on final ROAS | Track cost per impression too: it shows whether the AI is overpaying |
| Not refreshing creatives | You assume the AI makes up for weak creatives | The AI optimizes distribution, not message quality: refresh your assets |
A similar problem shows up on Meta: Facebook's algorithm handles targeting more and more automatically, and there too the temptation to delegate everything without monitoring leads to wasted budget. The logic is the same: automation is a tool, not a blank check.
How do you know if Full-Funnel Campaigns are working for your business?
You need at least three distinct indicators: one for acquisition cost, one for the quality of the audience reached and one for profitability over time.
| Indicator | What it measures | Positive signal | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per new customer (NTB) | How much you spend to acquire a customer who had never bought from you before | It goes down compared with previous campaigns | It goes up or stays the same: the AI isn't finding new audiences |
| ROAS at 30-60 days | Return on ad spend over the medium term | Higher than the ROAS of manual campaigns | Lower: the AI is optimizing for volume, not margin |
| CPM by format | Cost per thousand impressions on display, video and Streaming TV | Stable or falling against industry benchmarks | Rising fast: the AI is overpaying for certain placements |
| Impression share on Streaming TV | How much of the budget goes to Streaming TV vs. other formats | Balanced with your awareness goals | Too high if your goal is direct conversion |
| Repurchase rate | How many new customers come back to buy again | Rising: the AI is finding quality audiences | Stable or falling: the new customers aren't qualified |
To dig deeper into how to set up measurement on Amazon Ads before you increase your budget, also read what to ask about Amazon Ads measurement before scaling: attribution principles have changed with the new platform, but the questions to ask stay the same.
If you run campaigns across several channels, tracking matters even more: Safari blocks third-party tracking, and that can skew attribution data even for Amazon campaigns that reach beyond the platform's ecosystem.
So, is it worth switching to Full-Funnel Campaigns for your business?
Worth it if you have a monthly budget of at least €3,000 on Amazon, want to reach new customers across several formats without manually managing every channel, and are willing to monitor results for at least 30-60 days before scaling.
A middle path: you already have Sponsored Products campaigns running and want to explore programmatic. Wait for DVA+ with advanced settings to leave the closed beta, so you keep control over targeting while the AI handles bid optimization.
Not yet if you have very specific audiences (B2B, industry niches), limited budgets or clients who require full transparency on where ads appear: the manual control of advanced DVA+ is a better fit, even though it requires in-house DSP skills or a specialized partner.
How we see it at SHM
For us, AI in marketing is a tool that gives time back, not a blank check. Amazon's Full-Funnel Campaigns are a concrete example of that principle: automation lowers the technical barrier and can deliver better results at scale, but only if the people running the campaigns understand what's happening and stay in control of the goals.
We believe the right path for most Italian companies is a hybrid one: use Full-Funnel to scale quickly on new formats, and DVA+ with advanced settings for the segments where precise targeting makes the difference. It's not a final choice: it's an ongoing test, backed by real data.
We work with companies that want to bring in automation without losing strategic control. If you're weighing how to structure your Amazon Ads campaigns, or how to measure what you're already spending, explore our approach to strategic AI integration, Google Ads campaigns and business intelligence for campaigns. For the broader picture on paid media, creators and performance, follow our Marketing and ADV performance hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
The stated minimum budget is $100 a day, which over a full month comes to about $3,000 (or euros, depending on the market). It's an accessible threshold if you already invest in Sponsored Products, but you need a clear goal before you start, because the AI distributes the budget across multiple formats automatically.
No. Amazon retired the name "Amazon DSP" but not the buying engine. The same features, including audience targeting, deals, frequency and manual bidding, are available inside DVA+ with advanced settings. As of October 2026, this mode was still in closed beta in the US, with an opening expected by the end of October 2026 and general availability in 35 markets planned for the first quarter of 2027.
No, not in standard mode. With Full-Funnel Campaigns, Amazon's AI chooses audiences, channels and bids toward the goal you set. If you need manual targeting on specific segments, the way to go is DVA+ with advanced settings, which keeps the controls of the old DSP.
The FTC complaint filed on August 31, 2026 concerns the manipulation of advertising auctions for Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Display Ads since 2019. Full-Funnel Campaigns are a new product and are not directly mentioned in the complaint. Still, relying entirely on AI to manage bids, as happens with Full-Funnel, means less visibility into how prices are calculated: one more reason to monitor costs closely.
As of October 2026, Full-Funnel Campaigns were live for US advertisers who meet eligibility requirements. DVA+ was in closed beta in the US, with an opening expected by the end of October 2026. General availability in 35 markets, presumably including Italy, was planned for the first quarter of 2027. It's best to check directly in your Amazon Ads account.
Track at least three indicators: cost per new customer (NTB), ROAS at 30-60 days and CPM by format. If the cost per new customer goes up or stays the same compared with manual campaigns, the AI isn't finding quality new audiences. If CPM climbs quickly, it's overpaying for certain placements. Always compare the data against an earlier reference period.
Automated targeting doesn't remove strategic responsibility: it just moves the point where you have to exercise it.
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