Key Changes at a Glance

• We noticed a significant shift in Sponsored Products ad placement impression totals starting August 27th across a number of grocery and health clients
• After analyzing, Product Detail Page impressions across these campaigns dropped by 56%
• While ad impression counts have shifted significantly, overall downstream ad performance remains largely stable

Starting during the final week in August, there was a meaningful shift in where Amazon serves impressions for Sponsored Products ads across an array of grocery and health product categories. While this is likely another test by Amazon, the dramatic nature of the changes present challenges for brands to optimize campaigns utilizing historical data.

A Detailed Account of the Shift We Tracked

From August 20th through August 26th, between 68–75% of Sponsored Products ad impressions were delivered on Amazon Product Detail Pages (PDPs) across a range of grocery and health brands. Then, starting on August 27th, impression volume dropped by roughly 40%.

PDP placements were the culprit here, with impression volume for those placements down nearly 56%. Impression totals for the remaining on-Amazon placement types remained effectively flat. Since the change went into effect, PDP placements now constitute roughly 50% of impressions across impacted brands.

Impact Assessment

Normally, such a seismic shift in impression allocation would also drive meaningful changes in ad performance. However, across the clients that saw the biggest changes starting in late August, we’ve seen click totals and downstream metrics remain largely stable.

This suggests that while Amazon may be testing new delivery strategies for Sponsored Products ads, the placements that were eliminated contributed very little to performance overall. 

Why This Matters for Brands

For impacted brands, be wary, but don’t overreact

• Critical KPIs like conversions weren’t impacted by this change
• CTR is going to leap up, but this is solely due to lower impression counts – not improved campaign effectiveness

Carefully monitor any differences in your mobile and desktop PDP experiences going forward

• There is some anecdotal evidence that mobile PDP views were more impacted by this change
• While not definitive, it’s a good reminder to ‘walk the store’ on mobile and desktop to account for any major differences in the UX and react accordingly