Amazon's advertising business hit $15.7 billion in Q2 2025 alone—22% year-over-year growth. That's not a side hustle. That's a full-blown advertising empire competing directly with Google and Meta.
And in November 2025, Amazon dropped a bomb at unBoxed: Ads Agent, an AI system that automates campaign creation, targeting, and optimization through natural language commands. The implications for Amazon advertisers are significant.
Here's what AI changes about Amazon advertising and what actually works.
The Amazon Advertising Landscape
Amazon advertising has evolved far beyond Sponsored Products. The current ecosystem includes Sponsored Products (keyword and product-targeted ads in search results), Sponsored Brands (brand awareness with custom headlines and logos), Sponsored Display (audience and product targeting on and off Amazon), Amazon DSP (programmatic display and video across Amazon properties and the open web), and Amazon Marketing Cloud (clean room analytics for advanced measurement).
The complexity creates opportunity. Most sellers still run basic Sponsored Products campaigns. Those leveraging the full stack—especially with AI optimization—gain significant advantages.
Amazon's Native AI Tools
Amazon has been aggressive about building AI into its advertising platform. November 2025's unBoxed conference revealed just how aggressive.
Ads Agent is Amazon's biggest AI bet. Announced November 11, 2025, it automates campaign management through natural language commands. Upload a media plan, and Ads Agent creates campaign structures automatically. Describe your targeting goals, and it recommends audience segments from thousands of options. Need analytics? It generates SQL queries for Amazon Marketing Cloud without coding expertise.
The key distinction: Ads Agent provides recommendations while maintaining advertiser control. You review suggestions before implementation. It's a copilot, not autopilot.
Performance+ and Brand+ received major updates at unBoxed 2025. These AI-powered campaign types for Amazon DSP now include improved AI models for audience targeting, new consideration tactics reaching customers during purchase decisions, dynamic creative optimization integrated into workflows, cross-campaign remarketing connecting Sponsored Products with DSP, and insight cards showing shopper traits, impression share, and time-to-convert.
Amazon reports Brand+ campaigns drive 71% more detail page views, 42% higher new-to-brand engagement, and 64% more purchases compared to non-Brand+ tactics. Performance+ may deliver up to 34% lift in ROAS for sellers.
Sponsored Products Prompts and Sponsored Brands Prompts launched in open beta at unBoxed. These AI-powered enhancements automatically engage shoppers with relevant product information throughout their journey. They're conversational, interactive ad variations—and they're free during beta.
Creative tools have expanded dramatically. Amazon's Video Generator creates video ads from product images. AI Image Generator produces lifestyle imagery. Creative Studio—now with Creative Agent as a conversational creative partner—supports Streaming TV and Sponsored TV formats.
Third-Party AI Tools for Amazon
Platform-native AI is powerful but not exclusive. Third-party tools offer capabilities Amazon doesn't provide natively.
Bid management and automation tools:
- •m19: AI that tests thousands of keywords, makes daily bid decisions based on conversion predictions, manages ACoS targets and budgets
- •Adspert: Algorithms originating from stock exchange trading, automated keyword harvesting, profit-based optimization using COGS data
- •AiHello: 100% automated campaigns with 5 minutes per week time investment, keyword optimization, and budget management
- •Acosbot: Machine learning for bid optimization, keyword identification, and competitive bid analysis
These tools handle the operational grind—bid adjustments every few hours across thousands of keywords—that humans simply can't match manually.
Analytics and measurement tools like Pacvue provide cross-marketplace management, incrementality measurement, and unified reporting across Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, and other retail media networks. For sellers on multiple platforms, this consolidation is essential.
What AI Actually Automates
Let's be specific about what AI handles versus what still requires human judgment.
AI handles well:
- •Real-time bid adjustments based on conversion probability
- •Keyword harvesting from automatic campaigns to manual campaigns
- •Negative keyword identification from poor performers
- •Budget pacing and reallocation
- •Creative testing and optimization
- •Dayparting adjustments
- •Audience segment recommendations
Humans still required for:
- •Overall advertising strategy and budget allocation
- •Brand positioning and messaging
- •Product selection for advertising priority
- •Profit margin decisions (what ACoS is acceptable)
- •Creative direction and brand guidelines
- •Competitive response strategy
- •New product launch planning
The pattern: AI excels at high-frequency, data-intensive decisions. Humans remain essential for strategic direction and brand judgment.
Implementation Framework
01Foundation
Get tracking right. Enhanced Brand Content, A+ Content, and proper product listings are prerequisites—AI optimization can't fix bad product pages. Ensure conversion tracking captures all purchase paths.
02Platform-native AI
Enable Amazon's built-in AI features before adding third-party tools. Use automatic campaigns to gather data. Enable Performance+ or Brand+ for DSP campaigns. Test Sponsored Products prompts.
03Automation layer
Add third-party tools based on specific needs. High-volume sellers benefit most from bid management automation. Multi-marketplace sellers need cross-platform tools. Agencies managing multiple accounts need unified dashboards.
04Advanced optimization
Connect Amazon Marketing Cloud for deeper analytics. Implement incrementality testing. Build cross-campaign remarketing between Sponsored Products and DSP. Test Ads Agent for campaign management.
Amazon-Specific AI Strategies
Keyword harvesting automation remains one of the highest-ROI AI applications. Automatic campaigns surface converting search terms. AI tools systematically move winners to manual campaigns with appropriate match types and bids while adding non-converters as negatives.
ACoS-based bid optimization goes beyond simple target ACoS. Advanced AI considers product margins, inventory levels, competitive positioning, and lifetime customer value. A product with high repeat purchase rates might justify higher ACoS than one-time purchases.
Dayparting on Amazon matters more than many sellers realize. Conversion rates vary significantly by time of day and day of week. AI tools analyze patterns and adjust bids accordingly—something impractical to manage manually across thousands of keywords.
Competitive conquest campaigns targeting competitor ASINs require constant optimization as competitors adjust. AI monitors competitive landscape and adjusts targeting and bids in response.
Looking Forward
Amazon's AI investment signals their strategic direction. Expect continued automation of campaign management, expanded creative AI tools, deeper integration between advertising and retail operations, and more sophisticated measurement through Marketing Cloud.
For advertisers, the implication is clear: AI fluency is becoming table stakes on Amazon. Those who master the tools—both Amazon's native AI and third-party solutions—will outcompete those stuck in manual campaign management.
The question isn't whether to use AI for Amazon advertising. It's how quickly you can implement it effectively.
