Picture an Amazon seller preparing her holiday advertising plan who pulls the Sponsored Products placement report for the first time in months. Alongside the familiar rows for Top of Search, product pages and the rest of search, there's a line she hasn't paid attention to before: off-Amazon. It's taking a noticeable slice of spend, it's growing, and some of it may be coming from clicks inside creator reviews and buying guides she's never seen. She didn't set that up. It came switched on.
Since 10 August 2026, Amazon Sponsored Products campaigns can serve inside content published by Amazon creators, and existing campaigns were enrolled by default at their current bids and budgets. Plenty of sellers still haven't noticed, and with holiday budgets now at their highest, that matters. The most useful way to think about it is this: leaving the default on is a decision. Creator placements may be a genuinely valuable source of new customers, or an expensive leak. The only way to know is to look, and to test it deliberately this season rather than by accident.
This post covers Amazon's creator placements for Sponsored Products. Details here draw on Amazon's off-Amazon documentation and trade reporting of its August advertiser notice; settings, labels and availability vary by marketplace and have changed since launch, so check your own account.
What changed on 10 August
Amazon has offered off-Amazon placements for Sponsored Products since 2023, showing ads on third-party apps and websites. The August change added a new kind of off-Amazon inventory: content from creators, such as product reviews, editorial round-ups and buying guides. Amazon's off-Amazon documentation says creators in its Influencer and Associates programs with a track record of driving traffic or sales on Amazon can select which campaigns to feature. When a shopper clicks, the seller pays per click from the same campaign budget, just as with any other Sponsored Products click.
Three details make this more than a footnote. First, it was on by default: Amazon revised its off-Amazon documentation on 4 August and told advertisers no action was required, PPC Land reported, which meant active campaigns were included at their existing bids and budgets. Second, the creator chooses which advertised products to feature, not the seller. Third, it arrived just as Amazon's advertising business is booming: advertising revenue reached $19.8 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 26% year on year. Availability varies by marketplace: the UK was reportedly excluded at launch but is now listed in Amazon's documentation, though that list covers off-Amazon advertising generally, not necessarily every creator feature.
The controls that apply, and the ones that don't
Most sellers steer Sponsored Products spend with placement bid adjustments, raising bids for Top of Search or product pages. Those adjustments, Amazon's documentation says, do not apply to off-Amazon placements, including creator content. That changes which levers actually matter. Amazon now labels the settings "Increase reach off-Amazon" and "Limit reach to Amazon" (at launch, "Increase reach" and "Limit off-Amazon spend").
| Lever | What it does | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| "Increase reach off-Amazon" (default) | Allows all off-Amazon delivery, including creators | Testing, or when new customers matter most |
| "Limit reach to Amazon" | Stops all off-Amazon delivery for a campaign, not just creators | Tight margins or strict cost targets |
| Creator exclusions | Stops serving with specific creators, via your deny list | Brand fit concerns or poor results |
| Base bids | Apply to every click, on or off Amazon | Repricing after reviewing placements |
| Top of Search adjustments | Do not apply off Amazon | Only for on-Amazon placements |
| Bulksheet off-Amazon column | Changes settings across many campaigns | Large US accounts |
Dynamic and rule-based bidding still apply off Amazon, and the launch documentation, as reported, said Amazon may infer a search term where there's no search query. "Limit reach to Amazon" isn't a creator-only switch: it stops delivery to all off-Amazon inventory, including third-party sites and apps, while ads can still appear on Amazon properties such as creator storefronts. Amazon's documentation doesn't describe an account-wide opt-out, so treat the campaign-level setting as the main control and check each campaign individually.
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Why ACoS alone will mislead you
Creator reviews and buying guides reach shoppers earlier in their decision than Amazon search results. Someone reading a round-up of the best travel pillows is exploring; someone searching Amazon for a specific pillow is ready to buy. So creator clicks will often convert less efficiently on the day and show a higher advertising cost of sale, while introducing more people who've never bought from you. Judge them on the wrong metric and you'll switch off exactly the traffic that grows your customer base.
Average order value $40.
→ On-Amazon placements: $2,000 spend, 200 orders, 25% new to brand
ACoS: 25%. New-to-brand customers: 50. Cost per new customer: $40
→ Creator placements: $375 spend, 25 orders, 60% new to brand
ACoS: 37.5%. New-to-brand customers: 15. Cost per new customer: $25
On ACoS, creator placements look worse. On the cost of winning a new customer, they look better. Which matters more depends on your margins, how often customers buy again, and your goals for the season.
Why it's worth checking now: if even 15% of a $500 daily budget flows off Amazon, that's about $3,300 across the 44 days from 10 November to Christmas Eve.
The principle Leaving the default on is a decision. Creator placements may be a valuable source of new customers or an expensive leak, and the only way to know is to look, and to test deliberately rather than by accident.
A holiday test plan
1. Get a baseline today. Pull the Sponsored Products placement report and record spend, sales, ACoS and new-to-brand results for each placement type, including the off-Amazon line, which mixes creator placements with other off-Amazon traffic, for a period before and after 10 August. Many sellers are surprised by what they find. Mark 10 August in your reporting so future comparisons make sense.
2. Decide campaign by campaign. Don't treat the setting as all-or-nothing. For campaigns protecting your most profitable, high-intent searches, such as branded terms and best-sellers on tight margins, "Limit reach to Amazon" may make sense through peak season. For campaigns built to introduce the brand to new shoppers, or for giftable products that suit reviews and buying guides, keeping "Increase reach off-Amazon" is a reasonable test. Record which campaigns you left on the default and why.
Here's how that might look for a typical gift brand. A branded search campaign, capturing people already looking for the brand by name: limit reach to Amazon, since these shoppers will find you anyway and the priority is efficiency. A best-seller exact-match campaign on thin holiday margins: limit, at least through the peak weekend. A gift-category automatic campaign, designed to reach new shoppers: keep increase reach off-Amazon and watch new-to-brand results closely. A new product launch campaign, where awareness matters more than immediate efficiency: keep increase reach off-Amazon, with a clear budget cap. Four campaigns, two decisions each way, all made on purpose rather than left to the default. It's the same planning discipline covered in the 90-day Black Friday timeline, applied to a single setting.
3. Run a clean comparison. Where you have similar campaigns, set one to increase reach off-Amazon and a comparable one to limit reach to Amazon, and compare them over the same weeks, remembering the difference covers all off-Amazon inventory, not creators alone. Look at total sales, profit and new-to-brand customers, not just attributed ACoS. Avoid starting the comparison during the busiest few days, when everything is distorted, following the planning principles in peak-season paid media.
4. Revisit base bids. Since Top of Search adjustments don't carry over, sellers who kept base bids high and relied on adjustments may be paying more off Amazon than intended. Check cost per click by placement and adjust base bids if needed, keeping budgets stable through the test, as covered in setting and scaling ad budgets.
5. Watch who features you. Where reporting allows, look at which creators are driving clicks and whether their content suits your brand. Exclude creators whose content is a poor fit. Creator-led discovery is growing across platforms, from Meta's new tools covered in Meta's Creator Marketing Hub to the trend described in social commerce in 2026, so brand fit matters as much here as anywhere.
Make your listings creator-ready
Because creators choose which advertised products to feature, the products that look most giftable, reviewable and clearly explained are more likely to be picked. Strong images, clear titles, honest descriptions and plenty of genuine reviews help your listings stand out to creators as well as shoppers. Product videos and well-built enhanced brand content give creators more to work with, since a product that is easy to demonstrate and explain is easier to recommend with confidence in a review or buying guide. Gift-ready bundles are natural candidates for buying guides, as covered in holiday bundles and gift sets, and the same qualities that make products suit publishers' gift round-ups, described in affiliate gift guides, apply to creators' buying guides.
The measurement caveats
Creator placements raise questions Amazon hasn't fully answered publicly. Creators can also earn affiliate commission on sales, so there's a risk of paying twice for the same customer, once through ad clicks and once through commission, and of attributed results overlapping. Reporting is less tidy, too. According to Amazon's documentation, creator-content clicks leading to a product page appear as "Off Amazon" in the Placement Report, alongside other off-Amazon activity, while clicks via a creator's Amazon storefront appear as "Other – On Amazon", so the standard report can't isolate every creator placement. Read placement data alongside total sales, profit and new-to-brand results, and don't assume an attributed sale tells the whole story. Broader measurement principles apply: look at total sales and profit over time, not just platform attribution, as argued in why attribution is getting harder, and use outcome-based measures like those in influencer campaign measurement.
The bigger pattern
Amazon's change fits a wider trend this year: ad platforms extending automated campaigns into new inventory by default, and leaving advertisers to discover it. Google moved Search campaigns to AI Max, covered in AI Max is now the default, and Meta removed ad-set placement exclusions. Retail media is growing fast, as explored in why retail media networks are growing, and with that growth comes more default-on inventory. The sellers who do best will be those who check placement reports routinely, decide defaults deliberately and judge new inventory on the right metrics. Brands that want their Amazon and wider e-commerce advertising managed together often work with a specialist e-commerce marketing team.
The short version
Since 10 August 2026, Amazon Sponsored Products campaigns can serve inside creator reviews, editorial round-ups and buying guides published off Amazon by eligible Amazon creators, who choose which campaigns to feature. Existing campaigns were enrolled by default at their current bids and budgets, and Top of Search and product page bid adjustments do not apply off Amazon, although maximum bids and dynamic bidding do. Leaving the default on is a decision. The main controls are campaign-level: "Increase reach off-Amazon", the default, or "Limit reach to Amazon", which stops all off-Amazon delivery, not just creator placements, plus creator exclusions and, for large US accounts, a bulksheet column. Creator traffic arrives earlier in the buying journey, so it may show a higher ACoS but a lower cost per new customer. This holiday, pull a placement baseline, decide campaign by campaign, run a clean comparison, revisit base bids, watch which creators feature you, make listings creator-ready and treat creator placements as separate inventory, knowing the placement report can't isolate every one.
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Explore E-commerce Marketing →Frequently asked questions
What are Amazon Sponsored Products creator placements?
Since 10 August 2026, Amazon Sponsored Products campaigns can appear inside content published off Amazon by creators, such as product reviews, editorial round-ups and buying guides. Amazon says creators in its Influencer and Associates programs with a track record of driving traffic or sales on Amazon can select which campaigns to feature, and when shoppers click through, the click is charged like other Sponsored Products clicks from the same campaign budget. This builds on off-Amazon Sponsored Products placements on third-party apps and websites, which Amazon introduced in 2023. According to Amazon's advertiser notice and revised support documentation, as reported by the trade press, existing campaigns were enrolled by default at their current bids and budgets, with no opt-in step. Availability depends on marketplace; reports indicated the UK was not included at launch, but Amazon's documentation now lists it among markets where off-Amazon advertising is available.
How do you turn off Amazon Sponsored Products creator placements?
Advertisers can control off-Amazon delivery at campaign level. The default setting, 'Increase reach off-Amazon', allows Sponsored Products to serve off Amazon, including in creator content. Switching a campaign to 'Limit reach to Amazon' stops all off-Amazon delivery, not just creator placements, although ads can still appear on Amazon properties such as creator storefronts. Advertisers can also exclude specific creators through their deny list, and US advertisers have been able to change the off-Amazon setting in bulk through a column added to Sponsored Products bulksheets in June 2026. Amazon's documentation does not describe an account-wide opt-out, so check the current options in your own account. Because the controls sit at campaign level, sellers with many campaigns should review each one, note which were left on the default, and decide deliberately rather than assuming the previous behaviour still applies.
Do Top of Search bid adjustments apply to creator placements?
No. Amazon's documentation states that bid adjustments for Top of Search, Rest of Search and Product Pages do not apply to off-Amazon placements, which include creator content. Your campaign's maximum bid applies to every click regardless of placement, and dynamic and rule-based bidding still apply. This matters because many sellers rely heavily on placement adjustments to steer spend towards the most valuable positions on Amazon. With creator placements added, part of the budget can flow to inventory those adjustments do not control, so base bids and the off-Amazon campaign setting become more important levers. Review your placement report to see how much spend is going off Amazon before deciding whether to change bids or settings.
How should sellers measure creator placements on Amazon?
Separately from on-Amazon placements, and with metrics that reflect what creator content is good at. Start with the Sponsored Products placement report and record a baseline split of spend and sales by placement, bearing in mind that it cannot isolate every creator placement: its Off Amazon row includes other off-Amazon activity, and creator storefront activity appears under Other – On Amazon. Creator reviews and buying guides tend to reach shoppers earlier in their decision than Amazon search results, so they may show a higher advertising cost of sale while introducing more new customers. That makes new-to-brand metrics and cost per new customer more useful than headline ACoS or ROAS alone. Compare campaigns set to increase reach off-Amazon with similar campaigns set to limit reach to Amazon over the same period, and look at total sales and profitability as well as attributed results. Be cautious about double-counting when creators also earn affiliate commission on the same sales.
