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DSP Line Item Settings
DSP Line Item Settings

Guide to Amazon DSP Line Item settings, detailing each adjustable option in our product to help you customize and control performance.

Updated over a year ago

This article provides a detailed overview of all adjustable Amazon DSP Line Item settings within our product, explaining how each option works and its impact on campaign performance. Each setting is designed to give you greater control over your ad strategy, and we’ll continue to update this guide as new features and functionalities are added.

Frequency

The frequency setting for DSP line items enables advertisers to control how often their ads are shown to the same user within a specified period, allowing for tailored ad exposure. By setting a frequency cap for individual line items, advertisers can prevent ad fatigue while ensuring that their message reaches the intended audience without overwhelming them. This helps balance reach and frequency at a more granular level, optimizing overall campaign effectiveness and improving user experience.

Budget Cap

The budget cap for DSP line items allows advertisers to set a maximum spending limit for each individual line item within a campaign, enabling more granular control over budget allocation across different targeting strategies. This cap ensures that spending does not exceed the specified amount, helping to manage costs and maintain focus on specific performance goals. Adjusting the budget cap at the line item level can influence pacing and delivery, allowing advertisers to allocate resources more effectively to optimize performance within defined limits.

Inventory

When applied to line items, inventory specifies where the ad impressions will be shown based on the targeting and settings configured for that line item. Here’s a breakdown of inventory in this context:

  1. Owned & Operated Inventory: This includes Amazon’s own sites and apps where advertisers can run ads, such as amazon.com, Fire TV, Amazon Music, Twitch, and others. Ads shown here can be highly relevant, as they appear directly within Amazon’s ecosystem and leverage Amazon’s first-party shopper data.

  2. Third-Party Inventory: Amazon DSP provides access to third-party websites, mobile apps, and video streaming platforms beyond Amazon’s owned properties. This third-party inventory is accessible through Amazon’s programmatic network, where advertisers can target users who match specific criteria.

  3. Inventory Controls & Targeting Options: Within a line item, advertisers can specify inventory settings, such as whether to include only Amazon’s owned properties, third-party sites, or both. These settings help control where ads will appear and align them with campaign goals.

  4. Pricing: Inventory affects pricing, as impressions on premium or exclusive inventory, like Amazon’s owned sites, often have higher costs due to the quality of audience targeting and potential performance advantages.

Viewability

In the context of DSP line items, advertisers can set minimum viewability thresholds for their ads. This setting impacts where ads are placed, as it prioritizes ad inventory based on the likelihood of achieving that threshold. Here’s a breakdown of how viewability tiers work:

  1. Viewability Tier Levels: Amazon DSP typically offers multiple viewability tiers (e.g., 40%, 50%, 60%, etc.), allowing advertisers to select the minimum percentage of viewability they want to target. Higher tiers require that ads are shown in placements with higher likelihoods of being viewed for the defined time period.

  2. Inventory Filtering: When a viewability tier is set, the DSP filters inventory to only include ad placements that meet or exceed the selected viewability rate. This can limit ad placements to more viewable spots, often at a higher cost due to better exposure potential.

  3. Impact on Cost: Higher viewability tiers generally come with increased CPMs (cost per thousand impressions), as these placements are more desirable and competitive. Advertisers pay a premium for high-viewability placements to increase the likelihood of user engagement.

  4. Campaign Goals Alignment: Viewability tiers are especially useful for brand-awareness campaigns where visibility is a priority. They allow advertisers to prioritize quality impressions over quantity by focusing on placements with better viewability metrics, aligning with goals to maximize ad exposure and engagement.

Base Bid

Here’s a closer look at how base bids work and what they mean for DSP line items:

  1. Bidding Strategy: The base bid sets the groundwork for Amazon’s algorithm to determine the ad's competitiveness in an auction. Advertisers choose a base bid that reflects how much they’re willing to pay to secure impressions, ensuring that their bid aligns with the target audience and the line item’s specific goals (e.g., high reach vs. efficiency).

  2. Dynamic Adjustments: Amazon DSP uses machine learning to dynamically adjust the bid up or down based on factors like expected performance and auction conditions. For example, if there’s a high likelihood of a conversion, Amazon DSP might increase the bid slightly to secure that impression.

  3. Budget Control: The base bid affects overall campaign spend, as higher bids will consume the budget more quickly but may deliver better quality impressions. Lower bids, conversely, may result in more impressions but potentially lower quality or fewer conversions if they don’t win competitive auctions.

  4. Targeting Influence: The competitiveness of the base bid depends on targeting parameters (e.g., high-value audiences or premium inventory). Tighter or highly specific targeting usually requires a higher base bid, as these audiences tend to be in high demand.

  5. Bid Optimization: Setting the right base bid is crucial for effective campaign optimization. If set too low, it may limit the line item’s reach and ability to win bids. If set too high, it could result in overspending without necessarily delivering a proportional increase in performance.

Maximum Average CPM

Here’s a breakdown of how the maximum average CPM works and its impact on DSP line items:

  1. Cost Control: Setting a maximum average CPM helps advertisers manage the budget by setting a ceiling on how much they’re willing to pay, on average, for impressions. This protects the campaign from unexpectedly high bids that could inflate overall costs.

  2. Bid Flexibility: Amazon DSP can still dynamically adjust bids above or below the base bid to compete for high-quality impressions, but the maximum average CPM ensures that the line item’s overall average cost remains within the set limit over the course of the campaign.

  3. Budget Allocation: This cap ensures that spending stays in line with campaign objectives, particularly for advertisers focused on brand awareness or reach, where budget efficiency is crucial. By controlling CPM costs, advertisers can stretch their budgets to reach a larger audience without overspending on impressions.

  4. Targeting & Quality Trade-offs: A lower maximum average CPM might limit access to premium inventory or more competitive audience segments. Conversely, a higher maximum allows the DSP more freedom to compete for valuable impressions but could potentially reduce the overall number of impressions the budget can buy.

  5. Performance Optimization: The maximum average CPM can impact campaign optimization as Amazon DSP will prioritize bids that stay within the CPM limit while balancing reach and engagement. If this cap is set too low, it may restrict the DSP from winning valuable impressions, affecting performance metrics like viewability or conversion rates.

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