Amazon PPC has changed fast over the past year. What worked before does not work now, and what did not work before is working now. We asked our PPC team which campaigns are working best across the accounts we manage in 2026. These are the five that came up.
A theme runs through most of them: over the past 12 to 18 months, Amazon has been moving from narrow targeting toward broad targeting as the thing that performs best, the same shift that hit Meta around 2023 and Google shortly after.
The 5 Campaigns Working Best in 2026
| # | Campaign type | Why it is working now |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Product targeting | Went from a side tactic to the top-selling, most profitable campaign in many accounts |
| 2 | Sponsored Brand Video | Amazon is pushing it hard; pairs perfectly with product targeting |
| 3 | Refined category targeting | Rides the broad-targeting trend; refine so your offer beats the listings you show on |
| 4 | Auto campaigns | No longer just research; now generate profitable sales |
| 5 | Audience bid adjuster | Raises bids for shoppers Amazon flags as high likelihood to purchase |
1. Product Targeting Campaigns
Over the past 15 months, product targeting went from a small side endeavor to the highest-selling and most profitable campaign type in many Sophie Society accounts. Back in 2024 and early 2025, keyword targeting was nearly everything; relying only on keyword targeting now is a mistake.
A key point most sellers miss: a product targeting campaign does not only show on product pages. Amazon can show product targeting ads in search too, and sometimes the best-performing ads in search sit inside campaigns that only used product targeting. Product targeting can also contribute to organic keyword ranking.
Real example: a biohacking account running a Sponsored Products campaign with exact product targeting, aimed at the top high-priced ASINs in the space. Because it is a high-priced product, targeting other high-priced products reaches shoppers willing to pay a premium. That campaign runs at a 12% ACoS and drives the most sales of any campaign in the account.
Product targeting campaigns went from a little side endeavor to, for many of our accounts, our highest selling and most profitable campaigns.
2. Sponsored Brand Video Campaigns
Sponsored Brand Video is working better than ever, and Amazon is pushing it hard. With good video creative, these campaigns can perform very well. The best move is to combine Sponsored Brand Video with product targeting, which I call a match made in heaven.
Real examples: in one account, the top campaign by sales is a Sponsored Brand Video campaign with product targeting aimed at the top competitor, at a profitable ACoS, and they pump as much spend into it as they can. In another account, the number one and number two campaigns by sales are both Sponsored Brand Video with product targeting on competitors.
3. Refined Category Targeting
Category targeting is how you ride the broad-targeting wave, and it is working better than ever. Refined category targeting is the strongest version: you target a whole category, then refine it so Amazon only places you where your offer wins.
For example, target the dog joint supplements category, then refine to brands rated under four stars and priced above $30. Your ad then shows on listings where your offer is clearly better, so you are more likely to win the click and the sale.
Real example: in one account the category targeting campaign was not the top seller, but it had the lowest ACoS of the top seven campaigns, using refinement on maximum average star rating and minimum price. In a high-growth account, category targeting campaigns were the second and third highest sellers, right after product targeting.
4. Auto Campaigns
Auto campaigns used to be a research tool: you tell Amazon only the product and let it place your ad. It is not quite that simple, since you can add negative product and keyword targets and choose the targeting type, and there are four (close match, loose match, substitutes, and complements). What changed is that auto campaigns now generate profitable sales, not just research data.
Real examples: in one account, an auto campaign with close match is the top-selling campaign at a reasonable ACoS. In another, an auto campaign with substitutes match is the top seller at an 11.5% ACoS.
5. Audience Bid Adjuster Campaigns
This is not AMC audience targeting. It is the audience bid adjuster inside Sponsored Products, which raises your bid for the audience Amazon labels high likelihood to purchase based on recent shopping activity. It released a couple of months before the video, and in testing it works well, to the point that some accounts run an audience bid adjuster on almost every campaign.
Real examples (account average ACoS vs the audience campaign):
- 43% average vs 23%
- 32% average vs 22%
- 27% average vs 11%
- 34% average vs 19%
Three Bonus Campaigns
- Scavenger campaigns. Set a very low bid (around a tenth of Amazon’s suggested bid) across many keywords, then wait for competitors to run out of bid or budget and pounce for cheap, lean sales.
- Retargeting campaigns. In Sponsored Products, the self-targeted product placement campaign targets the very same product you are advertising, which works as instant retargeting and can be very lean. Sponsored Display retargeting (both purchase and views retargeting) also works well.
- Keyword themes. Amazon now lets you target keyword themes, what we used to call shopper intent. When you set up a Sponsored Products campaign, the keyword section offers “add theme” with suggested themes, and this is working well right now.
Frequently Asked Questions
For many Sophie Society accounts, product targeting has become the top-selling and most profitable campaign type over the past 15 months. It works especially well combined with Sponsored Brand Video. Real examples in the video include a product targeting campaign at 12% ACoS driving the most sales in its account.
Yes. Auto campaigns used to be mainly a research tool, but they now generate profitable sales. You can add negative targets and choose from four targeting types (close match, loose match, substitutes, complements). Examples in the video show auto close match and auto substitutes as top-selling campaigns, one at 11.5% ACoS.
Relying only on keyword targeting is now a mistake. Product targeting has become one of the best-performing campaign types, and product targeting ads can show in both search and on product pages, not just on listings. Many accounts get more and more of their sales from product targeting.
Refined category targeting means targeting a whole category, then narrowing it so your offer beats the listings you appear on, for example targeting a category but only brands under four stars and priced above a set amount. It lets Amazon place your ad where you are most likely to win the click and the sale.
The audience bid adjuster inside Sponsored Products raises your bid for the audience Amazon identifies as high likelihood to purchase based on recent shopping activity. In the video’s examples it consistently ran a lower ACoS than the account average, such as 23% versus a 43% account average.
Key Takeaways
- Product targeting has become a top-selling, most-profitable campaign type in many accounts, and its ads can show in search, not just on product pages
- Combining Sponsored Brand Video with product targeting is one of the strongest 2026 configurations
- Refined category targeting rides the broad-targeting trend by placing you where your offer wins
- Auto campaigns now drive profitable sales, not just research
- The audience bid adjuster raises bids for high-intent shoppers and often runs well below account-average ACoS
Related Guides
- Amazon PPC Targeting Guide: Keywords, Products and Audiences
- Amazon PPC Match Types: Broad, Phrase, Exact and the 4th Type
- Amazon PPC Bidding and Budget Strategy
- What Is a Good ACoS on Amazon?
Ready to Run Profitable Amazon PPC?
At Sophie Society, my team and I manage PPC across 800+ brands and $5M/Month in ad spend. If you want us running your campaigns, apply to work with us.
Free Resources
- The Amazon PPC Cheat Sheet: My free reference with all 40 internal campaign setups across Sponsored Products, Brands, and Display, each with a 2-minute Seller Central setup video
- Amazon Ranking Strategy 2026: The campaigns best for driving organic ranking
- Sophie Society case studies: Real partner PPC results
Based on my video: “Top 5 Amazon PPC Campaigns in 2026 (From a Top Spender)”.
