Amazon Ads just gave advertisers a way to talk back to its automated campaign types. On 22 July 2026, Amazon rolled out ten new capabilities across Brand+ and Performance+, its AI-managed campaign products inside Amazon DSP. The theme running through all ten: advertisers can now steer the AI with their own data and formats, rather than handing over full control and hoping for the best.
If you run Brand+ or Performance+ campaigns, or you’re brand-registered and considering DSP for the first time, here’s what changed and what to do with it.
Feed the AI Your Own Audience Data
Two of the ten updates give advertisers a way to point the algorithm at the customers who already matter to them.
1. Audience Signals for Brand+ (open beta)
You can now feed first-party audience data into Brand+ through Ads Data Manager to guide prospecting, without capping how far the AI can reach beyond that seed audience.
2. Audience Signals for Performance+ (open beta)
The same idea applies to Performance+’s Customer Acquisition and Unified Consideration tactics, and it’s available at no extra cost.
What to do: if you have first-party audience data sitting in Ads Data Manager and haven’t connected it to a Brand+ or Performance+ campaign, this is the update to test first. It’s the difference between telling the AI “go find anyone” and “go find people like these.”
More Formats, More Supply
Four updates expand where and how these campaigns can reach shoppers.
3. Audio for Brand+ (general availability)
Brand+ now runs audio ads across 16 locales through third-party exchange supply.
4. Audio for Performance+ (open beta)
Performance+ gets AI-optimised audio for mid- and lower-funnel tactics, not just top-of-funnel awareness.
5. Automatic Deal Selection for Brand+ Streaming TV (open beta)
The AI now activates and optimises streaming TV deals across premium inventory on its own, cutting out a manual step that used to sit with the advertiser or their managed service team.
6. Managed Service Campaign Proposal Builder (general availability)
Brand+ and Performance+ are now buildable through Amazon Media Group’s managed service proposal tools, opening the products to advertisers who work through an account team rather than self-service.
What to do: audio is worth a small test budget even if your account has never run it before. It’s incremental reach at a lower CPM than video, and the AI is handling the optimisation.
Smarter Targeting Under the Hood
The last four updates don’t require any action from you. They change what the models optimise for.
7. Brand Outcome Optimization (open beta)
Predicts which users are likely to take a brand action, not just be reached, moving Brand+ closer to an outcome metric than a pure awareness one.
8. Prime Video Signal Integration (open beta)
Streaming behaviour data now feeds into ad relevancy scoring.
9. Asynchronous Remarketing for Performance+ (general availability)
Recency, frequency, and dwell time now factor into how a returning visitor is valued, not just whether they visited at all.
10. Expanded Conversion Support for App Ads (general availability)
Performance+ Remarketing now works for non-endemic app advertisers, widening the product beyond retail.
What This Means If You Sell on Amazon
Most sellers running Sponsored Products day to day won’t touch Brand+ or Performance+ directly, but the direction matters. Amazon is responding to the standing advertiser complaint that its AI campaign types are black boxes. Handing back audience control and adding transparency into what the model optimises for is Amazon’s answer, and it’s a reasonable bet the same “AI plus advertiser steering” pattern shows up in Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands tools next.
If your brand is registered and you’ve been sitting on DSP because the automated campaign types felt too hands-off, the audience signals update is the reason to look again.
Bottom line: if you’re already running Brand+ or Performance+, connect an audience signal this week. It’s free and low-risk. If you’re not on DSP yet, this update is what should move it back onto your roadmap for next quarter.
