Amazon Publisher Services Update

The message below was shared with Amazon Publisher Services customers on August 3, 2023

We started Amazon Publisher Services (APS) to help you maximize your ads earnings in the most efficient and transparent way through a single, cloud-based header bidding integration. Amazon Ads and third-party ad buyers bid on your inventory programmatically via a unified, first-price auction in which the highest bid always wins, and you always receive 100% of the winning bid amount.

One of the primary ways we help you increase earnings is by growing the diversity and volume of demand flowing through the APS auction. We do this while also working to be more efficient and manage our costs to serve you, so that we can build the best publisher monetization program to help you grow your business both today and over the long-term. We currently apply a 10% publisher transaction fee to third-party demand via the Unified Ad Marketplace (UAM). On September 1, 2023, we will begin applying the same 10% publisher transaction fee to Amazon Ads demand going through APS to support further investment and innovation.

The 10% will be applied prior to conducting the unified first price auction. For example, if Amazon DSP (or any third-party UAM buyer) places a $2 CPM bid, APS will apply the 10% fee and a bid of $1.80 will enter the APS auction. You will continue to be paid 100% of all winning APS bids (in this case, $1.80), and the 10% transaction fee will be displayed in your APS reporting.

Amazon Ads is one of more than 50 demand sources available through APS, and therefore it is typically a small portion of total demand in the APS auction. As is always the case, the bidder will also adjust based on auction dynamics. There is no change for third-party demand partners, or to how we treat third-party UAM and Transparent Ad Marketplace (TAM) bids in the APS auction. Please reach out to your account manager with any questions. We thank you for your continued collaboration and for being an APS publisher.

– Your APS Team