Streamlining precision: Amazon DSP’s new simplified audience targeting experience

Programmatic advertising accounts for 90% of digital display ads.¹ According to Gartner’s Channel and Campaign Management Survey, "64% of respondents find accurately targeting the correct customer segment in marketing campaigns a significant or moderate challenge.”² Amazon DSP's updated audience targeting features provide a clear structure for creating precise audience segment combinations through a streamlined workflow.

Key advertiser benefits

Streamlined campaign setup: The new workflow enables advertisers to create up to ten include groups and a single exclude group that applies across all audience targeting combinations. This structure reduces repetitive tasks during campaign configuration.

Clear targeting logic: The new structure separates include and exclude groups with distinct targeting logic: OR/ANY logic within inclusion groups and AND/ALL logic for exclusions. This clear separation helps advertisers create intended audience combinations accurately.

UI and API alignment: The updated Amazon DSP interface aligns with the Amazon Ads DSP API, creating consistency across campaign management methods. This alignment standardizes logic whether working in the UI or through the API.

Enhanced flexibility: Each ad group supports up to 500 audience segments and ten include groups, giving advertisers control to test different approaches while maintaining precise audience strategies.

Understanding audience combinations

Let's look at how a cookware brand launching a new line of premium pots and pans could use this new structure.

The brand creates two include groups to reach different but valuable audience segments. The first include group combines in-market shoppers who have a household income of over $100K and have viewed premium kitchen brands. The second include group focuses on lifestyle enthusiasts who have purchased high-end small kitchen appliances in the last 90 days and engage with cooking content.

The brand then creates a single exclude group that applies to both include groups, preventing ads from reaching recent cookware purchasers and current customers of competing premium cookware brands. This structure ensures efficient budget allocation by avoiding audience overlap and eliminating irrelevant impressions.

Maximizing your results

Start with your broadest relevant audience in your include groups. Use the “AND” connector within include groups to narrow your delivery to specific audiences.

The ability to create multiple include groups allows you to test different tactics and combinations to compare performance, and ensure your ads reach only the most valuable audiences. Leveraging the forecasting tool helps you ensure your setup is built to scale.

By leveraging the power of existing audiences and combining them strategically, you can create precise audience segments that drive results.

New audience targeting setup experience on Amazon DSP

Getting started

To take advantage of this new workflow today, sign in to your Amazon DSP account and navigate to the Audience section within the Targeting widget at the line-item level.

The clear logic and streamlined workflow help create precise audience combinations for programmatic campaigns.

Sources

¹ eMarketer, 2025.

² Gartner: Optimize Paid Media Spend by Mastering Ad Targeting, May 2025. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.