Basic advertising terms

We’ve rounded up some basic terms that will help you start navigating the digital advertising process through Amazon Ads.

Glossary of terms

  • Advertising creative: The advertising imagery, video, and, text that communicates your message to your audiences.
  • Advertising format: The type of advertisement that you use. Examples of common formats include video and display.
  • Advertising objective: The goal you want to achieve from digital advertising. Examples include brand awareness, consideration, purchase, and loyalty.
  • Advertising placement: The place where an advertisement appears. Examples include in shopping queries on the Amazon site, on Amazon devices (such as Fire TV or Fire tablet), and on third-party sites.
  • Audio ads: Audio ads play during audio content, such as streaming music or digital radio and podcasts.
  • Custom advertising solutions: Custom advertising campaigns use formats outside of existing ad products. Amazon Ads provides solutions such as home page takeovers, Fire TV placements, customized destination pages, and even non-digital formats such as on-box advertising and in-store displays.
  • Display ads: Display ads appear on websites and combine copy and visual elements with a call to action (CTA) message that links to a landing page.
  • Managed vs. self-service: Products in digital advertising are often categorized as either self-service or managed. Advertisers and agencies can directly use self-service products, while managed services require varying levels of support. Examples of self-service Amazon Ads products include Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display, while examples of managed-service Amazon Ads products include Straming TV ads and custom advertising solutions.
  • Sponsored ads: Sponsored ads are specific to Amazon Ads and describe a suite of self-service ad products, including Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display.
  • Video ads: Online video ads include both in-stream and out-stream video ads on browsers and apps. Streaming TV ads are video ads that appear in streaming content.