Amazon Ads Certified Supply Exchange program advances the standard for open internet supply

In ad tech, the buy side and sell side sit on opposing sides of every programmatic auction — resulting in collaborations that are often at arm's length. Amazon Ads has seen that embracing collaboration and shared innovation can help drive better advertiser outcomes at scale. In January 2026, we published a technical white paper detailing Amazon DSP’s commitment to evaluating all supply sources equally, with performance potential driving budget allocation. That principle doesn’t end at the demand-side platforms (DSPs) decisioning layer—rather, it extends to our proactive work with supply-side platforms (SSPs) to optimize the decision landscape.

Advertisers and agencies are clear about what they need from programmatic buying on the open internet: simplicity through automation, performance through faster and more coherent activation, and scale through optimization that stays in advance of advertisers' needs. Meeting that bar requires more than just access to supply—it requires actively managing inventory quality and curating supply at scale.

Amazon Ads Certified Supply Exchange (CSE) program has been delivering against these expectations since 2024. Magnite, PubMatic, Index Exchange, OpenX, and Microsoft Monetize — SSPs advertisers already work closely with — have been certified, and each is invested in raising the standard of programmatic performance alongside Amazon Ads. This isn't a passive, one-time certification.

As Catherine Patterson, SVP of Platforms and Partnerships at Index Exchange, put it: "The Certified Supply Exchange program is a meaningful signal of what's possible when DSPs and SSPs move from treating each other as counterparties into operating as genuine collaborators. The discipline the certification demands is the same discipline that earns marketers' trust over the long run, and it's a standard we're committed to building toward alongside Amazon Ads."

A shared commitment to continuous improvement

The CSE program certifies SSPs against a rigorous set of capabilities spanning eight technical areas—including traffic optimization, signal quality, and automated deal activation. The result: supply paths designed to be pre-qualified before advertisers bid on them, easy to activate and manage, and actively improved through ongoing collaboration. The certification is ongoing—it includes regular technical collaboration, proactive identification of throughput and relevance issues, and continuous performance benchmarks designed to keep the supply path ahead of advertiser needs.

As Tyler Romasco, EVP of Commercial at OpenX, put it: "Choice and quality are increasingly top priorities for advertisers, and they're strengths that Amazon Ads and OpenX both share. Through the Certified Supply Exchange program, we're giving buyers more flexibility and control over their media dollars. A healthy programmatic landscape is built on transparency, competition, and buyer choice, and that's exactly what this collaboration program is designed to deliver."

Amazon Ads innovations, delivered through CSE

Amazon Ads continuously invests in capabilities designed to help improve campaign efficiency across the open internet — and invests in SSPs to help bring those capabilities to advertisers faster. Together, Amazon Ads and CSE-certified SSPs are iterating capabilities designed to help advertisers reduce wasted spend on less relevant inventory and optimize delivery where viewership is hardest to predict:

Dynamic Traffic Engine (DTE) — Amazon Ads built DTE to help advertisers get better programmatic buy results from their campaign investment. Traditionally, campaign budgets can be allocated against inventory that may not deliver results because demand learnings only flow to the supply side after the fact. DTE flips that by sharing aggregated demand signals before bid requests are sent, directing spend toward inventory with higher relevancy to advertisers’ objectives. After full integration with OpenX, advertisers saw a 41.4% increase in revenue per million ad requests (RPMA), 11.0% programmatic spend growth within three months, and—across all Amazon Ads optimization capabilities active during the period—a 3.4% reduction in cost per action (CPA).¹

Live Events Optimizer (LEO) — Live sports advertising presents unique challenges: unpredictable viewership surges and real-time budget allocation. Amazon Ads is developing LEO through collaboration with CSE-certified SSPs to help address these challenges—introducing event-aware pacing and forecast-guided budget allocation designed to help optimize delivery around the patterns of live events. Over 375 certified deals across 28 sports have been built for programmatic activation through Amazon DSP since December 2025.²

For Magnite, one of the first SSPs to integrate DTE across all supported data centers, the impact has been tangible. Mike Laband, Group SVP of Revenue, shared: "Our collaboration with Amazon Ads has accelerated the innovations we can deliver to advertisers across premium streaming inventory, especially in live programming. Together, we've developed new capabilities that help media owners and advertisers transact more efficiently at scale. We're also integrating with the Dynamic Traffic Engine (DTE) across all supported data centers, helping improve spend efficiency and activation for advertisers we jointly serve. Through ongoing collaboration, we're building stronger programmatic supply paths for premium publishers and advertisers alike."

A unified team solving programmatic frictions

Every CSE SSP demand facilitation team has invested in completing Amazon Ads certification curriculum—covering Amazon DSP capabilities, deal activation workflows, and optimization levers. That investment from both sides, paired with SSPs’ deep expertise in their own publisher inventory, means certified SSP teams can provide tailored, outcome-based recommendations specific to each advertiser's goals.

Amazon Ads supply desk—a dedicated team deeply versed in Amazon DSP's capabilities, deal mechanics, and campaign optimization—works alongside CSE-certified SSP teams to help deliver a single, coordinated recommendation built backwards from advertisers’ needs.

For agencies managing programmatic investments at scale, this means one coordinated recommendation that connects the right inventory to the right campaign goals—without having to assemble it themselves from separate sources.

Speaking about the CSE program, Charlie Cebuhar, Managing Director of COE Programmatic at OMG USA, noted that “At Omnicom, we approach supply path optimization with a clear focus on directness, inventory quality, and long-term industry health. Amazon Ads continued evolution of the Certified Supply Exchange is well aligned with that philosophy. The rigor behind CSE, combined with real accountability and sustained collaboration between Amazon DSP and certified SSPs, gives us confidence that the supply paths we activate can improve over time, not just scaling. Initiatives like DTE and LEO are good examples of what’s possible when DSPs and SSPs are working in lockstep; better visibility into inventory, less operational friction, and ultimately stronger performance for advertisers."

What comes next

Amazon Ads and CSE-certified SSPs are jointly invested in building ahead of where programmatic is going—anticipating advertiser needs and developing solutions tailored to them. As more advertisers activate through Amazon Ads and CSE-certified SSPs, the results reinforce why tighter collaboration can drive stronger outcomes. The next wave of innovation is underway.

Sources

¹Amazon internal, Global, 2025

² Amazon internal, Global, 2026.

*OpenX was among the first SSPs to integrate Dynamic Traffic Engine in September 2025. Results represent early adopter performance and may not be typical of all integrations. Year-over-year comparisons include seasonal effects and overall industry growth in addition to DTE impact. Advertiser CPA reflects aggregate performance across all Amazon DSP optimization capabilities active during the measurement period, including but not limited to DTE. Individual campaign results may vary.

About Amazon DSP

Amazon DSP is a demand-side platform that helps advertisers programmatically buy display, video, and audio ads across Amazon’s owned properties and thousands of publishers, apps, and websites across the open internet.