5 Reasons to Opt for Self-Service over Managed-Service for Amazon DSP and OTT

Amazon DSP is a demand-side platform that enables advertisers to programmatically buy display, video and audio ads both on and off Amazon, using Amazon’s exclusive first-party audience data.

To buy Amazon DSP/OTT, advertisers have two choices: work directly with Amazon in a managed-service buy, or buy through self-service. In almost every instance, Podean recommends taking the self-service route, and here are five reasons why:

1. Avoid arbitrary campaign minimums

A managed-service campaign requires a $35K budget minimum. However, with self-service you can pick a budget that makes sense for your brand, your retail sales and your objectives, allowing you to test whether the tactic works, then fund based on performance.

2. Get clarity on management cost vs working media

When a brand activates a managed-service buy, Amazon charges a 15% management fee. However, Amazon doesn’t break out that cost in the IO, but rather bakes it directly into the CPMs. This can skew performance metrics and misguide budget if you have different budgets for working media vs management costs. Brands can save money by partnering with an agency, providing their management fee is less than 15% of spend.

3. Benefit from insightful reporting and measurement

With managed-service, brands sign an IO for a campaign flight and typically all they’ll receive is an end-of-flight report, and maybe a mid-flight report if they’re lucky. However, self-service offers access to the data and real-time campaign performance.

Additionally, the right campaign structure and management approach means you can gain valuable campaign insights, not just an understanding of how a ‘conversion package’ is performing. Proper segmentation should allow an advertiser to understand the impact of different audiences, creative and placements etc.

Another key advantage is the availability of proper reporting to understand impact. Amazon often reports on Total metrics, but that isn’t always the source of truth for how effectively your media is performing. Controlling how you view and optimize the data is a big advantage of moving DSP/OTT investment to self-service.

4. Gain control of your media

One of the biggest advantages to running self-service is the ability to control the strategy and drive performance through real-time optimizations & proactive management. The media is no longer managed by Amazon in an Amazon environment, with no commitment to how frequently analysis and optimizations are performed. Under self-service, you are building a media plan and strategy based on intimate brand knowledge combined with campaign and retail goals.

5. Have a truly holistic and integrated campaign strategy

For endemic brands that also run Sponsored Ads, self-service DSP allows a more holistic approach to media management. Funds can be shifted real-time, based on performance, rather than tied up in an IO for DSP/OTT use only. Managing both platforms allows learnings from each campaign to influence and optimize the other.

When running a managed-service buy makes sense:

Exclusive inventory and value adds – While the majority of inventory and tactics are available through self-service, Amazon does have SOV packages for tentpole events with added-value impressions/placements that are exclusive to a managed-service buy. However, vet this against what you can do against that audience at more affordable buys through self-service.

Managing self-service DSP/OTT: With power comes great responsibility

There’s no escaping the fact that the Amazon DSP UI is somewhat clunky and can be a heavy lift to manage properly, so getting the most out of self-service DSP/OTT requires careful management and serious consideration. Partnering with an agency that understands both Amazon and Programmatic buying will be key to extracting maximum performance from self-service DSP; otherwise you’ll negate all the control you gain from using self-service. Understanding Amazon, but not the performance-marketing element to a DSP buy, simply won’t cut it. But just because an agency knows how to handle programmatic, it doesn’t mean they can navigate and get the best out of Amazon’s DSP.

At Podean, we are intimately familiar with all things Amazon, plus we have experience and expertise in managing programmatic media. We build segmented campaigns to fully understand and optimize between audiences, placements, inventory, and creative to get the most out of Amazon’s DSP and drive results. Through our Retail-Powered Media Planning, we understand DSP’s role against total objectives and help our clients to prioritize funding, all while pivoting our DSP strategy and campaigns to account for retail commitments and challenges.

The advantages to starting out with, or transitioning to, self-service DSP are abundantly clear, but fully exploiting those advantages requires knowledge, expertise and resources that many brands simply don’t have. Partnering with an agency that possesses all of those things can unlock performance, control and insight that will transform the way you use – and, crucially, benefit from – Amazon DSP and OTT.