Amazon Ads at CES 2026: What Marketers Need to Know (and Do Next)
CES 2026 is here, and Amazon Ads is already sitting down with advertisers and agencies to prioritize the year. The goal: work backward from brand objectives and make the plan simple. The focus areas are clear-AI tools at scale, broader reach, and high-impact live sports placements.
As one executive put it, "It's the beginning of understanding customers, advertisers, and agencies' goals for the year, to work backward from them and prioritize them." Expect a year of application, not theory.
AI tools for campaigns and creative
Amazon is briefing brands on new AI-powered tools that make campaigns faster to plan and easier to explain. A Full Funnel Campaigns tool is set for Q1 2026, recommending budgets, audiences, and strategies across formats. An Ads Agent will break down campaign approaches in plain language, so your team can make decisions without sifting through dense documentation.
This builds on last year's moves: a unified Campaign Manager and an agentic AI tool for creating video and display ads. The message now is execution. As the year progresses, expect more AI applied directly in live campaigns, with sharper recommendations and better creative automation.
Extending reach with Authenticated Graph
Amazon is pushing its Authenticated Graph to help brands reach audiences beyond Amazon's own surfaces, using verified data instead of guesswork. Over the past year, it added partners like Roku and says it can now reach most U.S. households through a mix of first- and third-party supply.
Translation: higher match rates, stronger attribution, and cleaner audience extension across the open web. If your data strategy has gaps, this is where they'll show up.
Amazon DSP and the programmatic shift
Programmatic continues to be the backbone. Through Amazon DSP, advertisers can plan, buy, and measure premium video, streaming, and display in one place. Deals with Netflix and Disney mean buyers can centralize more of their premium media inside the DSP instead of juggling separate workflows.
TV and digital are converging inside demand-side platforms. Most advertisers want one tool, one data spine, and consistent measurement. That's the play.
Live sports: creative + context at scale
Live sports is a major swing in 2026. Amazon is discussing contextual placements that merge creative with live moments. Prime Video's sports slate now spans NFL, NBA, and golf, with more live inventory coming throughout the year-including the Winter Olympics and NBA coverage.
Amazon reports an ad-supported tier reaching an average of 315 million monthly viewers globally, up from roughly 200 million previously. Advertisers can bid into key moments and use the Live Event Optimizer to push spend where attention spikes.
What this means for your 2026 plan
- Build an AI-first creative workflow: Test the brief generator and the agentic creative tools. Set brand guardrails. Produce more variations upfront so optimization has something to work with.
- Pilot Full Funnel Campaigns in Q1: Start with 1-2 objectives (e.g., awareness + consideration). Watch how budgets shift across formats and adjust your creative mix accordingly.
- Tighten your data foundation: Map your audience segments and connect them to Authenticated Graph. Lock in frequency caps and identity rules before you scale.
- Consolidate buying in DSP: Centralize CTV, online video, and display. Use unified measurement and bring Netflix/Disney inventory into the same workflow for cleaner reporting.
- Plan for live sports moments: Pre-build creative for key plays, quarters, and breaks. Use bidding rules and the Live Event Optimizer to ride surges in attention without blowing budgets.
- Upskill your team: Get sharper at prompt writing, measurement models, and multi-format planning. If you need a starting point, see this certification for marketers: AI Certification for Marketing Specialists.
Quick takeaways
- 2026 is about applying AI in live campaigns, not just testing it.
- Reach is expanding beyond owned surfaces via Authenticated Graph partnerships.
- Programmatic is the default route for premium video-DSP-first planning wins.
- Live sports is a priority channel; build creative and bidding for real-time moments.
If you want to go deeper on product specifics, start here: Amazon Advertising.
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