- What changed
- Formulas and benchmarks for the core Amazon Ads KPIs
- When
- Updated October 2026
- Who it affects
- Sellers, vendors and agencies reporting on Amazon ads
- What to do
- Report ACoS next to TACoS and profit, and set targets per product
Key takeaways
- ACoS and ROAS are the same metric inverted; TACoS shows the effect on the whole business.
- 2026 medians from one measured dataset: 28.2% ACoS, 0.69% CTR, 5.85% conversion rate.
- Diagnose in order: stock, impressions, CTR, conversion rate, then CPC.
Sponsored Products medians, Q2 2026
The core Amazon advertising metrics and formulas
Every Amazon Ads report is built from a handful of raw numbers. Learn these and every dashboard becomes readable.
- Impressions: how many times your ad was shown
- Clicks: how many times shoppers clicked it
- CTR (click-through rate): clicks divided by impressions
- CPC (cost per click): spend divided by clicks
- Conversion rate: orders divided by clicks
- ACoS (advertising cost of sales): ad spend divided by ad sales
- ROAS (return on ad spend): ad sales divided by ad spend, the inverse of ACoS
- TACoS (total ACoS): ad spend divided by total sales, ad and organic
Metric formulas
| Formula | Act on it when | |
|---|---|---|
| CTR | Clicks / impressions | Ad shown, not clicked |
| Conversion rate | Orders / clicks | Clicks do not buy |
| ACoS | Ad spend / ad sales | Above break-even |
| TACoS | Ad spend / total sales | Rising over months |
What are typical benchmarks in 2026?
Benchmarks vary by category, price and campaign type, so treat them as a sense check rather than a goal. One of the few measured 2026 datasets, from WisePPC, covers 69 managed accounts from April 1 to June 29, 2026 on a 7-day attribution window. Its Sponsored Products medians were 28.2% ACoS, 3.55 ROAS, 0.69% CTR, 5.85% conversion rate and a US CPC of $0.82.
The typical range around those medians is wide: ACoS ran from 16.0% to 63.1% and conversion rate from 2.30% to 10.04% between the lower and upper quartiles. The accounts all used an optimization tool, so they are not a random sample. Your own margin decides what is good for you.
Sponsored Products, Brands and Display managed daily to profit-capped targets. Flat monthly plans, no percentage of spend, every bid change explained.
ACoS vs ROAS vs TACoS
ACoS and ROAS describe the same thing from opposite sides: a 25% ACoS equals a 4.0 ROAS. Amazon defines ACoS as total spend divided by total ad sales, with $5 spend and $25 sales giving 20%. Use whichever your team reads faster, but always compare it with break-even ACoS, the product's margin before ad spend.
TACoS is not an Amazon report column, but it is the metric owners should watch most. It divides ad spend by all sales, so it shows whether ads are building organic sales over time. Our guide to ACoS vs TACoS explains the difference, and what is a good ACoS for Amazon shows how to set targets.
Traffic metrics: impressions, CTR and CPC
Low impressions usually mean bids are too low, keywords are too narrow or the product is not eligible to show. Low CTR means the ad is shown to the wrong shoppers or the main image, price, rating or title is weaker than competitors. Our Amazon CTR guide covers how to fix it. CPC is set by the auction, so a rising CPC with flat conversion is a warning that the keyword is getting more expensive than the sale is worth.
Conversion metrics: orders, units and conversion rate
Conversion rate shows how well the listing turns ad clicks into orders. It is the strongest lever on ACoS, because doubling conversion rate halves ACoS at the same CPC. In Seller Central, the Business Reports metric Unit Session Percentage measures units per session for the whole listing, ads and organic together. See our Amazon conversion rate guide for benchmarks and fixes.
New-to-brand and other brand metrics
For brand registered sellers and vendors, new-to-brand metrics show how many orders came from customers who had not bought from the brand in the past year. They help judge Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display and video campaigns, which often look expensive on ACoS but bring in new customers. Amazon Attribution adds detail page views and add to cart for traffic you send from outside Amazon, and Amazon Marketing Cloud lets eligible advertisers measure paths across ad types.
How Amazon attributes ad sales
Amazon credits a sale to the last ad clicked within a set window. Sponsored Products use 7 days for sellers and 14 days for vendors; Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display use 14 days. That means Sponsored Brands numbers look better partly because of the longer window, so compare ad types with care, and expect the last few days of any report to fill in as late orders arrive.
- Sponsored Products: 7 days for sellers, 14 days for vendors
- Sponsored Brands: 14 days
- Sponsored Display: 14 days
- Recent days fill in as delayed orders are attributed
Which metric to act on, step by step
When results slip, diagnose in this order so you fix the cause, not the symptom.
- Check stock and the featured offer first
- Low impressions: review bids, budgets and keyword coverage
- Low CTR: review main image, price, rating and title
- Low conversion rate: review listing, reviews and price
- High ACoS with good conversion: CPC is too high, lower bids
- Rising TACoS: ads are not lifting organic sales, rebalance spend
Reporting metrics with PPC Spider
PPC Spider reports ACoS next to TACoS, organic share and profit after ad spend in SpiderOS, with targets set per product from margin after fees. Learn how our Amazon PPC management works or request a free Amazon audit to see your account through these metrics.
Sources
- WisePPC: Amazon Sponsored Products benchmarks 2026 (wiseppc.com/blog/amazon-sponsored-products-benchmarks/)
- Amazon Ads: Frequently asked questions (advertising.amazon.com/resources/faq)
- Intentwise: Explained, how does Amazon attribute ad sales? (intentwise.com/blog/explained-how-does-amazon-attribute-ad-sales)
- Amazon Ads: Amazon Attribution (advertising.amazon.com/solutions/products/amazon-attribution)
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