What changed
Benchmark of 3,500+ Amazon brands and 50,000 ASINs on retail, content, sentiment, media and AI readiness
When
Released October 6, 2026; Jungle Scout summary October 12, 2026
Who it affects
Brands selling on Amazon in the US, UK, Germany, Mexico, Brazil and Australia
What to do
Measure branded vs category ad share, fix titles to 75 characters, answer shopper questions on the page

Key takeaways

  • 96% of Amazon brands run ads on their own name, but appear on top category searches only 36% of the time, per PODEAN and Jungle Scout.
  • Only 18% of US brands meet the 75-character title standard and only 40% improved their score since 2023.
  • Measure your branded vs category spend split this week and move tested budget to category terms before Black Friday.

Where Amazon brands show up in sponsored results

  • Run ads on own name96%
  • Hold own name slot75%
  • Appear on top category terms36%
  • Sponsored Brands on category terms8%
Source: PODEAN and Jungle Scout, Marketplace Index 2026

What the study found

The Marketplace Index is in its fourth year. PODEAN picked brands in each category using sales data from Jungle Scout's Cobalt tool and scored each one on five pillars: Retail, Content, Customer Sentiment, Media and, new this year, AI Readiness. The 2026 edition draws on more than 2 million data points across 50,000 ASINs, according to PODEAN and Jungle Scout.

The headline is a gap in media. Jungle Scout's summary says nearly every brand (96%) runs Sponsored Products on searches for its own name and holds that slot 75% of the time. On the top keywords for their category, the same brands appear 36% of the time, and Sponsored Brands placements on category searches show up only 8% of the time. Australia shows the same shape: MarTech Edge reported that 84% of Australian brands run ads on brand terms, but only 56% target category keywords.

The surprise: the basics no longer separate anyone

Most brands have caught up on fundamentals. In 2023 fewer than half of the US products PODEAN evaluated were Prime eligible; in 2026 it is nearly nine in ten (89%, per Jungle Scout). The average US score rose from 67% to 76.7%. That sounds like progress, but it means standing still now loses ground: only 40% of brands scored in both 2023 and 2026 improved.

Execution still tracks sales. US brands scoring above 85% almost always rank in the top five for market share in their category, a pattern the authors say has held in four editions. That is a correlation, not proof that a higher score causes growth, but it tells you what the category leaders have in common.

Content is where the easy points sit. Only 18% of US brands meet Amazon's 75-character title standard, which took effect in July 2026. Only 34% of ASINs met the bar for bullets and descriptions, about one in five A+ Content modules is a generic brand template, and only 10% of US listings use the premium Q&A module. US brands averaged 64% on AI Readiness, and Jungle Scout warns that when a listing leaves a question unanswered, Alexa answers from customer reviews instead. Oral Care, Household Supplies and Pet Supplies post the highest US scores; Fragrances ranks last.

US listing basics in 2026

89%products Prime eligible
18%titles at 75 characters
10%listings using premium Q&A
40%brands that improved since 2023
Source: Jungle Scout, Marketplace Index 2026 summary

So what: the money in the 36%

Branded search ads are cheap insurance, but they mostly buy sales you would get anyway. New customers who have not picked a brand search category terms, and that is where the study says brands are absent nearly two thirds of the time. If a rival owns those slots, it is collecting the shoppers you will later have to win back at a higher price.

For example, with illustrative numbers: a brand spends $20,000 a month on Amazon ads, $14,000 (70%) on its own name at a 6% ACoS and $6,000 on category terms at a 30% ACoS. Branded ads report $233,000 in sales and category ads $20,000, so the dashboard says branded wins by a mile. But if, say, 80% of branded-ad buyers would have bought through the organic listing anyway, the branded spend really added about $46,600 of sales, an incremental ACoS near 30%, the same as the category spend. Moving $4,000 to category terms at that 30% ACoS adds about $13,300 in sales from shoppers who did not know the brand, while the branded slot is still defended with $10,000.

What sellers should do

This is a one week project for the ads lead and the listing owner. Do the first three before Black Friday on November 27.

  • Ads lead: in the Amazon Ads console, tag every campaign as branded, competitor or category and total spend and sales for the last 60 days. Metric: share of spend on category terms, aim for a written target rather than whatever the bids produced.
  • Ads lead: pull Search Query Performance in Brand Analytics for your top 20 category keywords and note your impression share. Metric: impression share on those 20 terms, tracked weekly.
  • Ads lead: test a 5% to 10% branded bid cut on terms where you already rank first organically, and move the savings to category exact match. Metric: total branded sales (ad plus organic) holds flat while new-to-brand orders rise.
  • Listing owner: rewrite titles to 75 characters or fewer and check the Item Highlights field. Metric: zero title suppression warnings in Seller Central and stable conversion rate.
  • Listing owner: replace generic A+ modules with product-specific ones that say who the product is for and when to use it. Metric: A+ Content analytics on views and conversion.
  • Brand manager: list the 10 questions shoppers ask most (from reviews and Q&A) and answer each in bullets, A+ or images. Metric: fewer unanswered questions and better answers when you ask Rufus or Alexa about your product.

One week fix before Black Friday

  • Tag campaigns branded or category
  • Pull Search Query Performance
  • Test 5% to 10% branded bid cut
  • Move savings to category exact
  • Titles at 75 characters
  • Answer top 10 shopper questions

When this does not apply

If a competitor is actively bidding on your brand name, cutting branded spend can hand them your shoppers, so test cuts slowly and watch branded impression share. New brands with no organic rank on their own name still need branded ads. And the study's numbers are averages across categories; a small brand in a category dominated by a few giants may find category clicks too expensive until its reviews and conversion rate can support them. PODEAN's full scoring method is proprietary, so treat its scores as a benchmark, not an Amazon ranking factor.

Where PPC Spider helps

Our Amazon PPC management team splits branded, competitor and category spend and sets target ACoS from product margin. For the bidding side, read our guide on Amazon branded keywords bidding and our Amazon PPC strategy guide, and for listings see Amazon listing optimization. We track studies like this on the Amazon advertising news channel. To see your own branded vs category split, book a free Amazon audit.

Sources

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