Amazon DSP Facelift: Exploring Its New UI/UX Experience

This is a guest post from Vlad Chubakov at Programmatic 101. He is doing “UI Breakdowns” of some of the most popular tools in advertising.

Previous break-downs are available on X:

• What’s wrong with TTD Kokai?

• It’s 2025, but DV360 still has the best UI/UX

Next up is Amazon DSP. And to really get what's going on, we need to look back at how this platform was just a few years ago.

When Amazon announced their good earnings, I put together all the Amazon DSP updates from the past year in an X thread (you can read it here). My main takeaway was, they seriously stepped up their game. Like, 1.5-2 years ago, I was thinking about ditching this platform from some media plans because of the low operational efficiency and the sketchy inventory quality on the open web.

So, what was Amazon DSP like a little over a year and half ago?

• The User Interface - Amazon DSP's UI felt like it was straight out of the 2000s. I know, it's not the most crucial thing for a DSP and traders, but everyone I know who's used it mentioned how ridiculously outdated it was. Here's an example I found online:

User experience was a real problem:

• Error pages were constant. For over a year and a half, almost every other page you opened would give you an error. You can imagine how bad that is, especially when you're handling big budgets and campaigns. It made things really difficult for traders, and it happened in all areas, like Creatives and Audiences.

• Long page load times were another issue. You'd randomly have to wait a long time for pages to load, which slowed down the whole workflow and made simple tasks take much longer.

• Insertion Order management was also tricky. If an IO's flight ended and you forgot to extend it, you'd lose it. Unlike other platforms that usually don’t archive them so you can easily add budget, Amazon DSP made you create a new IO from scratch, losing all your optimizations.

However, roughly 1.5 years ago, Amazon's internal focus clearly shifted to their DSP. They began consistently addressing all the major pain points.

So, let's discuss the current state of Amazon DSP as of March 2025.

• User interface - post-facelift, the Amazon DSP interface is noticeably improved. Here are some screenshots:

Advertiser view:

Insertion Order and Line Item creation process:

So, what's actually changed?

• There's been a ton of updates at the Advertiser level (the hierarchy's still the same: Advertiser → Insertion Order → Line Item, no 'Campaign'), and they've added some really handy stuff. You get customizable dashboards, including 'Goal Performance' that shows you trends for whatever metric you pick - CTR, ROAS, Impressions, etc. and a Frequency dashboard that breaks down how much budget and impressions you've saved and reinvested thanks to frequency capping. The columns are also customizable, so you can pick and save the metrics that matter most to you. Sounds basic, right? But for example, TTD Kokai doesn't have this, and it's a major headache. Plus, you can now pull a report directly from the Advertiser view for any IO with a single click, which cuts out a lot of unnecessary steps when you need to check performance.

• Moving down to the Line Item view, there are even more dashboards. Beyond 'Goal Performance' and the Frequency stuff, you've got a 'Pacing Dashboard' that gives you projected spend, budget at risk, yesterday's spend, and how much you need to spend to stay on track. And there's a 'Missed Opportunities' dashboard that tells you why you lost impressions - like creative size mismatches or audience issues. Both of these are super useful. And just like at the Advertiser level, you can customize the columns to see the metrics you care about right away.

• At the Line Item level itself, aside from the facelift, Amazon's added a customizable 'Forecast' dashboard. This shows you estimated CPM, available impressions, and reach, which is great for planning and forecasting.

Overall, Amazon's made a lot of UI changes that make it way more trader-friendly. The interface is clean, straightforward, and packed with info, which is exactly what you want when you're actually working in the platform.

But what about the User Experience?

As I highlighted earlier, UX was a major hurdle, making the platform cumbersome to manage. So, how has it fared after the update? Let's address the key issues:

• Error Pages - They're gone. The Amazon team has finally resolved this issue. While this shouldn't even be a point of discussion for a top-tier DSP, the platform is now reliably error-free. Admittedly, during the screenshot process for this article, I did notice a few minor visual artifacts, but they don't significantly impact workflow (example below):

• Page Load Time - Amazon DSP has seen a considerable speed improvement. Post-update, page load times are now comparable to other platforms. Again, this should have been a baseline expectation, but that's how it was.

• IO Expiration - No, IOs no longer expire if you forget to add a new budget segment.

But what about the overall Amazon DSP user experience?

• The overall experience on the platform is now positive. The interface is clean and uncluttered, featuring easy-to-navigate and customizable dashboards. Navigation between IOs, LIs, and other DSP sections is straightforward, enabling users to quickly access necessary information and implement changes.

• Hierarchy - Amazon DSP's lack of a 'Campaign' level, while differing from platforms like TTD and DV360, actually streamlines operations, facilitating faster budget management, for example.

• Bulk Edits – The platform supports comprehensive bulk edits, both within the interface and via spreadsheets. The spreadsheet functionality is particularly valuable, significantly reducing manual effort. Amazon DSP's implementation is well-designed, with separate tabs for each format (video, audio, podcasts, and display), minimizing the risk of errors during bulk changes. Notably, each element includes a description, and certain parameters feature dropdown menus, further reducing the likelihood of mistakes (a common issue with DV360, where parameter names or IDs must be memorized). Moreover, formatting rules and instructions are provided on a separate tab, contributing to a smooth and efficient experience (example below):

  

  Amazon DSP bulk edits

• Customization - One aspect I particularly appreciate is the level of customization. While this should be standard for products of this caliber, not all companies share that view. Amazon DSP allows you to tailor your IO/LI views to display all relevant metrics. Crucially, you can also add manageable parameters (e.g., bids, frequency, budget caps) directly at the LI level, simplifying LI management by providing both visibility and control over your settings.

• Reports - This is where I find the platform's logic somewhat inconsistent. While the direct access to reporting from IO/LI levels is convenient, the reporting itself lacks the depth and transparency of competitors. It heavily emphasizes e-commerce metrics, which is less ideal for non-endemic advertisers running display or video campaigns on the open web and Amazon's owned-and-operated properties. My primary concern is the inventory report. Firstly, it's located across various campaign management levels (Advertiser, IO) rather than within the central reporting section. You can generate inventory reports for the entire advertiser or individual IOs, but not for a custom selection of IOs. This necessitates manually pulling reports from each IO and then aggregating the data in Google Sheets, which is inefficient. Screenshot of report builder is attached below:

• Suggestions - they've added a new feature that suggests actions, like activating Brand+ when creating a new Streaming TV IO. It's similar to suggestions in other DSPs. While potentially helpful, they often lack context about specific campaigns or settings, making them less useful in my experience. I'm hoping that integrating LLMs will improve their relevance. Example is attached below:

Here is the table I created to summarize the current state of Amazon DSP's UI/UX:

Conclusion?

Amazon DSP has demonstrated significant improvements in its UI and UX, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient user experience. This progress is particularly highlighted when you compare it to the recent TTD Kokai release. However, it's important to acknowledge that UI/UX enhancements alone are unlikely to be the primary driver for widespread platform migration. While there are still areas requiring refinement, notably reporting, the platform's overall development trajectory is positive. The volume of changes implemented over the past ~eighteen months shows a substantial acceleration compared to the past five years, which is great.