Social Rocket
Amazon wants AI to steer its advertising platform more strongly – without completely removing manual control. This is exactly where the most important debate for media buyers emerges after unBoxed 2026: Amazon Ads Agent, DVA+ and full-funnel campaigns simplify planning and optimisation, but they shift more decisions into platform logic that advertisers cannot fully see themselves.
Amazon officially describes the model as a hybrid: advertisers can build campaigns manually, let AI optimise them, or combine both approaches. For DVA+, Amazon explicitly promotes the principle "start with AI, add control when you need it". Agencies remain cautious, however, because automated recommendations on formats, audiences and budget allocation can quickly become a black box.
DVA+ is meant to combine automation and manual control
DVA+ bundles display, video and audio advertising across streaming TV, online video, display and audio. Campaigns can run on Amazon inventory and across the open internet.
What is new here is less that Amazon automates, and more how strongly the platform wants to simplify operation. In the standard workflow, AI takes over more operational decisions. Through advanced settings, experienced advertisers can still intervene more deeply in audiences, deals, delivery and other campaign details.
Amazon itself names this flexibility as the core of the product. The platform is meant to offer not only a fully automated mode, but also switching between chat support, AI recommendations and direct settings.
This is an important distinction from the blanket assumption that Amazon wants to replace classic media buyers entirely. At the same time, it remains open how traceable optimisation decisions actually are in day-to-day practice.
Agencies compare the black-box question with Performance Max
ADWEEK reports, after conversations with media buyers, a reluctance towards too much automation. Zach Ricchiuti of Kepler sees sensible applications in planning, research and campaign setup, but wants to keep decisions about execution and optimisation under human control.
His concern: when platforms themselves recommend which media and audiences should be bought, performance gains may come at the cost of less transparency. The comparison with Google's Performance Max is therefore obvious.
This is particularly relevant for Amazon because the company not only supplies the adtech, but also has access to purchasing, search, streaming and conversion signals. The more the same platform combines planning, auction, optimisation and measurement, the more important independent control becomes.
Srocket has already placed this basic question in context in AI in media buying and platform automation.
Amazon's own product documentation promises approvals
Amazon describes a clear approval step for the Ads Agent: proposed changes are to be summarized before the agent executes them. Advertisers review and confirm the actions.
The decisive boundary between assistance and autonomy therefore does not currently lie in whether AI makes suggestions. What matters is which changes are actually implemented without human approval, and how granularly advertisers can later trace why a budget or audience was changed.
The DVA+ documentation also emphasizes advanced settings and additional controls. This argues against the assumption that Amazon only wants to offer a fully automated mode.
DVA+ launches in the US – international expansion to follow
Rollouts differ by product. According to Amazon, the general Ads Agent is already available in several European markets, including Germany.
DVA+, by contrast, is currently in an extended closed beta in the US. An open beta is announced for late October 2026. International expansion is set to begin in the fourth quarter 2026; broader availability in 35 markets is planned for the first quarter 2027.
For German advertisers, this means the strategic platform shift is already relevant, but individual new campaign types are not yet available everywhere.
Full-Funnel Campaigns go one step further
With Full-Funnel Campaigns, Amazon's AI distributes budgets across multiple formats and funnel stages. Sponsored Ads, Search, Streaming, Video and Display are to be planned more closely together.
This further shifts the role of the media buyer: instead of setting up each channel separately, the team defines goals, budgets, products and creatives, while the platform makes more decisions about allocation.
For brands, this can reduce operational work. At the same time, the need for control points outside the platform grows – particularly regarding incrementality, audience overlaps and long-term attribution.
This measurement question has become larger on Amazon anyway. Srocket recently analyzed how Amazon Ads continues to attribute advertising effect via Long-Term Sales for up to twelve months.
Agencies are therefore building their own agents
An interesting counterweight to platform automation comes from the agencies themselves. ADWEEK reports that Omnicom Media Group is developing its own agentic tools for Amazon. Specialized adtech providers are also building workflows that use Amazon data but do not live entirely within Amazon's own interface.
This shows where the competition for control is heading: the question is no longer AI or no AI, but whose AI decides and which data a media team can additionally contribute.
Open interfaces therefore become more important. Amazon has also launched its own MCP server in open beta 2026, through which external AI agents can access functions of the Amazon Ads API.
What marketers should check now
For teams in Germany, three points are decisive.
First, automation should not be judged on performance alone. Teams need traceable rules for when AI recommendations are accepted and when a human steps in.
Second, campaigns should not be assessed exclusively using Amazon's own success metrics. Especially for full-funnel and long-term models, independent measurement and incrementality remain important.
Third, it is worth testing the new automation features against alternative agency and API workflows. If the platform itself recommends media mix, audiences and budget, the quality of the external control system becomes a competitive advantage.
That Amazon is expanding this infrastructure strongly via streaming is also visible in the current budget shift around Prime. Srocket has classified how Prime Big Deal Days pull more spend into Amazon DSP and CTV.