DV360 vs Amazon DSP: Key Differences
How Display & Video 360 and Amazon DSP differ on inventory, audience data, retail measurement and cost - and when to use each, or both.
Display & Video 360 and Amazon DSP are two of the most powerful demand-side platforms on the market — and they are built on fundamentally different strengths. DV360 is anchored in Google's inventory, audience signals and measurement; Amazon DSP is anchored in shopping behaviour and Amazon's owned-and-operated media. Choosing between them (or deciding to use both) comes down to understanding what each one is genuinely best at. Here is an honest, criteria-based comparison.
The core difference in one line
DV360 is strongest for reach, YouTube and open-web programmatic backed by Google's audience graph. Amazon DSP is strongest for shopping intent, retail measurement and Amazon's owned media. Almost everything else follows from that.
Inventory
DV360 buys across 80+ exchanges plus Google-exclusive supply — most importantly YouTube, which Amazon DSP cannot access. It reaches the broad open web, connected TV, audio, native and DOOH.
Amazon DSP offers unmatched access to Amazon's owned-and-operated inventory: Amazon.com, Fire TV, Twitch, Prime Video ads, Freevee, IMDb and Amazon devices — environments DV360 cannot buy. It also buys third-party exchange inventory, though its open-web reach is generally considered narrower than DV360's.
If YouTube and maximum open-web reach matter, DV360 wins on inventory. If Amazon's shopping and streaming environments matter, Amazon DSP is the only way in.
Audience data
This is the sharpest distinction.
DV360 activates Google's audience signals — in-market, affinity, custom-intent and demographics built from Google-scale search and browsing behaviour — plus your first-party data via Customer Match.
Amazon DSP activates purchase and shopping behaviour: what people browse, add to cart and buy on Amazon. For brands that sell products (especially on Amazon), this signal is extraordinarily powerful for lower-funnel targeting because it is grounded in real transactions, not modelled interest.
Retail and measurement
Amazon DSP connects media to sales through Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC), a clean room that ties exposure to Amazon purchases — a closed-loop view that is hard to replicate elsewhere for endemic (Amazon-selling) brands.
DV360 measures through Floodlight, data-driven attribution, Google Analytics 4 and Ads Data Hub (ADH) for clean-room analysis. It excels at cross-channel, cross-site measurement across the open web and Google ecosystem.
For "did this ad drive an Amazon sale?", Amazon DSP's closed loop is superior. For holistic cross-channel measurement and incrementality across the wider web, DV360's stack is broader.
Side-by-side
| Criterion | DV360 | Amazon DSP |
|---|---|---|
| Signature inventory | YouTube, open web, CTV | Amazon O&O: Fire TV, Twitch, Prime Video |
| Audience data | Google intent & search signals | Amazon shopping & purchase data |
| Open-web reach | Very broad (80+ exchanges) | Narrower, growing |
| Retail measurement | ADH, GA4, Floodlight | Amazon Marketing Cloud (closed loop) |
| Best for | Reach, brand, YouTube, cross-web | Shopping intent, retail, Amazon sales |
| Access | Google contract or partner | Amazon (self-serve or managed) |
When to choose which
Choose DV360 when your priorities are reach, brand building, YouTube and connected TV, first-party data activation, and unified cross-web measurement. It is the stronger general-purpose enterprise DSP.
Choose Amazon DSP when you are an endemic brand selling on Amazon, you want to target based on real shopping behaviour, or you need Amazon's owned streaming and retail environments.
Choose both when you are a large advertiser who wants Google's reach and YouTube alongside Amazon's shopping signal and retail media — a common setup for major consumer brands, coordinated through a shared measurement framework.
A note on how the two are bought
DV360 access comes through a Google enterprise contract or a certified partner — see how to get DV360 access. Amazon DSP is accessed through Amazon directly, self-serve or managed. The two are not mutually exclusive, and many sophisticated teams run them in parallel for complementary strengths.
The bottom line
This is not a case of one platform being "better." DV360 and Amazon DSP are optimised for different jobs: DV360 for reach, YouTube and open-web programmatic with Google's intent signals; Amazon DSP for shopping intent, retail measurement and Amazon's owned media. Map them to your objectives — and if you sell products at scale, seriously consider running both.
Weighing DV360 for your media mix? Talk to a DV360 specialist or compare it with search-led buying in our DV360 vs Google Ads guide.