Amazon Sponsored Brands Ads Category Benchmark Report

Published on January 10, 2025

About this video

Amazon Sponsored Brands Ads Category Benchmark Report - In this video, we explore a simple yet powerful way to evaluate the performance of your Sponsored Brand Ads on Amazon. By leveraging Amazon’s native reporting tools, you can quickly compare how do you stack up against competition on key metrics such as impressions, click-through rates (CTR), and advertising cost of sales (ACoS) without the need for third-party tools.

### *What is the Category Benchmark Report?* The Category Benchmark Report is an underutilized feature specifically designed for Sponsored Brand campaigns. It provides insights into how your ads compare to competitors’ ads in similar categories based on factors like price points and sales velocity.

### *How to Generate the Report* 1. *Navigate to Reports Section* - Go to the "Reports" section in your Amazon Advertising account. 2. *Choose Report Type* - Under "Report Category," select *Sponsored Brands*. - From "Report Type," choose *Category Benchmark*. 3. *Select Reporting Period* - Pick a time range, such as the last 30 days or two months, to analyze performance trends. 4. *Name Your Report* - Use a clear naming convention, such as: `SB_Category_Benchmark_Report_[Date]`. This keeps your files organized for future reference. 5. *Set Delivery Options* - Opt for email delivery for recurring reports to streamline access.

### *Breaking Down the Report* Once downloaded, the report provides a detailed breakdown by categories and subcategories. It includes: - *Impressions:* Compare your ad impressions with category peers. - *CTR:* Measure how well your ad creative engages shoppers compared to competitors. - *ACoS:* Understand the cost-effectiveness of your ads relative to the industry standard.

### *Key Insights and Analysis* 1. *Category Context Matters* - The performance metrics need to be evaluated within the context of your product’s price point, target audience, and seasonal trends. - For example, lower CTRs could result from premium pricing rather than poor ad performance.

2. *Differentiation by Subcategories* - If you’re underperforming in a specific subcategory (e.g., women’s fashion), it could signal the need for pricing adjustments or better targeting strategies. - Conversely, excelling in CTRs for premium products shows the appeal of higher-quality items as gifts.

3. *Peer Comparison* - The report compares your ads with closely priced and similarly performing products, not the entire category, ensuring more accurate benchmarking.

4. *ACoS Challenges* - While high ACoS can signal inefficiency, it may also be part of a deliberate strategy to boost organic rankings or liquidate older inventory.

### *Closing Thoughts* This simple yet insightful report is a must-use tool for any advertiser running Sponsored Brand campaigns. By focusing on peer comparisons and understanding the context of your performance, you can make informed decisions to refine your ad strategies and maximize profitability.

Contents: - 0:00 Introduction to Category Benchmark Reports - 0:37 How to Access and Generate the Report - 2:00 Understanding the Report Layout - 3:13 Evaluating Metrics: CTR, ACoS, and Impressions - 5:00 Real-World Example: Men’s vs. Women’s Fashion Categories - 7:47 Using Context to Inform Decisions - 9:00 Practical Tips for Maximizing Insights

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Transcript

hi guys if you ever wondered how your sponsor brand ads are doing against your competition in terms of Impressions click through rates and a cost there's a really simple way native to Amazon reporting that that can give you this kind of information for last few days up to last few months it's pretty simple and you don't need to use any external tools which are amazing but you don't have to pay for them to get this information this is quick report and it will give you you information on how you're standing against your peers now unfortunately this is limited to sponsor brand campaigns but in general most of the other reports are aimed towards sponsor products and I appreciate every sponsor brand report we can pull because those kind of campaign types are completely underutilized to navigate to report you can just go to your report section then from the drop down in report category select sponsor Brands and then from the report type select category Benchmark select your reporting period for this example I've selected last two months make sure to give your report a correct name in terms of naming conventions so name them first input this is how we do it so first input the actual date that you generated this report and I like to have it as short as possible SB category Benchmark report last 30 days or last two months it's going to help you tremendously because reports are keep piling up on your inbox or your downloads fold folder in this way you're going to have everything nice and clean what I do also recommend that you can input that this report is generated in the future or recurring and then it can be also delivered to your email now let's get on to the report this is how it looks like this is just a breakdown so you you start with your start date and end date we can even delete that but never mind so these are this is the breakdown per category so the top category then one step further then one step further if you sell a range of products this report's going to be much longer and maybe provide even more details for you if always look at the context what's happening so it's not just numbers it's about e each and every product price point and target audience it's not just you cannot take a look at see okay I'm terrible at this category and I should ditch this product and never advertise and sell it again it's about how as I said it's about a context for example here we are not pushing ladies fashion that much as we do men which is clearly defined here by Impressions and and Cates and acost but always remember that it's about context if your click-through rate is lower than your category average it's it doesn't mean that you're doing something wrong it just could be that your price point for example as here in this case our products are priced like three or four times higher than the competition to the brand owner but we're doing pretty well so that's why there are not so many Impressions that's why you'll see some differences in Click through rates and please take pay attention to this um fact and take into consideration the context always for your products now let's break it down what's happening here I've marked in bold where we're standing so in overall in fashion we are category medium which is pretty for for this account while impressions for peers are in top 25% are like almost 50% higher 30% higher roughly please remember that these are peer Impressions so Amazon is taking you as close products as close as possible to what you're selling in terms of pricing and the sales velocity so it's not in general like category averages but your peers which is very important now for this also for for men's fashion I know that there aren't any competitors that are having this price point which is interesting so for example our price point is $50 and the first below us I think it's around 30 35 so it's a huge difference actually but nevertheless here are the stats so we are not doing that good in women fashion subcategory in in Impressions but take look at this so the same category in cter rate we are killing it so we are having the the top more than top 25% of click to rates that's because people are interested in higher price products especially if it's gift giftable product so it's always that tickle in your mind so are you buying a Chinese repoff product for $9 or do you want to aim for a premium product at a higher price you don't want to embarrass yourself by gifting some low quality products and while we at the click to rate you can see that for most if not all yeah for all category levels here we having uh click to rate better than the top top four okay except this one exag okay I exaggerated why did I bold all of this okay these are now the actual effect for this lates category we are having top click to rate but let's take a look at the a cost as I know from the account our a cost for this um type of products is around 96% which is huge we are thinking about different strategies maybe even imp to liquidate existing products maybe try to negotiate that is brand owner is trying to negotiate new product for ladies category but this clear gives you an information how your peers are doing so there's definitely a room here for improvement top 25% of fos the guys are doing at 30 30% which is not that low to be honest so it the question is how much of a margin is there at 30% of a cost then there's the median and the bottom 25 so we are way worse than most of the guys here so back to another category let's do something better so in men's fashion we are doing much better so here we are better than the category median while the category top is at 2,800 uh let's mark it down so immediately you will see a breakdown for you so we are close to the category top in men's fashion for this category which is pretty good we are still not that good in terms of Nal but again as a context we were in the last few months we were investing a lot in bringing our organic rank up as much as possible hence why there's an increase a cost again this a cost could be good for you if your profit margin allows that but this clearly shows that we are not that bad considering the context this year we're going to move more and more towards the best possible profitability and lastly don't want to bore too much with this for example this category we are PR doing pretty good so much better than the the median in Impressions but I don't like the Impressions that they usually don't mean much in this Amazon space so click through it we are somewhere around the category top and the AOS is I don't know somewhere between middle and top so we're not that good yeah maybe more towards the bottom but but as I said we were improving our organic rankings aggressively over the last six months and that's why the a cost is that high so so it's pretty easy to navigate at first when you download it may look overwhelming but when you break it down by category and think about your products and the context what was happening in the past and especially in this period of last two months it was the hot Christmas buying season so take into consideration the day Tren what was happening with your products what were your advertising initiatives were there any coupons pricing Etc let me know if you have any further questions about this I think it's a pretty simple report but very useful especially because of the fact that it's comparing your products with a category peers not the overall category because you cannot be compared in C rate and AC cost to the products which are priced at $10 and yours is at 50 or 100 so thank you for watching see you in the next video guys bye-bye

Frequently asked questions

What is the Sponsored Brands Category Benchmark Report and what does it show?

The Category Benchmark Report is a native Amazon report available specifically for Sponsored Brands campaigns. It compares your campaign's impressions, click-through rate, and ACoS against the performance of competitors in the same category, broken down by subcategory. Unlike a general category average, Amazon benchmarks you against your peers, meaning brands selling products at a similar price point and with similar sales velocity to yours. This makes the comparison meaningfully relevant, since a premium product priced at 50 euros cannot be fairly compared on click-through rate or ACoS to products priced at 10 euros.

How do you access and generate the Category Benchmark Report?

In Campaign Manager, go to the Reports section, select Sponsored Brands from the report category dropdown, and choose Category Benchmark as the report type. Select your date range, typically the last 30 days or up to two months, and give the file a descriptive name that includes the date generated and the period covered so reports do not accumulate in an unidentifiable pile. You can also schedule the report to be delivered by email on a recurring basis, which removes the manual step of remembering to pull it.

How do you correctly interpret a low CTR result in the Category Benchmark Report?

A below-average click-through rate in the benchmark does not automatically mean your creative is underperforming or that there is a problem with your campaigns. Premium-priced products typically attract fewer but more intentional clicks because the price acts as a natural filter. Shoppers who do click are usually more genuinely interested, which often results in a higher conversion rate even if CTR is lower than the category average. The benchmark result needs to be read alongside your price point, product type, and whether the category benchmark peers are a truly comparable cohort. A lower CTR paired with a high CTR percentile for your specific subcategory tells a different story than a flat below-average reading.

What does a high ACoS relative to category peers in this report tell you, and when is it acceptable?

A high ACoS compared to category peers signals either that your campaigns are less efficient at converting ad spend into revenue, or that you are intentionally investing in ranking and visibility at the cost of short-term profitability. Both are valid situations but require different responses. If the high ACoS reflects an aggressive ranking push, it is a deliberate trade-off worth reviewing once the organic ranking goal is achieved. If it reflects inefficiency rather than strategy, the benchmark gives you a clear indication of where the best performers in your price cohort are operating, which provides a realistic target ACoS to work toward. The peer comparison is also useful for evaluating whether the margin at category-top ACoS levels would actually be profitable for your cost structure before setting that as a goal.

How granular does the Category Benchmark Report go, and how should sellers with multiple product categories use it?

The report breaks down performance by top category, subcategory, and sub-subcategory, so sellers with products across multiple categories will see a separate benchmark row for each level. This granularity is useful because overall category performance can mask strong performance in one subcategory and weak performance in another, which would point to different actions: improving targeting or creative for the underperforming subcategory while scaling the successful one. Reviewing the data at the most specific subcategory level rather than only the top-level average gives the most actionable signal about where attention and budget should be directed.