Amazon Sets an End Date for Sponsored Brands Product Collection Ads — New Campaigns Already Convert to Manual Collections, and the Legacy Format Stops Being Creatable Through the Console and the API in January 2027
The legacy Sponsored Brands "product collection" ad format now has a confirmed expiration date rather than an open-ended wind-down. EcomCrew reported on September 2, 2026, citing Amazon's own announcement as relayed through ad management platform Metoda, that Amazon will stop supporting product collection ad creation entirely in January 2027 — through the advertising console and through the Amazon Ads API. Before that, an interim step is already live: new Sponsored Brands product collection campaigns created from September 2026 are automatically converted into Manual Collections, and custom images attached to those new campaigns are accepted but will not render in the served ad. Campaigns already running keep serving impressions and can still be managed in the meantime. The replacement is Sponsored Brands collections, the format Amazon Ads launched on May 27, 2026, which promotes multiple related products in a single ad unit in either a manual or an automatic mode. No exact calendar day was given for either the September conversion or the January 2027 shutoff.
Real-World Impact
A Manual Collection holds 3 to 10 products in a single ad unit, and the Automatic mode lets Amazon fill that unit from your keyword targets while you exclude ASINs you do not want shown. On the calendar, September 2026 to January 2027 is roughly four months of overlap: existing product collection campaigns keep serving through that window, but new ones can no longer be created in the old format at any point in it.
Key Points
- Reported September 2, 2026 by EcomCrew, citing Amazon's announcement confirmed through third-party ad management platform Metoda — the legacy Sponsored Brands product collection format shuts off entirely in January 2027
- After the January 2027 shutoff, product collection ad creation requests are not supported at all, neither in the advertising console nor through the Amazon Ads API
- Interim step already in effect: newly created Sponsored Brands product collection campaigns are automatically converted into Manual Collections from September 2026
- Custom images uploaded to those newly created campaigns are accepted but will not render in the live ad
- Existing product collection campaigns keep serving impressions and remain manageable until the shutoff — nothing stops running overnight
- The replacement, Sponsored Brands collections, was launched by Amazon Ads on May 27, 2026 and is available to sellers, vendors, partners and agencies across North America (US, Canada, Mexico), Brazil, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Japan
- Manual Collections: you pick 3 to 10 products yourself, all Sponsored Brands targeting types are available, and you can set a custom landing page title
- Automatic Collections: Amazon selects the products shown based on your keyword targets and shopper queries, you can exclude specific ASINs but cannot hand-pick them, and the landing page is auto-generated
- In the Collections format brand logos are optional, lifestyle images are not part of the creative, and custom titles exist only in the Manual Collections mode
- Bulk operations: download the current Campaigns template before your next bulk import, since an outdated template can make the import fail
- API: product collection endpoints keep working until the January 2027 shutoff, after which advertisers must move to the Manual and Automatic Collection endpoints; Amazon has indicated migration tooling is planned but has not confirmed a release date
- No exact calendar day has been published for either the September 2026 auto-conversion or the January 2027 shutoff
What You Should Do Now
- 1Pull a list of every active Sponsored Brands campaign still using the product collection format so you know the size of the migration before Q4 traffic arrives
- 2Rebuild your best-performing legacy campaigns as Manual Collections now and run them in parallel with the originals, so you have performance data before the format is forced on you
- 3Test Automatic Collections on a small budget against the same keyword sets to see whether Amazon's product selection beats your own on your catalog
- 4Stop investing in new lifestyle creative for product collection ads — custom images on newly created campaigns are accepted but do not render, and lifestyle imagery is not part of the replacement format
- 5Download the current Campaigns bulk template before your next bulk import so Collections fields are present and the import does not fail
- 6If you create ads through the Amazon Ads API, schedule the move from product collection endpoints to the Manual and Automatic Collection endpoints rather than waiting on unannounced migration tooling