Amazon Halo Sales: What They Are and How to Use Them
Akshay Kumar
TL;DR
Key takeaways
Amazon halo sales are ad-attributed sales of products other than the one in the ad, reported as Sales (halo) in 2026.
What counts as halo depends on the ad type: any product you sell for Sponsored Products sellers, your brand for everything else.
Promoted-only ACOS and total ACOS can point bids in opposite directions, so decide which one matches your margins.
Split halo in unified reporting, name the products in the purchased product report, then use AMC and holdout tests to prove it.
A shopper clicks your ad for one product and buys a different one. Amazon still credits the ad, and that sale is a halo sale.
Halo is one of the most misread numbers in Amazon advertising. It explains why ad sales can be higher than an ASIN's total sales, and it can flip a bid decision from "cut" to "raise".
This guide covers how Amazon defines and reports halo sales in 2026, how it differs by ad type, the ACOS math, and how we measure and use halo in the accounts we manage.
What Are Halo Sales on Amazon?
Halo sales are purchases of products other than the advertised product that Amazon attributes to an ad click or view within the attribution window. Amazon also calls them brand halo sales or, in older Sponsored Products reports, "other SKU" sales.
There are two kinds, and they mean very different things.
Variation halo. The shopper clicks the ad for the 2 lb vanilla protein and buys the 5 lb size or the chocolate flavor. Same parent ASIN, different child.
Cross-product halo. The shopper clicks the protein ad, browses your Brand Store and buys your energy bars instead, or as well.
In the ad report, all three outcomes sit under the advertised ASIN. In Business Reports, each sale sits under the ASIN that was actually bought.
That is the answer to one of the most common halo questions: why does an ASIN's ad sales exceed its total sales? The ad report is counting sales of other products against it.
Halo Sales Are Not the Associates "Halo"
Two other things share the name. The Amazon Halo fitness band was a hardware product Amazon discontinued in 2023; it has nothing to do with ads.
The other is affiliate commissions. On April 14, 2026, Amazon's Associates Operating Agreement narrowed onsite commissions to "Direct Qualifying Purchases of the same ASIN variant", which creators call the end of halo commissions. That change affects creators, not ad attribution.
How Amazon Reports Halo Sales in 2026
Amazon made unified reporting generally available on June 8, 2026, and it renamed the halo columns. According to Amazon's unified reporting overview, "the terms 'Brand Halo' and 'Other SKU' are now standardized as 'Halo'."
Every conversion metric now comes as a base metric plus qualified versions. The base metric counts everything; "(promoted)" counts the advertised product only; "(halo)" counts the rest.
Legacy name | Unified reporting name | What it counts |
|---|---|---|
7 Day Total Sales / 14 Day Total Sales | Sales | Promoted plus halo |
Advertised SKU sales | Sales (promoted) | The exact product in the ad |
Other SKU sales, Brand halo sales | Sales (halo) | Any other product credited to the ad |
Other SKU units | Units sold (halo) | Units of those other products |
DSP Total purchases | Purchases | Now includes halo, so it reads higher |
DSP Purchases, Purchases (BH) | Purchases (promoted), Purchases (halo) | The split, for DSP |
Purchased ASIN | Converted product | Which ASIN was actually bought |
These match the names in our Amazon advertising reports guide and our Amazon PPC metrics guide.
Two new dimensions make halo much easier to work with. Amazon's Dimensions reference adds Product relevance, which marks each conversion as promoted or halo, and Converted product parent ID, which groups the products bought by parent ASIN.
Watch the calendar too. The legacy Sponsored ads and DSP report pages go read-only on December 17 and are deleted on December 31, 2026, with their saved reports, according to Amazon's migration page. Download any halo history you still need before then.
How Halo Differs by Ad Type
"Halo" is not one definition. Each ad type decides which other products can be credited, over which window, and from which interactions. These come from Amazon's ad campaign attribution page, updated October 20, 2026.
Ad type | What can count as halo | Window | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
Sponsored Products, sellers | Any other product sold by the same Seller Central merchant | 7 days | Clicks only |
Sponsored Products, vendors | Other products from the same brands, sold by Amazon | 14 days | Clicks only |
Sponsored Brands | Any product in your advertised brands, sold by you, Amazon or other sellers | 14 days | Clicks; views on vCPM |
Display ads | Other products from the same brand as the promoted products | 14 days | Clicks; views on vCPM |
Amazon DSP (DVA campaigns) | All products from the brands of every tracked ASIN | 14 days, or the windows you set | Clicks and views |
1. Sponsored Products: Seller Halo Can Cross Brands
For sellers, Sponsored Products halo is merchant-based, not brand-based. If you sell three brands from one Seller Central account, an ad for brand A can be credited with a sale of brand C.
That matters for aggregators and distributors. Halo from a different brand may carry a very different margin, and it may belong to a different P&L.
Vendor Sponsored Products halo is narrower: products from the same brands, and only units sold by Amazon. Amazon notes that book products don't have a brand halo.
2. Sponsored Brands: Halo Includes Other Sellers' Sales
Sponsored Brands credits sales of any product in your brand, including those made by Amazon or other sellers, according to Amazon's reporting migration guide.
If resellers carry your brand, part of your Sponsored Brands halo can be their revenue, not yours. Sponsored Brands also keep serving when someone else holds the Featured Offer, so a click can become a reseller's sale.
3. Display Ads and DSP: Halo Follows the Tracked Brands
Display ads (Sponsored Display is now called display ads inside Amazon Ads Agent, as of 2026) credit same-brand products. DSP goes further: every brand of every tracked ASIN is eligible.
Amazon's brand halo page warns that tracking another brand's ASIN makes all of that brand's products eligible, which can produce "unexpectedly high" total ROAS. It also notes that some modeled DSP conversions can't be split between promoted and halo.
Our DSP reports guide covers the rest of the DSP metric set.
4. When Ads Compete for One Sale
Each sale is credited once, to one ad, across all campaigns and advertisers. Amazon's conversion attribution page lists the order for brand ads:
Promoted ASIN ad clicks
Highly relevant brand halo clicks (same brand and subcategory)
Promoted ASIN ad views
Highly relevant brand halo views
Other brand halo clicks
Other brand halo views
So a halo click on a close product beats a view of the exact product. Sponsored Products for sellers is merchant-based and doesn't normally compete with brand ads for the same sale.
What the January 1, 2026 View Attribution Change Did to Halo
From January 1, 2026, vCPM Sponsored Brands, vCPM display ads and DSP ads in the Amazon store credit views with a shopping-signal enhanced last-touch model and a shorter window. Click attribution didn't change.
The old count survives as "all views" metrics, such as Purchases (all views), which include every eligible ad view within 14 days.
Halo is exposed to this in two ways. Halo views already rank last in the crediting order above, and a shorter, stricter view window removes the weakest links first.
So if Sales (halo) on a vCPM or DSP campaign fell in January 2026, compare it with the all-views version before you blame the campaign. Part of the drop is method, not performance.
Why Halo Matters for ACOS and Bids
ACOS (advertising cost of sales) is cost divided by attributed sales. Amazon's base "Sales" includes halo, so the ACOS in your console is a total ACOS.
That choice changes bids. Here is one Sponsored Products campaign over 30 days: $600 of cost, 400 clicks at $1.50, and $2,400 of Sales.
The split is $1,500 Sales (promoted) and $900 Sales (halo), a halo ratio of 37.5%. The advertised product earns a 30% margin before ads; the halo products earn 25%.
Promoted-only view. ACOS is $600 ÷ $1,500 = 40%, against a 30% break-even ACOS. The campaign loses $150 ($450 of margin minus $600 of cost).
Total, margin-weighted view. ACOS is $600 ÷ $2,400 = 25%. Break-even is total margin over total sales: ($450 + $225) ÷ $2,400 = 28.1%. The campaign makes $75.
Now apply a simple bid rule: new bid = current bid × target ACOS ÷ actual ACOS. On promoted numbers the bid drops to $1.13. On total numbers it rises to $1.69, about 13% higher.
Same campaign, a 50% gap between the two bids. Our break-even ACOS guide has the full margin formula.
Which ACOS Should You Bid On?
Our rule: bid on total, margin-weighted ACOS only when three things are true. The halo repeats month after month, it comes from products you actually sell, and it survives an incrementality check.
Otherwise bid on promoted ACOS and treat halo as a bonus. A one-off halo spike, a halo made of reseller sales, or a halo that is really a size swap shouldn't raise your bids.
This is also why we read ACOS next to TACOS (total advertising cost of sales: ad cost divided by all sales, ad and organic). Halo moves revenue between ASINs; TACOS shows whether the brand as a whole grew. Our TACOS guide covers the formula and targets.
When Halo Flatters You
Halo is real money, but in the accounts we audit it flatters three things more often than it helps.
Variation swaps. A shopper picking the 5 lb size over the 2 lb is choosing within a product you would have sold anyway. It proves the listing works, not that the ad found a new customer.
Branded-term halo. Shoppers searching your brand name buy something from you whatever the ad shows. High halo on a brand campaign mostly measures loyalty.
Reseller sales. On Sponsored Brands, halo can include sales another seller made.
How to Measure Halo Sales Properly
Measuring halo is four questions in a row: how much, which products, which ads, and would it have happened anyway.
1. Split the Total in Unified Reporting
Build a report with Campaign and Advertised product as dimensions, and Sales, Sales (promoted) and Sales (halo) as metrics. Add Product relevance if you want promoted and halo as rows instead of columns.
Divide Sales (halo) by Sales for each advertised ASIN. That halo ratio is the number we sort by first.
On the legacy pages, the Sponsored Products advertised product report carries the same split over a 90-day lookback.
2. Name the Products With the Purchased Product Report
The Sponsored Products purchased product report lists the non-advertised ASINs shoppers bought after clicking, with Sales (halo) and Units sold (halo). It covers 60 days and is available to sellers.
In unified reporting, the same view is the Converted product dimension. Add Converted product parent ID, then sort halo into two buckets: same parent as the advertised ASIN (variation halo) and different parent (cross-product halo).
That one split changes the conversation. A 40% halo ratio that is 35 points of variation swaps tells you to advertise a different child; one that is 35 points of energy bars tells you about cross-sell.
3. Follow the Journey in Amazon Marketing Cloud
Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) is Amazon's clean room for event-level ad data. Its conversions_with_relevance table tags every conversion with an engagement_scope (PROMOTED or BRAND_HALO) and a halo_code such as TRACKED_ASIN, VARIATIONAL_ASIN or BRAND_CATEGORY.
With that you can see which ad types and campaigns build halo, how long the path takes, and whether halo buyers come back. AMC's ad traffic lookback expanded from 13 to 25 months at unBoxed 2025, in open beta in the US and Canada from November 11, 2025.
Our AMC hub and our new-to-brand metrics guide cover the related reports.
4. Prove It Is Incremental
Attribution tells you an ad touched the sale. It can't tell you whether the shopper would have bought the energy bars anyway.
The cleanest test is a holdout. Pause or cut the campaign in one period or region, keep it running in another, and compare sales of the halo products, not just the advertised one.
AMC's conversions_all table helps too. It holds both ad-exposed and unexposed conversions for tracked ASINs, so you can compare purchase rates of shoppers who saw your ads with those who didn't. For upper-funnel campaigns, Amazon Brand Lift surveys an exposed group against a control.
How to Use Halo in Campaign and Catalog Decisions
Halo is most useful as a map of how shoppers move through your catalog. These are the decisions we make with it.
1. Pick Hero ASINs by Halo Ratio and Promoted ACOS
Plot each advertised ASIN on two axes: promoted ACOS against target, and halo ratio. Use at least 60 days so a single promotion doesn't decide it.
A hero ASIN is profitable on its own and pulls the catalog. It gets budget first, top-of-search bids and the lead slot in Sponsored Brands.
A gateway ASIN loses money on promoted numbers but drives profitable halo. Keep it only if margin-weighted total ACOS clears break-even, and check whether one halo product does most of the work. If it does, advertise that product directly.
2. Advertise the Right Variation
If most halo is variation halo, shoppers are telling you which child they prefer. Move budget to the child that wins the click and the conversion, or make it the default on the detail page.
Our guide to Amazon variation listings covers how parent-child structure affects reviews and conversion.
3. Build Bundles From Halo Pairs
When the purchased product report shows the same two products bought together week after week, that pair is a bundle. A virtual bundle lifts order value and gives you one ASIN to advertise instead of two.
The same pairs make good targets. Use display ads or Sponsored Products product targeting on your own detail pages to show the complementary product, and use them as the product set in Sponsored Brands.
4. Use the Brand Store as the Halo Engine
Cross-product halo is highest when the click lands somewhere the shopper can browse. A Sponsored Brands ad to a well-built Brand Store page usually earns more halo than one to a single product.
5. Keep Halo Products in Stock
Halo disappears the day the product shoppers switch to goes out of stock. When a hero ASIN's halo ratio drops suddenly, check inventory on the halo products before you touch the bids.
6. Judge the Portfolio, Not the ASIN
Halo shifts credit between ASINs, so ASIN-level ACOS will always be partly wrong. Set portfolio targets on TACOS and total margin, and use promoted ACOS for the bid on each target.
Our guide to reducing ACOS covers the levers once you know which number you're managing.
Mistakes We See With Halo Sales
Cutting a gateway ASIN on promoted ACOS alone. The halo goes with it, and total sales fall more than the savings.
Raising bids on total ACOS without checking the halo. If it is a size swap or a reseller's sale, the extra spend buys nothing new.
Comparing ad sales with Business Reports by ASIN. They will never match, because the ad report counts other ASINs' sales against the advertised one.
Tracking another brand's ASIN in DSP. Every product of that brand becomes eligible halo, and total ROAS stops meaning anything.
Reading January 2026 view-through halo against 2025. The view model changed; compare the all-views metrics first.
Losing halo history on December 31. Saved legacy reports are deleted when the old pages retire.
How We Read Halo in Adbrew
Everything above can be done by hand in the Amazon Ads console and a spreadsheet. Across a portfolio of brands and marketplaces, the spreadsheet is the problem.
Adbrew is an agentic retail media management platform for Amazon and Walmart, and halo analysis runs inside it:
Promoted and halo side by side. Adbrew reports same-SKU sales and orders next to total ad sales for every campaign, target and ASIN, so the promoted ACOS and the total ACOS sit in the same row.
Dashboards that combine ad and retail data. Put ad sales, halo and total sales by ASIN in one dashboard, and share it with a client or a finance team.
AMC without SQL. Adbrew's Amazon Marketing Cloud reports cover path to conversion, overlap and new-to-brand, and turn halo buyers into custom audiences for DSP and Sponsored Ads.
Rules you set. Rules for harvesting, negation, bids and budgets run on the thresholds and lookbacks you decide, and every change is logged.
Adbrew Intelligence. Ask for "advertised ASINs with a halo ratio above 30% and promoted ACOS over target, last 60 days" and the agent builds the table from your data.
Brands on Adbrew cut ACOS by 46% on average, and more than 5,000 brands, agencies and aggregators run their retail media on it.
Bid on the Number That Pays You
Halo sales are neither free money nor noise. Split them, name them, test them, and then bid on the version of ACOS that matches how your catalog really makes money.
Want to see promoted and halo ACOS side by side across your own accounts? Book a demo with our team and we'll walk through your halo data with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are halo sales on Amazon?
Halo sales on Amazon are ad-attributed purchases of products other than the one featured in the ad. In 2026 unified reporting they appear as Sales (halo). Sales of the advertised product itself appear as Sales (promoted), and the base Sales metric is the two added together.
What is the difference between Sales (halo) and Sales (promoted)?
Sales (promoted) counts purchases of the exact product in the ad, formerly "Advertised SKU sales". Sales (halo) counts purchases of other products credited to the same ad, formerly "Other SKU sales" or "Brand halo". Amazon's base Sales metric includes both, so console ACOS includes halo.
Which of the following is an example of a brand halo conversion?
A brand halo conversion is a purchase of a different product from the same brand after an ad interaction. For example, a shopper clicks a Sponsored Brands ad for your headphones and buys your speakers within 14 days. Buying the advertised headphones themselves is a promoted conversion, not a halo one.
Why are my Amazon ad sales higher than the product's total sales?
Amazon ad sales for an advertised ASIN include halo sales of other products bought after the ad. Business Reports count each sale under the ASIN actually purchased. So an ASIN's ad sales can exceed its total sales when shoppers often click its ad and buy something else.
What is a good halo ratio on Amazon?
The halo ratio is Sales (halo) divided by Sales. There is no official benchmark. In the accounts we manage, we treat roughly 30% or more as high, but the useful comparison is against your own account median and between variation halo and cross-product halo.
Do halo sales count toward ACOS on Amazon?
Yes. Amazon calculates ACOS on the base Sales metric, which includes halo sales. To see ACOS on the advertised product only, divide cost by Sales (promoted). The two can differ enough to reverse a bid decision, so check both before changing bids.
How long is the halo attribution window?
Sponsored Products uses 7 days for sellers and 14 days for vendors, clicks only. Sponsored Brands and display ads use 14 days, with views counted on vCPM campaigns. Amazon DSP uses 14 days by default or the click and view windows you set.
Did the 2026 Amazon Associates halo change affect advertising?
No. On April 14, 2026, Amazon limited onsite Associates commissions to purchases of the same ASIN variant as the linked product. That affects creators' commissions only. Ad attribution still credits halo sales under the rules for each ad type.
