OTTO Advertising: the ad formats for marketplace sellers explained

Sponsored Product Ads: the starting point

According to OTTO Market, Sponsored Product Ads appear in search results, product lists and product detail pages on otto.de. Sellers book them self-service in OTTO Partner Connect; OTTO explicitly recommends them as the entry format. If you want help, OTTO Advertising also offers a managed service.

How is it billed?

OTTO describes Sponsored Product Ads as a cost-per-click (CPC) model; ad slots are allocated in an auction. According to the seller FAQ, booked services are billed through the same process as the base fee and commission. OTTO does not publish minimum bids or budgets – you see them when booking in Partner Connect.

Keyword targeting: bids per search term

Since OTTO Advertising introduced keyword targeting for Sponsored Product Ads, sellers can book specific search terms and bid per query instead of relying only on automatic campaigns. In its beta test, OTTO reported 120% higher ROAS and 50% higher click-through rate than automatic campaigns (OTTO's own figures). Which search terms are worth it is covered in keyword research for the OTTO marketplace.

Other ad formats

• Sponsored Display Ads: banners on OTTO and, according to OTTO, on more than 1,500 premium web and app properties outside OTTO.
• Rich Content: enhanced product content; OTTO cites up to 5% higher conversion rate (its own figure).
• Live shopping and newsletter marketing.
• Promotions: you set period, discount and assortment, OTTO places the promotion – more in Promotions on OTTO.

New partners from abroad

For new partners headquartered in the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, France, Spain or Denmark, the Go-Live Incentive terms offer 50% off self-service Sponsored Product Ads bookings for three calendar months if they register by 30 November 2026 and go live within ten weeks.

Is the ad worth it? How to measure

Campaign reports show clicks and revenue. They don't show where the ad sits in search, or whether the product would rank high organically anyway. So measure ad position and organic position separately for every advertised keyword: if the product is already on page 1 organically, the ad often adds little visibility. If it ranks deep, the ad may be the only way forward. How to do it is explained in OTTO Sponsored Product Ads: measuring your ad position.

Check your products' position on marktrank.de – 5 products free, without an account.

Frequently asked questions