Impressions are the number of times an ad was displayed to shoppers, whether or not anyone clicked it. In Amazon and Flipkart ads, an impression is counted each time your sponsored listing appears in a search result or on a product page. Impressions cost nothing on their own; they are the top of the funnel that clicks and orders are measured against.
Amazon counts an impression when your ad is served into a sponsored slot on a page a shopper loads. It does not require the shopper to scroll to it, so an ad low on a results page earns an impression that nobody may have seen. Flipkart Ads Manager counts the same way for PLA, and both platforms show impressions per campaign, ad group, keyword and search term.
Worked example: a keyword for a steel water bottle gets 60,000 impressions in a week and 300 clicks. Its click-through rate is 300 / 60,000 x 100 = 0.5%. At ₹5 a click, spend is ₹1,500. The 60,000 impressions themselves cost nothing, which is why a campaign with huge impressions and a low bill is not a bargain: it is being shown where nobody clicks.
Quick commerce apps and Myntra banners are different. There, impressions are the product you buy, priced per thousand, so a wasted impression is a wasted rupee. The CPM page covers that model.
Impressions are the first thing to check when a campaign underperforms. No impressions means the ad is not entering auctions: the campaign is paused, out of budget, the listing is ineligible, the bid is too low to win, or the keyword has no searches. Plenty of impressions with almost no clicks means the ad is being shown but not chosen, which points at the main image, price, reviews or a poorly matched keyword.
Impressions also reveal reach on a search term. Amazon's search term impression share report puts your impressions next to everyone else's on the same term, which turns a raw count into a share you can grow.
| Symptom | Likely cause | First fix |
|---|---|---|
| Zero impressions, campaign live | Bid below auction floor or listing ineligible | Check eligibility, raise bid to suggested range |
| Impressions stop mid-afternoon | Daily budget exhausted | Raise budget or lower bids on wasteful terms |
| High impressions, CTR under 0.2% | Wrong keyword or weak listing | Add negatives, fix main image and price |
| Impressions fall after a sale event | Competitors kept raised bids | Review suggested bids and top-of-search share |
Clicks divided by impressions, for a keyword or a whole campaign.
Learn more →Your impressions as a share of all the impressions you were eligible for.
Learn more →The checklist for a live campaign that is not being shown.
Learn more →Filter every keyword and target by ACoS, CVR and spend, then change bids in bulk on Amazon India.
Learn more →An impression is one display of your ad to a shopper. Amazon counts it when the ad is served into a sponsored slot, even if the shopper does not scroll to it or click it.
No. Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Flipkart PLA are billed per click, so impressions are free. Banner formats on quick commerce apps and Myntra are billed per thousand impressions instead.
The ad is shown but shoppers pick other listings. Usual causes are a main image or price that loses against neighbours, few reviews, or a keyword that is only loosely related to the product.
There is no target number. Compare impressions with clicks and orders: a keyword with a healthy click-through rate and profitable ACoS deserves more impressions, and one with high impressions and no orders deserves a negative.
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