Delivery rate compares how much of an Amazon DSP order's current flight budget it has spent with how much of the flight has passed. Below 100%, the order is behind its flight. At 100%, it is on pace or ahead: the rate stops at 100%, so an order spending at twice its pace reads exactly the same.
Below 100% is a warning you can size. At 100% the column has stopped measuring.
What the rate compares
Amazon defines delivery rate as the rate at which the order is spending money relative to its budget and progress in the current flight, and caps it at 100% because an order never spends more than its budget. As arithmetic, that is two shares set against each other: the share of the flight budget already spent, and the share of the flight's days already gone.
The arithmetic
Expected by now = Flight budget × (Days passed ÷ Days in flight)
Pace = Spent ÷ Expected by now
Delivery rate = the smaller of Pace and 100%
Amazon's September 2023 launch note says the rate appears from the second day of a flight, beside Budget at Risk, and was not yet available for impression-based orders. The straight line from the flight's start is the simplest reading of "progress in the current flight"; it is the one used below.
Three orders on day 10 of a 30-day flight
Each order has a $9,000 flight budget, so a straight line would have spent $3,000 by the end of day 10, or $300 a day.
| Order | Spent | Expected by now | Pace | Delivery rate | If the pace holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | $1,800 | $3,000 | 60% | 60% | $5,400 spent by day 30, $3,600 left |
| B | $3,000 | $3,000 | 100% | 100% | $9,000 spent by day 30 |
| C | $4,500 | $3,000 | 150% | 100% | Budget gone at the end of day 20 |
Order A is the case Amazon's alerts are built for. It spends $180 a day against the $300 its flight needs, and if that holds it finishes with $3,600 unspent: the amount Amazon's Budget at Risk is defined to estimate. Order C reads 100%, the same as Order B. It spends $450 a day, so the $4,500 it has left lasts ten more days. After that it cannot spend past its budget, and it shows no ads for the last ten days of the flight.
Why 100% is the reading to check
Under 100%, the rate tells you how far behind an order is. At 100%, it cannot tell you how far ahead. Order C's pace is 150%, and the column will say 100% until the day its budget runs out. The number that does show it is the one under the cap: spent against expected by now. Order C has spent $4,500 where $3,000 was expected, $1,500 ahead after ten days.
What running out early costs depends on what the last third of the flight was for. A flight planned around a sale at its end, or a remarketing order meant to stay on all month, loses exactly the days it was bought for.
Pace is read on flight spend, without the fee
Total cost carries fees on top of media: Amazon's pricing definitions put supply cost and demand-side fees in it, and charge the Amazon DSP technology fee as a percent of media cost. In the DSP console, as in Vendlen's DSP Manager, flight spend is total cost minus the Amazon DSP fee, and that is the figure set against the flight budget. Read pace off total cost and the fee counts as delivery: Order B, exactly on pace with $3,000 of flight spend and, say, $240 of Amazon DSP fee, has $3,240 of total cost, 108% of what was expected by now.
What to change when an order is behind
Amazon's pacing alerts point at three line-item settings that can hold delivery back: the maximum average CPM, the frequency cap and the viewability setting. Loosening one buys impressions at a higher price, or shows the ad to the same people more often, or accepts placements you had ruled out. Each is a trade, so decide which you can live with before you make it.
The other answer is to accept the slower pace and change the flight to match it: edit its budget or end date, or move what will not be spent into a later flight. What underspend costs is the reach you planned and did not buy.
What to change when an order is ahead
A daily cap holds the order to the pace the flight has left:
The cap that finishes on time
Daily cap = Budget left ÷ Days left
Order C has $4,500 left and 20 days to go, so a $225 daily cap spreads the rest across the flight. That is less than the $300 a day the flight started with, because the first ten days used half the budget. Work the cap out on the same basis as the budget it protects: if the cap counts the fee and the flight budget does not, a $225 cap will fall slightly short.
In Vendlen's DSP Manager the daily and monthly caps are set on the order, not the flight: theyapply to the whole order, across all its flights, so a cap sized for this flight still holds the next one back. Note the day you will lift it.
Where this still needs a person
The rate describes the flight so far. It is not a forecast, and "if the pace holds" is the assumption that breaks most often: spend moves with auctions, audiences and the season. Vendlen does not project spend either. In DSP Manager, the Delivery rate column's tooltip shows Spent beside Expected by now, and the rate is calculated from synced spend, so it can differ slightly from Amazon's console.
A flight you meant to spend unevenly, heavier in its last week, reads behind by design. And pace says nothing about what the spend bought. Whether the order is worth its budget is a separate question, and its most recent days of sales are still being counted: see why the last 14 days of DSP results are not finished.
What to do with this
- For each running order, write down the current flight's budget, flight spend, start and end. Use flight spend, not total cost.
- Work out expected by now and the pace without the cap. Any order showing 100% needs this step; the column cannot tell you which ones are ahead.
- Behind: decide whether to loosen max CPM, frequency or viewability on its line items, or to change the flight to the pace it can deliver.
- Ahead: divide the budget left by the days left and set that as the order's daily cap. Put a reminder on the day the flight ends, because the cap stays on the order.
- Look again in a few days. A pace measured on day 2 rests on very little spend.
Questions sellers ask
What is a good delivery rate in Amazon DSP?
100% means the order is on pace or ahead, and anything lower means it is behind its flight. Because the rate stops at 100%, it cannot separate an order on pace from one spending too fast, so 100% is good news only once you have checked that the order is not running ahead of its flight.
What is Budget at Risk in Amazon DSP?
Amazon defines it as the amount of budget that may remain unspent if the current spending pattern continues to the end of the flight. With invented figures: an order with $7,200 of budget left, 20 days to go and spend of $180 a day would spend $3,600 more, leaving $3,600 at risk.
Why is my Amazon DSP order underpacing?
Amazon flags an order that is on track to spend less than its budget and recommends a new value for whichever line-item setting it finds restricting pacing. Since 2024 its alerts also flag orders with rejected creatives, which is worth ruling out before you raise a bid or loosen a cap.
Can Amazon DSP delivery rate go above 100%?
No. Amazon caps it at 100% because an order never spends more than its budget. The pace itself can be higher: an order that has spent $4,500 where $3,000 was expected is at 150%, and the column still reads 100% until its budget runs out. Those figures are invented.