Operator glossary
Dayparting (ad scheduling)
Running ads harder in the hours that convert and lighter in the hours that browse — implemented on Amazon through budget rules and bid schedules rather than a simple on-off switch.
Conversion rates swing by hour and weekday in most categories, and uniform 24/7 bidding funds the browsing hours at the buying hours' rates. Dayparting concentrates spend where the purchase curve peaks — via Sponsored ads budget rules and scheduled bid adjustments, or API-level automation for finer control.
Two cautions from practice: attribution lags can make late-night clicks look worthless when they convert next morning — read hour-of-click conversion honestly before cutting; and thin-budget accounts benefit more from simply not exhausting budget by noon than from elaborate schedules. Fix budget pacing first, sculpt hours second.
The numbers
- Native levers: budget rules and scheduled bid adjustments; finer schedules run through the Ads API or tools.
- Check hour-of-conversion, not hour-of-click, before declaring an hour dead — attribution lags mislead.
Related terms