Autonomous Ad Buying Just Ain't Ready Yet; A CMO By Any Other Name | AdExchanger

Most campaigns are too complex for AI to manage fully on its own. Simple programmatic guaranteed or deal-based buys with minimal targeting may be feasible for AI automation. Realistic expectations for an agent to handle an average media plan end-to-end are limited, especially when regulated categories such as healthcare are involved. Coordinating agents across all campaigns at scale is not practical with current capabilities. Even with industry efforts to standardize and “agentify” programmatic frameworks, readiness for end-to-end campaign execution is still incomplete. Simple tasks can work, but substantial work remains before full autonomy is achievable.

"Somewhere between 80% and 90% of campaigns are just too complex for AI to handle on its own, Emily Lai, WPP Media's group director of media optimization, told the crowd at AdExchanger's Programmatic AI event in Las Vegas this week. Simple programmatic guaranteed or deal-based buys with minimal targeting in the DSP? Sure, maybe, said Lai. But expecting an agent to handle today's average media plan solo is unrealistic. And that's before even considering highly regulated categories like healthcare."

""Having agents talking to each other at scale across all campaigns? It's just not realistic," said Oleg Korenfeld, CTO of CMI Media Group, a WPP-owned healthcare media and marketing agency. "But I'd actually be very curious to hear what Tony Katsur would say." Well, we know the answer to that question! Katsur, CEO of the IAB Tech Lab, also spoke at Prog AI. After his session on the evolution of advertising from ML to agentic AI, we took the opportunity to ask him whether AI is ready to run campaigns end-to-end."

""I'd agree that we're not there yet," he said. "For simple things, yes, but there's still a lot of work to do." The Tech Lab has been very rah-rah on AI, busily "agentifying" its standards and developing frameworks to help agents transact programmatically. But Katsur has a pragmatic POV. Even with frameworks in place, end-to-end autonomy remains limited to simpler use cases."

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