Industry players unite to accelerate programmatic’s AI-driven future

• More than 20 firms are coming together to create a framework that may enable media agencies to higher use artificial intellgience (AI) to complete their buying and selling across a fragmented landscape of publishers, per a press release. 
• The recent Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) is designed to lay the groundwork as AI media agents take hold.  Founding firms include Yahoo, Optable, PubMatic, Scope3, Swivel and Triton Digital.
• The framework is meant to be similar to how OpenRTB standardized real-time bidding within the early days of programmatic promoting, which enabled advertisers to execute their media plans and budgets more quickly and efficiently.

AdCP’s creation is a testament to the elemental changes AI is driving across all sectors of the promoting industry. While many investments in AI have been in data evaluation and campaign optimization, AdCP is an illustration of how AI’s use may expand deeper into areas resembling media planning, negotiation and buying.

AdCP is meant to create “a bridge between today’s programmatic ecosystem and the emerging agentic future” by “constructing a standard language for AI agents across the promoting ecosystem,” according to the press materials. Through this language, agents can work with existing DSPs, SSPs and ad servers to conduct their current business while steadily creating recent transactional protocols.

The system shall be built on Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol, with the initial release containing protocols for audience activation, curation and media buying. The full list of members includes representatives from all sides of the programmatic ecosystem, including Accuweather, Adgent, Bidcliq, Butler/Till, Classify, HYPD, Kargo, Kiln, LG Ad Solutions, Locala, Magnite, Media.net, MiQ, Nativo, Newton Research, OpenAds, Raptive, Samba TV, Scribd, The Product Counsel and The Weather Company.

Additionally, with so many partners collaborating, the work can occur at scale, in order that AdCP can reach across quite a few compatible platforms or agents and ensure quick adoption. Through the platform, advertisers can have direct access to partner audiences and inventory directly without having to navigate programmatic infrastructures.

Publishers can more efficiently offer any promoting product requested, and all partners can have more flexible real-time transaction models based on audience segments, engagement and other metrics. All of this may lead to an easier, more transparent, more efficient programmatic promoting ecosystem, according to the press materials. AdCP is currently available for implementation for any company.

The promoting industry goes all-in on its AI investments, particularly within the areas of generative AI for creative development, in addition to data mining and campaign optimization. Last week, WPP and Google announced they might expand their partnership for an additional five years in a deal that may include a $400 million investment from the holding company for extra Google technologies. According to an announcement, the wide-ranging deal will “empower brands to create hyper-relevant campaigns in days, not months.”