It’s been a busy week for the robots.
At Amazon’s unBoxed 2025 event, the company unveiled a major update to its advertising business — introducing a unified Campaign Manager, a new Ads Agent for automated media planning, a Creative Agent for AI-generated ad assets, and Full-Funnel Campaigns that connect Sponsored Ads, display, and streaming TV into a single workflow.
The goal is clear: to move from laggard to leader. For years, Amazon’s DSP was considered powerful but clunky compared to rivals like The Trade Desk and Google. Over the past two years, Amazon has worked toward achieving parity in usability and performance. Now, with these agentic AI solutions, it’s aiming to lead the next wave of DSP innovation.
Not to be outdone, Google also rolled out new AI tools this week. Ads Advisor, Google’s AI “partner” within Google Ads, helps marketers manage campaigns by learning from user interactions and business context to boost performance. Meanwhile, Analytics Advisor gives users insights to guide better measurement and media decisions. It’s a conversational AI in Google Analytics, billed as a real-time data assistant for faster, more informed decision-making.
Our Take:
Over the summer, investment banking firm Benchmark Company released a research report focused on how agentic AI is poised to disrupt advertising and marketing technology. It’s worth a read. The report argues that AI agents will transform every corner of the ecosystem — from creative development to publishing to programmatic buying.”
Per the report: “Agentic represents an epic evolution in AI, a shift from reactive systems to autonomous, capable of self-learning and independent decision-making.” The report goes on to say “extinction of digital agencies” and “legacy DSPs” that fail to adapt. DSPs that don’t have “multi-layer agent bid dynamics,” it warns, will get left behind because “unlike traditional rule-based bidding algorithms, these systems analyze thousands of variables, from cross-channel engagement patterns, inventory scarcity indicators, and competitor spend trajectories, to optimize bids at millisecond intervals.”
DSPs seem to be listening. More will follow, we’re sure.
Experts React:
Here’s a great breakdown on X from Programmatic101 about the Amazon launch. The big takeaway: “Amazon continues to impress and make significant progress.” Peep the entire thread.
Our Take:
So far, AI agents have mostly appeared in areas like customer support, media planning, and insights. Over time, we’ll likely see them move deeper into execution — from dynamic bidding to end-to-end campaign optimization. Whether that shift happens next year or three years from now remains to be seen. At the very least, the industry seems to be moving quickly.
