The agents are coming. Or, more accurately, they’re already here.
Following a wave of recent agentic announcements from companies like Amazon, Google, and Yahoo, the past few days have brought another set of launches that push agents closer to actual media execution. They include:
PubMatic’s launch allows an AI agent to translate a natural-language brief into a live CTV campaign running on PubMatic supply via the new Ad Context Protocol (AdCP). The agent handles planning and in-flight optimization, reducing the need for manual setup inside a buying interface.
Infillion Agent Connector is an execution layer that lets external AI systems control media buying through APIs using Model Context Protocol (MCP). Instead of planners operating a DSP directly, agents send goals and constraints that Infillion’s platform executes across its inventory.
IAS Agent is an AI assistant within IAS that draws on the company’s measurement and brand-suitability data to answer questions, assist with campaign setup, and surface optimization or risk insights during a campaign. The tool is positioned as a way to make IAS data easier to access without deep platform expertise.
Why This Matters:
Agentic AI obviously has real potential for the ad industry. In a November report, Boston Consulting Group claimed agentic AI can 3x marketing ROI, speed, and volume, adding that agents “can automate nearly any marketing activity.”
The goal with these announcements is straightforward: make agentic advertising more real. In each case, these launches point to usable agents, not “concept cars” or more basic Gen AI chatbots that can’t actually take action. With PubMatic and Infillion in particular, there’s also a signal that new standards—AdCP and MCP—are being applied in live environments. Bringing agentic into daily workflows is starting to happen, basically.
Experts React:
But are we overselling some of this? Maybe.
One buzzy LinkedIn post responding to PubMatic’s launch raises that question, noting that “there is a big push right now to get case studies and press releases out the door, even when most lack real substance or results.”
The post argues that AdCP was used by PubMatic to create a campaign draft and pass instructions—something many agencies already do through their own trading desks and APIs. “They just do it without routing through an SSP or calling it a new protocol,” the author wrote.
The point isn’t to dismiss PubMatic’s work, of course, but to add context and remind the industry not to overstate how agentic a given agent or use case is.
Our Take:
We’re entering the agent era—at least directionally. In the words of the ultimate agent, “You hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability.”
