Ad-tech companies are looking to standardize agentic AI media buying

As AI continues to make its way into the media buying ecosystem, ad-tech players are aiming to be ready.

Last month, several industry players, including PubMatic and Scope3, banded together to create the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP), “an open standard that enables AI agents to communicate with advertising platforms,” according to a press release. AdCP is somewhat similar to the open standard OpenRTB, which provides the foundation for real-time bidding in programmatic advertising, according to the release.

To put it in plain English, AdCP creates a foundation for buy-side and sell-side agents to communicate and transact without needing real-time ad auctions at the impression level. AdCP is also aimed at providing an infrastructure for agents to interact with existing DSPs, SSPs, and ad servers as a “bridge” between the capabilities of today and those of the future.

“People really tried to figure out what to do with the power of AI and the speed at which we’re evolving,” Anne Coghlan, co-founder, chief operating officer, and board member at Scope3, told Marketing Brew. “It’s really important that we have a shared, common understanding as an industry of the best way of leveraging that so that we don’t end up with a lot of fragmentation.”

The nitty-gritty

AdCP is developing multiple protocols for advertisers “that can participate within this burgeoning ecosystem,” Coghlan said. That includes the Media Buy Protocol, which provides the infrastructure for agents to handle tasks like verifying publisher authorization and modifying budgets, as well as the Creative Protocol, which provides the infrastructure for agents to build creative by generating previews of how creative can look and explaining format rendering.

There’s also the Signals Activation Protocol, which is expected to roll out in 2026, that “enables AI assistants to discover, activate, and manage data signals through natural language” and supports geographic, identity, and temporal signals.

AdCP is tweaking its protocols through discussions with industry players, similar to OpenRTB, explained Joseph Hirsch, CEO of Swivel, which helped found AdCP. For example, just as the IAB Tech Lab governs OpenRTB, AdCP has a governing consortium made up of publishers, agencies, and other industry players. AdCP is forming working groups for the various protocols as it further establishes itself, Coghlan said, with the idea that, through discussions within the working groups, changes to the protocols can be made.

The road ahead

While some of the groundwork has been laid, there’s more to be done to achieve widespread industry adoption of AdCP. Hirsch expects publisher agentic transactions involving Swivel’s seller agent, which will be governed by AdCP, to begin in early November, with the goal of having 20 participants using Swivel’s seller agents by the end of the year. Early successful use of the agents could speed up industry buy-in, while a lack of success could slow uptake, he told Marketing Brew.

AdCP sought to involve partners who could “demonstrate to the market that it is effective and viable,” Hirsch said, and “that naturally lends itself to startups, because our roadmaps are more flexible. We’re able to take bigger risks. That’s why you see more startups in the founding committee than you see established players.”

While the protocol has attracted industry attention, there are still plenty of questions about it, including how AdCP will be operationalized and the perspectives that could influence decisions made about the protocol, Arielle Garcia, chief operating officer of CheckMyAds, an industry watchdog, told Marketing Brew. Garcia said that she is curious to see “how it stays independent” and what its publisher representation, which she described as “insufficient,” will look like as it goes forward.

On the publisher side, Garcia said she’s waiting to see if and how AdCP will “make sure that it’s helping real publishers monetize,” and prevent spam or self-preferencing in the future.

“The bones are there for this to be done in a way that is constructive in theory, but there are some very, very real challenges that need to be overcome to make sure it’s not just putting a hat on a hat and AI-ifying ‘garbage in, garbage out,’” she said.