Ad Tech Briefing: Ad tech’s agentic gambit at CES

Zeta Global partners with OpenAI 

Zeta Global announced a partnership with OpenAI to integrate generative AI models into its Athena platform, positioning the product around “answer-driven” marketing workflows. The integration is designed to automate insight generation and campaign decisioning using natural-language prompts across enterprise marketing operations. Zeta Global shares rose more than 8% following the announcement, reflecting investor enthusiasm for AI-led differentiation. As with similar partnerships across ad tech, execution — not announcement optics — will determine whether the integration drives durable revenue impact.

Why it matters: Public-market ad tech firms are increasingly leaning on marquee AI partnerships to reset growth narratives.

Yahoo DSP confirms agentic moves

Yahoo unveiled agentic AI capabilities within its demand-side platform aimed at automating campaign setup, optimization and troubleshooting directly within its buying platform. Announced at CES, the tools allow advertisers to deploy Yahoo-built agents or integrate their own models into buying workflows.

The update reflects a broader DSP push toward reducing manual labor and repositioning platforms as AI-native systems. Whether buyers trust agents with greater autonomy — particularly around spend and optimization — remains an open question.

Why it matters: DSPs are racing to define the control boundaries between human buyers and autonomous systems.

Viant and the end of human ad traders?

Viant launched Outcomes, which it describes as a fully autonomous advertising product capable of planning, executing and measuring campaigns with minimal human input. The product applies AI-driven decisioning across channels, including CTV, positioning automation as a replacement for traditional programmatic trading roles. While Viant frames the shift as efficiency-driven, the move raises questions around transparency, accountability, and how much strategic control advertisers are willing to hand over to machines.

Why it matters: Fully autonomous buying challenges long-standing assumptions about human oversight in programmatic advertising.

TAU partners with Infillion

TAU announced a partnership with Infillion, a platform that features the MediaMath DSP, focusing on unifying AI-driven media planning and execution. The integration links TAU’s planning layer with MediaMath’s buying infrastructure, supports cross-channel workflows. This reflects renewed efforts to simplify fragmented ad stacks, though similar integrations historically have struggled to gain traction beyond early adopters.

Why it matters: Vendors are again betting that tighter planning-to-execution links can reduce operational friction.

PubMatic launches AgenticOS

PubMatic introduced AgenticOS, positioning it as an operating layer for agent-to-agent advertising across programmatic workflows. The system embeds AI agents to manage forecasting, pacing, yield optimization and troubleshooting within defined constraints. PubMatic is framing the product as infrastructure rather than a feature set, aligning with its broader push toward AI-first platform architecture. The real test will be interoperability and trust in live buying environments.

Why it matters: “AI operating systems” are emerging as the next battleground in programmatic platform differentiation.

TVScientific gets closer to the bidstream with OpenX’s new API suite

Fresh off its recent acquisition, TVScientific announced it is integrating with OpenX APIs that provide real-time access to bidstream data, auction insights, and identity resolution. The integration enables buyers to insert AI models directly into live auctions, tightening the loop between data and bidding decisions. The move reflects rising demand for programmable exchanges, even as neutrality and data-access concerns persist.

Why it matters: Deeper bidstream access could reshape how AI models influence CTV buying outcomes.

Index Exchange debuts show-level reporting

Index Exchange launched show-level reporting powered by Gracenote, giving buyers greater visibility into where CTV ads appear. Early partner Spectrum Reach is using the data for post-campaign analysis and brand suitability checks. While the feature improves transparency, it does not yet offer pre-bid show-level controls — a capability many buyers continue to seek.

Why it matters: Measurement transparency in CTV is improving faster than buyers’ ability to act on it pre-bid.

Magnite and Cognitiv’s deep learning tie-up

Magnite and Cognitiv announced a deep learning integration aimed at enhancing real-time curation within Magnite’s ClearLine product. The partnership applies Cognitiv’s models to curated deals and premium inventory to improve targeting and performance. As curated marketplaces proliferate, differentiating meaningful performance gains from incremental AI layering remains a challenge.

Why it matters: AI-driven curation is becoming table stakes rather than a point of differentiation.

The wave of agentic AI announcements across ad tech at CES coincided with parallel moves by the industry’s largest buy- and sell-side players to embed automation more deeply into core advertising workflows.

At CES, Disney outlined new AI-powered creative tools, planning systems and connected measurement capabilities designed to unify storytelling, data, and performance across its streaming and sports portfolio. On the agency side, WPP launched Agent Hub on WPP Open, giving clients access to agentic AI expertise embedded directly into its operating platform.

Together, the moves underscore how automation is shifting from point solutions toward system-level infrastructure spanning planning, creative and measurement.

What we’ve heard

“They have been pivoting indefinitely, from data to retail to agents and revenues have been going down YoY. I reckon major consolidation this year on Adtech [sic] and few players emerging out in 2027.”

— Ad tech enthusiasts on Reddit predict the number of ad tech companies on the market will dwindle this year.

Numbers to know

• 46%: In France, nearly half of adults say they would trust brands less if AI were more widely used to create advertising images or video, compared with just 16% who say they would trust brands more, per eMarketer.

• 44%: In Great Britain, distrust outweighs trust by more than two-to-one, with 44% saying AI-generated advertising would reduce trust vs. 19% saying it would increase trust.

• 36%: Germany shows a similarly negative skew, where 36% of respondents say AI use in advertising would reduce trust, compared with 22% who say it would increase trust.

• 31%: Worldwide sentiment is more evenly split, with 31% saying AI-generated advertising would reduce trust and 30% saying it would increase trust, highlighting a sharper trust gap in major European markets.

What we’ve covered

Omnicom Media wraps CES deals with a Pinterest collaboration that includes shoppable boards

Omnicom Media announced at CES a partnership with Pinterest that taps its Creo influencer agency into Pinterest’s creator ecosystem to build intent-driven content and shoppable boards, integrating creator discovery, AI-assisted content planning, and commerce signals into Omnicom’s Omni platform; early test campaigns drove strong engagement and return-on-ad-spend results, with brands like The Home Depot exceeding benchmarks as the collaboration expands globally.  

Walmart Connect takes a play out of the Amazon playbook to make agentic AI the next battleground in retail media

Walmart Connect is pushing agentic AI as a core differentiator in retail media, developing tools that automate campaign planning, optimization, and measurement. The effort aims to streamline workflows for advertisers and leverage first-party data to drive performance, positioning agentic AI as a competitive battleground against other retail media networks. 

What we’re reading

Google employee made redundant after reporting sexual harassment, court hears

A senior Google employee has claimed she was made redundant after reporting a manager who told clients stories about his swinger lifestyle and showed a nude of his wife.

Amazon gives managers a new way to spot who’s barely coming into the office

Amazon has introduced an internal dashboard that tracks badge data to flag employees with low in-office attendance under its return-to-office policy, intensifying enforcement while raising concerns about workplace surveillance and managerial oversight.

What is shaping ad tech in 2026

Ad tech in 2026 is being reshaped by regulatory pressure on major platforms, rising interest in agentic AI, consolidation across agencies and vendors, and renewed scrutiny of TV measurement, with execution lagging behind ambition.

AppsFlyer nears $2 billion sale to Apollo and Fortissimo

AppsFlyer is reportedly nearing a $2 billion sale to Apollo and Fortissimo, roughly matching its last private valuation, as private equity interest replaces stalled IPO plans amid slower growth and a tougher public market.