How AI buyers handle the audience-match problem in CTV
Sep · 5 min read
CTV's fragmented identity infrastructure creates a specific verification challenge for model-driven buyers. Here is what needs to be true for agent-executed deals to hold.
AI
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Why supply path optimisation gets harder and more important in an agentic market
Sep · 4 min read
More agents, more direct relationships, fewer intermediaries. The verification problem does not simplify as the path shortens. It gets harder.
How an AI seller should behave differently from a DSP
Sep · 5 min read
A model-driven seller needs to operate differently from a policy-rule system at the deal structure, communication, and approval logic level. This is the sell-side architecture piece the market is missing.
Research
The shift from API connections to direct agent negotiation in media
Sep · 4 min read
The current model requires a pre-built DSP-SSP integration for every buyer-seller relationship. Agent-to-agent negotiation changes what infrastructure needs to exist before trading can start.
Agent-to-agent deal negotiation vs programmatic bidding: what actually changes
Sep · 4 min read
Bilateral terms, mutual deal record ownership, and multi-round negotiation are structural differences from programmatic. This is not faster programmatic buying.
Why the buyer harness matters as much as the model
Sep · 5 min read
Concourse Bench v1 evaluates model-harness combinations, not models alone. The software layer that wraps an AI buyer is as consequential as the model it runs.
What a multi-round AI negotiation looks like from the inside
Sep · 6 min read
A step-by-step account of how AI buyers negotiate media deals: opening offer, counter, budget check, portfolio review, and commitment.
The trust problem in agent-to-agent media trading
Sep · 5 min read
When neither party to a deal is human, the question of who verifies and who approves becomes structural rather than operational. A shared deal record with human approval rights is not optional.
What the programmatic stack needs to change to support agent-to-agent trading
Sep · 5 min read
The programmatic stack does not need to be replaced. It needs a new layer on top: the negotiation and governance infrastructure that handles what APIs were never designed to do.
Human approval in an agent-negotiated campaign: what it actually means
Sep · 5 min read
Agents draft and recommend. Humans approve at named decision points. Here is what that approval gate covers, what it does not, and how the deal record makes it real.
Brand safety in an agent-negotiated deal: who is accountable?
Sep · 5 min read
When an agent commits to inventory on a buyer's behalf, accountability is defined by the approval record and deal terms. Here is what buyers need in the deal structure.
Why the audit trail is the most important feature in agentic media buying
Sep · 5 min read
When agents act on behalf of buyers and sellers, the deal record is how disputes are resolved, compliance is demonstrated, and performance is verified.
What Concourse Bench v1 reveals about AI buyer error rates
Sep · 5 min read
55 completions from 96 attempts. 95 of 110 contracts with sub-70% viewability floors. The first rigorous public data on how AI media buyers actually perform.
How to set the right boundaries for an AI buyer without killing its effectiveness
Sep · 5 min read
Which decisions should the agent take autonomously, which require sign-off, and how is the boundary enforced? A practical guide to the harness-level design question.
CTV viewability floors when the buyer is an AI: what the contract should say
Sep · 5 min read
95 of 110 AI-negotiated contracts had sub-70% viewability floors. In CTV, where standards are more stringent, that gap is a serious problem. Here is what the contract needs to fix it.
What an agent-negotiated CTV deal looks like compared to open-market buys
Sep · 5 min read
Deal structure, approval rights, and audit trail differ significantly between AI-negotiated CTV deals and open exchange buys. Here is how, and why the DealSheet is the governing layer.
Why CTV is the hardest media brief for an AI buyer to complete
Sep · 5 min read
Fragmented supply, deal-based inventory, and tight targeting make CTV the most demanding environment for a model-driven buyer. Here is why, and what the data shows.
What makes an agentic marketplace different from an ad exchange
Sep · 6 min read
Both connect buyers and sellers of media. The structural difference is what they own and what they leave in customer systems.
Why Alkimi built a benchmark before building a marketplace
Sep · 6 min read
The claim "AI can buy media" was untested. Concourse Bench v1 is the evidence base that makes every other piece of Alkimi's content defensible.
The difference between AI-assisted buying and AI-autonomous buying
Sep · 6 min read
A taxonomy of where current AI deployments sit, and what evidence justifies moving between them
What programmatic advertising is, and where agentic buying fits
Sep · 6 min read
Programmatic is a buying mechanism. Agentic is a buying model. The distinction is structural, not technical.
How an AI media buyer reads a brief: what the model actually does
Sep · 6 min read
Reading a brief is the easy part. Holding it as a binding constraint across multiple parallel negotiations is where models diverge.
What is supply path optimisation, and why it matters more in an agentic market
Sep · 6 min read
SPO was always about transparency. Agentic buying makes transparency load-bearing.
The four stages between a media brief and a completed agent buy
Sep · 6 min read
Each stage has distinct failure modes. A completion rate alone does not tell you which stage broke.
What is a DealSheet, and why it matters when agents trade media
Sep · 7 min read
When agents act on behalf of buyers and sellers, both parties need a shared, authoritative record of what was agreed. That is what the DealSheet provides.
Three ways an AI buyer fails a media brief, and what each failure tells you
Sep · 7 min read
41 of 96 attempts in Concourse Bench v1 did not produce a completed buy. The failure modes are distinct, and the distinction matters for what you fix.
What "agentic advertising" actually means, and what it does not
Sep · 6 min read
A working definition for a term that has been stretched past usefulness
Can an AI agent actually complete a media buy?
Sep · 4 min read
Concourse Bench v1 tested eight model-driven buyers in a simulated market. Fifty-five of 96 attempts produced a completed buy. Two models completed every attempt. Two completed none. Which AI, and how reliably, is the right question.
Which AI models can reliably close a media deal?
Sep · 4 min read
Concourse Bench v1 tested eight model-driven buyers across four buying situations. Sol and Fable completed all 12. Opus completed 10 of 12. Astra and Sonnet each completed 9 of 12. Terra completed 3 of 12. Luna and Haiku completed zero.
What 'agentic media buying' actually means in practice
Sep · 5 min read
'Agentic media buying' describes a wide range of things. Concourse Bench v1 provides the first structured evidence on what an AI buyer actually does in a workflow. The picture is more specific and constrained than most uses of the phrase suggest.
How does an AI buyer fail a media brief?
Sep · 5 min read
Concourse Bench v1 recorded three ways an AI buyer fails: budget overrun, missed brief requirement, and technical interruption. These are not the same failure. V1 reports them separately. That separation is the point.
Why completing a media buy is not the same as doing a good one
Sep · 4 min read
Across 110 contracts in the 55 completed buys, 95 promised a viewability floor below 70%. The agents finished the workflow but left the buyer poorly protected on a basic contractual measure. Completion and quality are not the same score.
What does it cost to run an AI media buyer?
Sep · 5 min read
Concourse Bench v1 recorded model API costs for eight AI buyers. Among completed buys, API expense ranged from $0.74 to $14.38 per buy. Total known API cost was $390.16. These figures are model API expense only, not full operating costs.
News
What Is Supply Path Optimisation and How Does AI Change It?
Sep · 4 min read
Supply path optimisation is the practice of identifying the most efficient and transparent routes from buyer to publisher inventory, and AI is making it both more precise and more dynamic.
How Agent-to-Agent Advertising Differs from AI-Assisted Programmatic
Sep · 4 min read
AI-assisted programmatic uses artificial intelligence to optimise bids and targeting decisions within a conventional auction system. Agent-to-agent advertising replaces the auction entirely with bilateral negotiation between autonomous agents operating ...
How to Set Budget Controls and Limits for AI Advertising Agents
Sep · 4 min read
Setting clear budget controls for AI advertising agents requires defining spending ceilings, price floors, escalation thresholds, and review cadences before the agent begins operating.
How Publishers Set Deal Terms for AI Buying Agents
Sep · 4 min read
Publishers set deal terms for autonomous buying agents through a sell-side mandate: a human-approved governance document that defines the parameters within which the sell-side agent can act. A well-structured mandate covers CPM floors, inventory categor...
How to Know an AI Agent Is Negotiating a Fair Deal on Your Behalf
Sep · 5 min read
There are three concrete checks for whether a buy-side agent has negotiated fairly on your behalf. First, retrieve the DealSheet and confirm the agreed CPM is within your mandate parameters. Second, review the agent's decision log to confirm it applied ...
How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Programmatic Advertising in the US
Sep · 4 min read
AI is shifting programmatic advertising from rule-based automation to reasoning-based decision-making, with consequences for how inventory is bought, how deals are structured, and how campaign performance is governed.
How US Advertising Agencies Are Using AI for Programmatic Buying
Sep · 3 min read
US advertising agencies are deploying AI across planning, bidding, and optimisation to reduce manual work, improve targeting, and respond to campaign signals faster than human teams can manage alone.
How AI Agents Handle Contextual Targeting in Programmatic Advertising
Sep · 4 min read
AI agents are making contextual targeting faster and more precise by analysing content signals at scale, enabling programmatic buyers to reach relevant audiences without relying on third-party cookies.
What Publishers Need Before They Can Accept Deals from Autonomous Agents
Sep · 4 min read
Publishers need three things before they can accept deals from autonomous buying agents: AdCP-compliant integration so their systems can receive and parse structured proposals; a sell-side mandate that defines the parameters for autonomous acceptance; a...
How AI Agents Negotiate CTV Inventory Deals Directly with Broadcasters
Sep · 4 min read
Connected television inventory has long been traded through direct insertion orders or programmatic guaranteed arrangements that require significant human involvement at every stage. Agentic buying changes the process, not the principles. A buy-side age...
How AI Agents Handle Audience Data Under US Privacy Laws
Sep · 3 min read
US privacy laws including CCPA and emerging state-level regulations create specific requirements for how AI advertising agents can access, use, and transmit audience data. Buyers need to understand where compliance responsibility sits in an agentic buyi...
How Measurement Changes When AI Agents Buy Programmatic Media
Sep · 3 min read
AI agent-driven programmatic buying changes the measurement model by shifting key decisions from humans to automated systems, which requires buyers to move measurement governance earlier in the process and encode it into the agent mandate before campaig...
What Is Attention Advertising and How Do AI Agents Use It?
Sep · 2 min read
Attention-based advertising measures whether ads were actually seen and processed, rather than simply served. AI agents can operationalise attention as a buying parameter, making attention measurement an executable deal constraint rather than a post-cam...
How Publishers Can Set Deal Terms for Autonomous Ad Buying Agents
Sep · 3 min read
Publishers working with autonomous buy-side agents need to define deal parameters their sell-side infrastructure can communicate and enforce. This article explains what that looks like in practice.
How AI Agents Negotiate Programmatic Deals: A Guide for US Media Buyers
Sep · 3 min read
AI agent negotiation in programmatic advertising means structured, mandate-driven deal-making between buy-side and sell-side agents, not simply faster bidding. This guide explains how it works and what US media buyers need to understand before adopting it.
Which Ad Marketplaces Support Autonomous Agent-to-Agent Bidding?
Sep · 4 min read
How to distinguish platforms that support genuine bilateral agent-to-agent deal negotiation from platforms that use AI to automate decisions within a conventional auction, and what questions to ask.
How Publishers Verify a Deal Negotiated by an AI Buying Agent
Sep · 4 min read
Publishers verify agent-negotiated deals through three layers: agent identity verification, mandate verification against proposed terms, and deal record verification using the shared DealSheet post-campaign.
How Brands Are Using AI Agents in Their Advertising
Sep · 4 min read
Brands are using AI agents in advertising in a progression from AI-assisted campaign optimisation to mandate-governed deal execution. The governance model is earned autonomy: agents operate within defined parameters, humans retain approval authority.
What Could Go Wrong with AI-Powered Advertising?
Sep · 5 min read
The failure modes of AI-powered advertising are mandate gaps, approval thresholds set too high, deal records not reviewed post-campaign, and accountability gaps with no named human owner. All are addressable with governance discipline.
How to Maintain Brand Safety When AI Agents Are Buying Media
Sep · 4 min read
Brand safety in agent-mediated buying is maintained through the mandate, not real-time human review. The mandate must include explicit inventory exclusions and adjacency requirements. Post-campaign verification uses the DealSheet as the reference document.
What Are the Risks of Using AI Agents for Media Buying?
Sep · 5 min read
The primary risks of AI agents in media buying are mandate governance failures, approval thresholds that never activate, deal records that are not audited, and accountability gaps. These are governance risks, not technology risks, and they are addressable.
How AI Agents Help with Media Buying
Sep · 4 min read
AI agents help with media buying through precise bid management at scale in conventional programmatic, and through mandate-governed bilateral deal negotiation in agentic marketplaces. In both cases: agents execute, humans govern.
How AI Buying and Selling Agents Negotiate Prices with Publishers
Sep · 4 min read
Price negotiation between buy-side and sell-side agents works through structured bilateral proposal exchange, not auction. The buy-side mandate carries a CPM range; the sell-side mandate carries a CPM floor. Agreement is reached when both ranges overlap.
How Agencies Are Using AI for Programmatic Buying
Sep · 4 min read
Agencies are using AI in programmatic buying in two distinct ways: AI-assisted optimisation within conventional auction-based programmatic, and mandate-governed agentic bilateral deal negotiation. The governance requirements differ significantly.
How to Write a Media Buying Mandate for an AI Agent
Sep · 4 min read
A practical guide to writing a media buying mandate: the six core elements it must contain, how to make it auditable, and who should review it before the agent is deployed.
Which Advertising Platforms Are Deploying AI Agents in 2026
Sep · 5 min read
A map of buy-side platforms, sell-side platforms, dedicated agentic marketplaces, and infrastructure providers: what each category is actually deploying and what it means for buyers.
How AI Will Change Media Buying
Sep · 4 min read
The near-term AI changes already live in programmatic, the structural changes still forming in the deal negotiation layer, and what the shift means for the media buyer's role.
Should Your Brand Use AI Agents for Advertising? A Framework for the Decision
Sep · 8 min read
The question of whether to use AI agents for advertising is now arriving at most large brand marketing teams. The answer depends on what the agent will be doing and what infrastructure is in place to constrain and audit it.
What Could Go Wrong with AI-Powered Advertising: A Buyer's Checklist
Sep · 7 min read
AI agents can now handle media buying tasks that previously required a full trading desk. The risks are not hypothetical: budget overruns, deal record divergence, brand safety failures, and accountability gaps are already occurring in early deploymen
Can AI Agents Be Trusted with Advertising Budgets? The Case For Defined Thresholds
Sep · 7 min read
AI agents are now making buying decisions across programmatic advertising at meaningful scale. The question "can agents be trusted with advertising budgets?" has a specific answer, and it is not yes or no.
Insight
Who Is Answerable When an AI Agent Makes a Bad Media Buy?
Sep · 6 min read
Advertising's accountability framework assigns liability to the human who authorised the buy. When an agent makes the buy, the contract's signatory was not in the room. Most current ad contracts have no answer to that.
How Brands Are Using AI Agents in Advertising: Early Use Cases and What They Are Learning
Sep · 6 min read
Brand-side agentic deployment is bounded and instructive. What early adopters are finding about mandate design, data governance, and the infrastructure gap for direct publisher buying.
How Agencies Are Deploying AI for Programmatic Buying: From Automation to Agent Mandates
Sep · 5 min read
Agencies have been automating programmatic since it began. Agentic advertising changes the level of the buying stack that gets automated, and that changes the work agencies need to do.
What AI Agents Actually Do in Media Buying: The Tasks, the Limits, the Handovers
Sep · 5 min read
A practical account of which tasks a media-buying agent executes today, where the hard limits are, and how the handover between agent and human should be designed.
Will AI Agents Replace Media Buyers? The Evidence-Based Answer
Aug · 8 min read
The data on what agents can do now, what they cannot, and where the role of the human buyer is heading.
Supply Path Optimisation in the Age of AI Agents: What Changes and What Doesn't
Aug · 8 min read
SPO principles still apply in agentic buying. What changes is the speed and granularity of the decisions.
How AI Agents Optimise Media Buying: A Practical Breakdown
Aug · 15 min read
What agent-driven optimisation actually involves, decision by decision, and where human approval sits.
Explainer
How Brands Are Using AI Agents to Optimise Advertising Campaigns
Sep · 7 min read
Goal-oriented buying, direct deal negotiation, and the earned autonomy framework for brands deploying AI agents in media.
Can AI Agents Be Trusted to Manage Advertising Budgets?
Sep · 7 min read
Who is accountable when an AI agent makes a bad media buy? The governance gap, earned autonomy, and deal-level audit trails.