Column: ad agents may filter inventory before any auction
AI Tools · 9 Nov 2026 · By the Cofoundr team
An AdExchanger opinion column by Jonathon Shaevitz of GrowthCode argues that skeptics are right about autonomous buying but wrong to dismiss agents' role in deciding where money goes. It is a sell-side view and partly the author's inference.
The key points
- Digiday research cited in the column says 54% of 142 brand and agency professionals do not use agentic AI in workflows. This is self-reported.
- An IAB survey of 360 video buyers, cited by the author, found 40% require human approval before an agent acts.
- IAB Tech Lab's Anthony Katsur is quoted expecting several false starts and years of experimentation.
What it means for agencies
The adoption numbers suggest agent-led buying is early, so most agencies still win on judgment and client communication. The useful takeaway for media buyers is to keep clean first-party data and clear data-access terms with clients, since that is where the author says agents will start filtering.
Source: AdExchanger. This is our own summary. Read the original for the full detail, and check Meta's current documentation before changing client accounts.