A new year always brings a new wave of predictions about where programmatic is headed next. AI acceleration. Platform shifts. Regulatory pressure. New buying models.

Those headlines are loud. What feels quieter (and arguably more important) is how the industry is re-evaluating itself. Beneath the hype, foundational questions remain about transparency, quality, accountability, and what programmatic success even looks like.

Here are some themes shaping 2026.

“Agentic media buying” has quickly become one of digital advertising’s most repeated phrases. At its core, it promises campaigns planned, optimized, and executed by AI with minimal human involvement.

The headlines suggest agentic buying is already here. In reality, it’s still on the horizon. Protocols are forming, and guardrails are being defined, but most real-world adoption remains early and experimental.

The appeal is obvious. Automation can surface efficiencies, process signals at scale, and act faster than any human team. That promise is real, and we believe AI will continue to play a growing role in media execution. But acceleration without alignment is risky. Automation moves quickly, amplifying mistakes just as rapidly as the wins.

Focus must remain on clearly defined campaign guardrails, transparent supply decisions, and human oversight that ensures alignment with intent and not just efficiency.

Recent antitrust rulings found that Google maintained illegal monopolies in search and parts of its advertising business. Additional proceedings are still determining what remedies, if any, will follow, but one possibility is structural separation of parts of Google’s advertising technology stack.

If this happens, it would represent a meaningful shift. Buying tools, selling tools, and measurement functions that have long operated within the same corporate structure could be required to stand more independently, and that would alter how inventory is routed, how auctions behave, and how transparency is defined.

Amazon DSP’s rise over the past year has been hard to miss.

With deep first-party data, expanding streaming inventory, and strong retail integration, Amazon has positioned itself as a compelling option for brands looking to connect commerce and media more directly.

From our perspective, Amazon DSP brings meaningful potential, but realizing that potential depends on how thoughtfully campaigns are structured, supplied, and stewarded over time.

Like any tool, its value depends on how it’s applied.

The boundary between the buy side and the sell side continues to shift.

DSPs are moving closer to publishers by launching direct marketplace initiatives and curated supply paths that narrow what buyers can access. At the same time, SSPs and publishers are redefining their role in measurement and identity, seeking greater control over how inventory is packaged and valued. Capabilities that once lived across separate intermediaries are consolidating within fewer platforms.

This structural tension across the ecosystem is visible and unresolved. How these roles ultimately settle will shape how media is bought, sold, and measured in the years ahead.

Amid all of this change, our focus remains grounded in the work itself and in the partnerships we build around it. In 2026, we’re doubling down on the fundamentals that define quality media buying, because those fundamentals are what create real value for the advertisers we support.

We kicked off the new year by starting a content series about one of the most fundamental requirements for effective advertising: an audience’s attention.

An ad cannot persuade, inform, or influence if it isn’t noticed in the first place.

And yet open-web programmatic supply is riddled with attention-poor ad inventory. These environments have high ad density, rapid ad refresh, and autoplaying, auto-muted video in cluttered layouts.

Follow along with our blog to learn more about why these ad environments persist in open-web programmatic and what buyers are doing about it.

There is still a lot of talk about growing programmatic channels like Connected TV (CTV), Digital-out-of-home (DOOH), and audio, but the case for expanding a channel mix isn’t a novelty. It’s context. Different environments create different opportunities for a message to be encountered in a way that makes sense.

• Connected TV (CTV) We extend your reach into premium, long-form, lean-back viewing environments like Hulu, Disney+, and YouTubeTV. As streaming habits continue to evolve, CTV allows brands to maintain presence within full-screen experiences that complement digital video and broader awareness efforts.
• Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) We move your messaging into physical space, aligned with geography, audience movement, and real-world context. As the channel matures programmatically, it offers scalable awareness in environments that feel distinct from screen-based clutter.
• Audio We reach audiences on platforms like Spotify and iHeart during commutes, workouts, and music streaming sessions where visual competition is absent. Audio ads can support frequency and incremental reach in moments that other channels can’t access as easily.

The objective isn’t to add channels for the sake of expansion. It’s to construct a mix intentionally. One that broadens where and how your message can realistically be encountered.

Many brands invest heavily in building audience engagement on social platforms. Follower growth, content interaction, and creative testing provide valuable signals about who is paying attention and what resonates.

Those signals shouldn’t stay confined to a single platform.

Our new social-inspired approach uses that existing engagement as a starting point for broader audience expansion across premium programmatic environments, including CTV, instream video, mobile web, and in-app placements. Rather than reinventing creative, we extend the visual language audiences already recognize into environments that offer scale and different forms of presence.

This approach offers another way to think about open web programmatic, particularly for consumer-facing brands focused on awareness and creative evolution.

Change is constant in programmatic. Disciplined buying should be, too. In 2026, we remain committed to transparency, attention, and stewardship as core responsibilities.