Want AI Agents That Work? You've Gotta Do The 'Unsexy' Stuff First

The biggest obstacle to AI transformation may not be disorganized data but the messy workflows around it, says Rebecca Sykes, a partner at The Brandtech Group, where she leads the emerging tech practice.

What if AI companies had to pay publishers every time they used their content? Cloudflare's Lara Cohen explains the new playbook for dealing with AI bots, from blocking them to billing them.

Most publishers add SSPs like insurance. More partners means more demand and more demand means more competition for every impression. But at The New York Times, every ad tech partner has to earn its place in the stack, says Courtney Glaze, its VP of revenue operations.

Everyone in Adland wants to show off their shiny new AI agent. But you can't do the cool stuff unless you build the data foundation first, says Tinuiti CEO Abbey Klaassen.

Creator marketing and influencer relationships are a top priority for marketers, but both are still behind other digital channels when it to scale, proper reporting and transparency. That's starting to change, though, says Jennifer Quigley-Jones, the founder of Digital Voices and VP of strategy and partnerships at PMG.

In the AI era, according to Tim Frank, the man in charge of AI monetization at Microsoft, "information is the new bid." In other words, the brands that get recommended won't necessarily be the ones with the biggest ad budgets, he says, but rather those with the most clear, complete and transparent product data.

With AI eating everyone's traffic, publishers could use a sympathetic ear. AdTech Therapy's Jana Meron and Scott Messer talk through the sell side's biggest challenges and break down what Google avoiding an ad tech breakup means for media owners.

Creator marketing is the talk of the town, but how do you prove it genuinely drives sales? Emily Steele, co-founder and CEO of creator platform Hummingbirds, breaks it down.

Agentic AI just ran a CTV campaign end-to-end through a new, agent-driven buying workflow with far less manual optimization and a lot less waste. Butler/Till's Scott Ensign explains what that means for the future of programmatic.

Thousands of advertisers are taking Google to arbitration over alleged ad overpayments. Attorney Ashley Keller of Keller Postman explains the legal strategy and what a positive outcome could mean for claimants.