Agentic Ad Tech in Retail Media: Evolution or Revolution?
Agentic ad tech refers to goal-driven AI agents that act autonomously across ad systems to plan, execute and adapt campaigns. The marketing and ad tech community is debating whether agentic systems will replace programmatic foundations or extend them. For retail media professionals the question is practical: will this require rebuilding platforms or layering new capabilities on top of what already exists?
Understanding the Agentic Landscape
Key Protocols and the Definition Debate
Multiple industry efforts are racing to define how agentic systems should interact with ad infrastructure. Notable protocols include the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP), IAB Tech Lab’s ARTF and model frameworks like Googles A2A for agent interoperability. These initiatives aim to standardize responsibilities, data flows and safety controls so different agentic tools can work together across retailers, brands and vendors. The debate is still active: some see agentic as a new runtime that needs fresh standards, others view it as a set of capabilities that can fold into existing specs.
Integration vs. Reinvention for Retail Media
The Pragmatic Path Forward
The dominant view among practitioners and standards bodies favors a pragmatic, build-on-top approach. Voices like Anthony Katsur have compared agentic upgrades to remodeling a kitchen: add smarter appliances rather than demolish the house. Thomas From and others stress interoperability and incremental change. For retail media platforms that means adding agentic modules for tasks such as live audience orchestration, dynamic placement decisions and programmatic creative assembly. These agents will rely on existing programmatic plumbing, measurement and commerce signals while introducing automated decision layers.
The Path to Scale for Retail Media
Agentic ad tech is moving from proofs of concept to commercial pilots, but large-scale adoption will depend on four factors: interoperable protocols, reliable data access, clear measurement and governance for agent behavior. Retailers and brands will likely adopt agentic features gradually, privileging use cases that reduce manual work and improve targeting and ROI reporting. The near-term outcome is evolutionary: platforms will incorporate agentic capabilities that work within programmatic and commerce ecosystems rather than replace them. Over time these capabilities will shift how campaigns are planned and executed, but the foundation of retail media is set to remain intact while its capabilities become more autonomous.
