eMarketer predicts that generative AI (GenAI) will become standard in programmatic advertising by 2026, automating bidding, targeting, creative generation, and measurement. The report anticipates that agentic AI will follow, automating end-to-end campaign workflows, with new protocols like UCP, AdCP, and ARTF accelerating adoption. Marketers are advised to prioritize data integration, AI literacy, and a shift to live feedback systems for measurement.
The immediate implication is that manual programmatic buying is losing ground as GenAI takes over bidding, targeting, creative, and measurement. That matters for the broader ad-tech stack because eMarketer says agentic AI will then move beyond single tasks into end-to-end campaign workflows, aided by UCP, AdCP, and ARTF. The main constraint is trust: 60% of US ad industry professionals still cite accuracy and transparency as a top AI adoption barrier. Watch whether more teams shift performance reporting and customer journey operations to agentic AI first, since those are the two most common uses cited in the article.
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