PubMatic and Butler/Till Launch First Fully Agentic AI Campaign Across Connected TV

PubMatic, a leading independent advertising technology company, and independent agency Butler/Till have teamed up to launch a fully autonomous agentic AI campaign across connected TV (CTV) – a first-of-its-kind deployment powered by the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP), an open industry standard for agent-to-system communication. The campaign, created for Clubtails from Geloso Beverage Group, showcases a new operational model that uses natural-language briefs to autonomously generate strategy, activate media, and optimize performance across premium CTV inventory.

Instead of traditional media planning workflows, Butler/Till submitted a campaign brief in natural language through Anthropic’s Claude generative AI platform. PubMatic’s agentic application interpreted that brief, built the media plan, initiated campaign setup, and will continue to optimize pacing, targeting, and performance – all with minimal human intervention.

This implementation represents a broader shift in how digital campaigns can be activated and managed, ushering in a new era of autonomous media buying and optimization. The campaign is delivering geo-targeted, premium CTV inventory with age-appropriate audience controls and contextually aligned creative – highlighting how AI agents can operate at scale in a live advertising environment.

What Makes This Campaign Unique

Agentic Execution

The PubMatic–Butler/Till campaign uses agentic AI – autonomous systems capable of interpreting briefs, generating strategy, executing campaign setup, and optimizing in real time. Unlike traditional programmatic campaigns that require manual workflows and multiple platform interfaces, this agent-driven model simplifies every step.

• Natural-Language Briefs: Campaigns can begin with a simple text instruction — removing much of the operational friction involved in media planning.
• Automated Setup & Optimization: The AI agents handle tasks that historically demanded specialized staff, from segment selection to pacing adjustments.
• Premium CTV Delivery: The campaign activates on high-quality CTV inventory, ensuring advertisers reach audiences in engaging streaming environments.

Also Read: Pinterest Moves into Connected TV with Strategic Acquisition of tvScientific

AdCP – The Backbone of Agentic Coordination

At the heart of the campaign’s technical design is the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) – an open specification designed to standardize communication between independent advertising agents and systems. Similar in spirit to how protocols like OpenRTB once standardized real-time bidding, AdCP enables AI agents to communicate directly with platforms, automate transactional workflows, and optimize campaigns without the traditional layer of human intermediaries.

By using AdCP, the campaign leverages a transparent API layer that unifies interpretation of briefs, media planning, and execution — creating the foundation for scalable, agentic advertising across CTV and potentially other programmatic channels.

Why This Matters to the B2B Marketing & Advertising Industry

This campaign isn’t just a technical milestone – it represents a strategic inflection point for how media is bought, activated, and optimized in the modern advertising ecosystem.

Operational Efficiency & Speed

For B2B marketers and agencies, lengthy production cycles, manual media planning tasks, and multi-platform coordination have long been bottlenecks. Agentic campaigns can dramatically reduce setup and optimization time by automating tasks that previously required specialized skills. Some industry examples have shown agentic systems reducing troubleshooting and setup work by significant margins.

You can automate tasks like audience segmentation, bid strategy changes, pacing algorithms, and reporting. This helps teams focus on creative strategies and business results. They can avoid repetitive technical tasks.

Precision & Contextual Relevance

Connected TV continues its rapid growth as a medium – with U.S. CTV ad spending projected to exceed tens of billions in 2025 — but B2B marketers have historically struggled to optimize CTV beyond awareness objectives. By combining agentic workflows with premium inventory and real-time optimization, campaigns can go beyond reach and frequency into performance-oriented outcomes that matter to business buyers.

These agents can adjust audience segments, creative deployment, and pacing strategies dynamically — increasing the relevance and effectiveness of campaigns in near real time.

Reimagining the Role of AI in Campaigns

This activation shows a change. AI is changing. It’s shifting from simply helping with suggestions or tasks to fully managing workflows on its own. For B2B agencies, this requires rethinking in-house skills. Teams must reskill to oversee these systems. They can’t manage every part of a campaign manually anymore.

Later stages of AI agent implementations could cover cross-media orchestration, predictive creative optimization, and automated budget reallocation – transforming both planning and execution functions.

Lowers Barriers for Smaller Agencies and Brands

Automation opns up access to advanced planning and optimization tools. Independent agencies, like Butler/Till, can now compete with larger firms. They can run AI-driven campaigns without high costs. This levels the playing field in a tough market. B2B brands and boutique agencies can now use programmatic strategies. These strategies were once only for big holding groups.

Wider Business Implications

Beyond the agency world, this development reflects larger trends in the advertising ecosystem:

• New industry standards: Protocols like AdCP might lay the groundwork for interoperable agentic AI advertising. This can improve integration among SSPs, DSPs, and third-party platforms.
• Shift to autonomous operations: Companies, such as consumer brands and B2B firms, can use AI workflows. These workflows help with marketing, analytics, and customer engagement on a larger scale.
• Focus on AI governance: As AI handles more campaign tasks, companies need clear guidelines. These should cover oversight, ethical use, interpretability, and accountability.

Conclusion

PubMatic and Butler/Till have launched a fully agentic AI campaign on connected TV. This marks an important moment for advertising. It shows a shift from manually setting up campaigns to using automation for activation, optimization, and performance. This creates new opportunities for B2B marketers and agencies. They can now focus on efficiency, precision, and scalability.

As AI agents develop and standards like AdCP appear, the line between strategy and execution may fade. This change lets businesses shift from daily tasks to strategic planning. It also opens up space for creative innovation in automated media buying.