WPP Media has announced an Agentic Standards Initiative for Video Buying in collaboration with major media companies, technology platforms, and industry standards bodies, as the advertising industry prepares for the growing use of AI-powered agents in media transactions.
The initiative aims to establish shared standards for agentic video buying, initially focusing on linear television, connected TV, and premium video advertising, where high-value investments and complex transaction processes require strong governance, transparency, and interoperability.
As part of the initiative, WPP Media is developing a Buyer Agent for Video within WPP Open, the company’s agentic marketing platform. The buyer agent will operate through an Agentic Activation Orchestration Layer designed to coordinate interactions between human decision-makers, AI agents, data, tools, approval systems, and partner platforms.
Participating partners include Comcast Advertising and its adtech platform FreeWheel, Disney Advertising, Fox Advertising, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, IAB Tech Lab, and Prebid.org.
According to WPP Media, the partners will jointly develop and test technical, workflow, and governance standards governing how buyer and seller agents communicate, validate decisions, support media transactions, and escalate issues when required.
“Two decades ago, the move to programmatic marked a fundamental change in how media was bought and sold. We expect agentic media to have an even bigger impact on our industry in the months and years ahead,” said Brian Lesser, CEO, WPP Media.
“The companies that lead this next era will be the ones that combine intelligence, interoperability, and governance to define how media decisions are made. That’s what we are building with our partners: a trusted buyer-agent strategy designed to operate in our clients’ interests, maximize the value of their media investments, deepen consumer relationships, and translate intelligence into growth.”
James Rooke, President of Comcast Advertising, said the initiative would help create a scalable framework for the industry’s AI-driven future.
“Against the backdrop of uncertainty that comes from the emergence of any new technology wave, it’s critical the industry focuses its efforts on architecting the right, scalable blueprint for an agentic future that delivers for marketers,” Rooke said.
WPP Media said that while many companies are introducing AI agents to automate aspects of media buying and selling, the absence of common standards could lead to fragmentation, inconsistent decision-making, opaque processes, and inadequate controls around campaign activation.
The initiative seeks to address those risks by creating common workflows, validation procedures, audit mechanisms, and transparency measures, while ensuring human oversight for major financial and activation decisions.
“The future of media buying isn’t just automated – it’s intelligent, interoperable, and outcome-driven,” said Jamie Power, Senior Vice President, Addressable Sales, Disney Advertising.
“The real opportunity is giving buyer and seller agents a common foundation to make better decisions, faster, while preserving the trust and accountability premium advertising demands.”
Industry bodies also welcomed the move.
“IAB Tech Lab is delighted to work with WPP Media to establish new technical standards and enhance existing ones that will define how agentic advertising scales across the industry,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab.
Mike Racic, President of Prebid.org, said: “As agentic technologies reshape digital advertising, the industry has a unique opportunity to build a more transparent, interoperable, and efficient ecosystem.”
WPP Media said the initiative builds on WPP’s existing AI governance framework, including restrictions on the use of client data, role-based access controls, workspace isolation, continuous monitoring, and verification systems.
The company said advertisers are expected to benefit through faster access to premium video inventory, improved use of data and intelligence in campaign activation, reduced fragmentation across platforms, stronger financial controls, greater transparency, and safer testing of agentic buying systems.
Initial testing with partners has already begun. WPP Media expects to move from alpha and beta testing to a model capable of supporting large-scale TV and video investments within the next six to nine months and plans to share findings and proposed standards with the wider industry in early 2027.
