What AI Agents Mean for Modern Media Buying
AI agents in media buying are autonomous software systems that plan, negotiate, book and optimise advertising across channels by translating campaign goals into detailed media actions, coordinating with other agents in real time and handling repetitive workflow steps so that human teams can focus on strategy and creative decisions. In out-of-home advertising AI, these agents draw on inventory data, audience signals and campaign constraints to choose locations, formats and budgets, while also managing creative approvals and execution. Unlike simple chatbots layered over existing tools, agentic systems are built to act on behalf of buyers and sellers, moving transactions forward without constant manual input. As they integrate with programmatic media planning platforms and sell-side AI automation, they begin to connect the full chain from brief to booking, which reduces friction and shortens time to launch.
Broadsign’s Sell-Side AI Agent: Automating Supply
Broadsign has introduced a sell-side AI agent that runs on its out-of-home platform, designed to help media owners manage and monetise their digital and static inventory with less manual work. The agent plugs into Broadsign’s existing OOH sell-side technology and data infrastructure, including screen-level audience indexes, dynamic creative and guaranteed in-advance buying. In the Lot of Happiness campaign, the system used the AdCP protocol to interpret incoming buy-side requests and match them to suitable premium OOH inventory from Global Netherlands. According to Broadsign, overlaying AI across its global supply “sets the stage for a paradigm shift that will transform the OOH business.” For sellers, this type of sell-side AI automation improves yield management, makes inventory easier to discover and supports omnichannel campaigns that require fast, data-driven trading across multiple digital channels.
Draft Digital’s Buy-Side Agent: Smarter Programmatic Media Planning
On the demand side, Draft Digital has developed a buy-side AI agent that automates key parts of programmatic media planning, from audience definition through campaign setup and booking. In the Lot of Happiness initiative, this agent translated the charity lottery’s goals into precise audience and venue targeting, selected suitable media, set up the campaign, coordinated the creative workflow and secured approvals before pushing activity live. Draft Digital notes that agentic advertising allows them to construct “true multichannel experiences” backed by first-party performance data and a cleaner ecosystem. For buyers, AI agents in media buying reduce time spent on spreadsheets, emails and repetitive trafficking tasks. They make it easier to run digital out-of-home alongside other digital channels, with consistent data and faster feedback loops that support ongoing optimisation of both media mix and creative assets.
The First Fully Agentic OOH Campaign in Action
Broadsign’s sell-side AI agent and Draft Digital’s buy-side agent jointly powered what they describe as the first fully agentic AI out-of-home campaign, run for Lot of Happiness on premium inventory from Global Netherlands. Agentic AI handled the buy from end to end, using the brand’s goals to drive targeting, media selection, campaign setup and execution, with human oversight and guardrails in place. Lot of Happiness, a growing charity lottery with around 100 000 participants and over €50-million donated to good causes, saw agentic DOOH as a way to gain efficiency without the large media budgets of bigger players. Global Netherlands highlighted that this collaboration shows digital out-of-home “can be planned, bought and activated with the same speed and data-driven precision as any digital channel,” while also making their inventory more accessible to omnichannel buyers.
End-to-End Efficiency: How Linked AI Agents Change Workflows
The partnership between Broadsign, Draft Digital and Global Netherlands highlights how linked sell-side and buy-side AI agents can streamline the entire media trading workflow. Instead of fragmented systems and manual emails between buyers and sellers, agents coordinate complex tasks in real time, from matching demand to supply through to booking and activation. Automation removes friction in media transactions, which frees marketing and sales teams to focus on strategy, creative testing and performance analysis rather than process administration. As more AI agents connect across the buying and selling ecosystem, they can support consistent programmatic media planning, unified measurement and smoother omnichannel activation. For out-of-home advertising AI in particular, this approach moves OOH closer to other digital channels in discoverability, planning ease and measurability, while opening new demand for media owners who adopt agentic trading early.
