It’s no secret that the advertising landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. As programmatic buying extends into new environments, brands face the challenge of an ever-changing ecosystem and the expectation to keep up. Whether it’s navigating a complex mix of systemic regulatory shifts, evolving media channels, or technological breakthroughs like artificial intelligence – the next era of programmatic is well and truly here.
At the recent Programmatic Pioneers conference, NDA sat down with Phil Acton, Country Manager, UK, and James Urquhart, Senior Director of Sales, at Adform UK, to discuss what the future of the industry looks like, including how specific factors are reshaping where budgets are deployed, measurement across programmatic media and, of course, agentic AI.
The shifting dynamics of digital out of home
One of the most immediate catalysts for change in the UK is the impact of LHF (Less Healthy Foods) advertising regulations. These restrictions have fundamentally changed traditional media plans, prompting a redistribution of capital across alternative marketing channels.
“The changes in the UK regulation towards HFSS mean that advertisers’ traditional TV spend is now flowing toward alternative channels, such as DOOH,” James Urquhart said. This migration is driven by the reality that brands still require robust avenues to capture broad audience attention, and DOOH remains a powerful medium to deliver that reach and awareness that clients need.”
The influx of programmatic spend into physical environments is also expanding what it actually means to look at a screen.
Addressable, programmatic displays are no longer confined to roadside billboards; they’re proliferating into residential buildings, gyms, pubs, and airports. This enables marketers to engage consumers in highly specific, context-driven circumstances, catching them in the moments that matter most, whether they are working out or traveling.
The creative renaissance and the omni-channel approach
With screens spreading into diverse physical spaces alongside standard mobile, desktop, and Connected TV (CTV) environments, the industry is seeing a renewed focus on creative execution. Rather than treating different media as isolated silos, the modern programmatic approach emphasises cross-channel synergy.
“The potency of more of the channels working in harmony and in combination to deliver the client all of their campaign objectives is creating more impactful campaigns,” Urquhart explained. When creative assets are thoughtfully tailored to the strengths of each distinct format, they work harder across the entire purchase funnel.
Phil Acton echoed this sentiment, suggesting that programmatic advertising is experiencing a “real renaissance” in creativity. While web display ads frequently battle consumer fatigue, television formats enjoy a fundamentally different level of audience acceptance.
Acton pointed out that viewers naturally accept the medium’s format, noting that “when they’re watching CTV and an ad comes on, it’s natural in that context; no one minds TV ads”.
This inherent engagement extends to digital out of home screens, which provide a far less intrusive experience than standard online banners. Consequently, this opens the door for sophisticated sequential storytelling, where a consumer might see an elegant brand piece on their television set and later receive a coordinated, relevant follow-up on their mobile device.
Fragmentation and the role of agentic AI
Despite these creative milestones, infrastructural challenges persist, particularly around data uniformity. As retail media networks and closed platforms continue to multiply, the ecosystem risks becoming increasingly siloed.
Acton said that measurement remains highly fragmented across the industry. When brands manage campaigns across multiple distinct retailers, they find themselves dealing with “mini walled gardens, meaning that they have to try and stitch that sales data together.” This data isolation continues to be a huge operational hurdle for brands.
Looking ahead, the integration of agentic AI is a pivotal mechanism for democratising data access and streamlining fragmented processes.
Adform’s own initiatives to host its platform on a Media Core Platform (MCP) server reflect this push, making advanced data accessible to a broader set of internal stakeholders, such as CMOs, without the need to master complex trading interfaces.
Rather than threatening the roles of traders, the emergence of agentic AI is poised to change the game for them. “It actually frees up their time to become more strategic,” Acton concluded, shifting the workforce away from manual spreadsheet management and allowing teams to focus on higher-level campaign orchestration.
