By Justin Pearse, Editor-in-Chief, New Digital Age
Artificial intelligence is no longer a theoretical promise, it is real, it is here, and it is reshaping how advertisers approach everything. This is not a story of cold, clinical automation. When utilised to its best capabilities, AI is an enabler of more responsible and human-centred advertising, allowing teams to make smarter media investments in a complex, fragmented landscape, where every pound must drive real, accountable returns.
AI is the critical driver behind three core pillars every advertiser demands: accurate measurement, intelligent optimisation, and rigorous proof of media effectiveness.
Forget the funnel
Indeed, AI is dissolving one of advertising’s longest-standing frameworks: the funnel. While a useful visual model, the technology helps stitch together the entire customer journey into a single, measurable narrative and bridge the perceived gap between branding and performance campaigns, because ultimately, all advertising should drive outcomes.
In an environment where consumers live across multiple devices and channels, with endless content and distraction, advertisers need to replace assumptions and proxies with data-driven precision. The future is based on integrating all these signals into dynamic optimisation engines – those that understand which media is actually driving conversions and not just impressions. That’s where AI comes in.
Programmatic’s AI-led shift
AI in media buying, and digital advertising more broadly, has often been criticised as a ‘black box’: systems where inputs and decision-making processes are largely hidden from view. In many cases, particularly with standard algorithms offered via DSPs, this remains true. These models typically chase proxy metrics with limited transparency.
Historically, advertisers have accepted this trade-off, sacrificing control for performance, under the belief that AI optimisation requires deep in-house expertise. But that’s no longer the case.
Advances in AI now enable far more customisation, transparency and precision. Custom algorithms, like those enabled through DV’s acquisition of Scibids, allow advertisers to make real-time media decisions based on a wide range of signals, including conversion data provided by Rockerbox, another DV acquisition.
This evolution gives advertisers control over campaigns aligned to their own KPIs, lifting the veil on AI and ushering in a new era of smarter, more efficient media buying.
Customisable AI
For big brands, this represents one of the most significant shifts in the digital media marketplace yet. Having proven that AI-powered programmatic can be cost-efficient, they are now leveraging AI to optimise attention, improve lead quality and drive ROI. A growing number are incorporating predictive modelling to forecast lead quality and optimise budget allocation accordingly.
Having revolutionised the media planning and buying process, AI is now powering performance for advertisers. In 2025, under pressure, marketers require tech solutions to be efficient, scalable, and impactful: nothing less will do.
DoubleVerify is a client of Bluestripe Group, publisher of New Digital Age.
