Some of the TV advertising that agencies buy for brands is now negotiated between AI agents. On October 15, 2026, Fox Advertising said that WPP, Omnicom, Horizon Media, Stagwell and Simulmedia were completing live linear TV transactions agent to agent on its platform. When a requested slot is unavailable, Fox's agent proposes other inventory aimed at the same audience. A day earlier, LG Ad Solutions opened the ad space on its smart TV home screen to agent buying through Magnite, and the independent agency H/L became the first buyer to use it, for the Northern California Toyota Dealers Association, PPC Land reported. On October 6, Carat and NBCUniversal launched custom agents, built with FreeWheel and Newton, that plan and optimize a brand's upfront TV commitments, starting with a Carat client in luxury retail.
The companies say people still make the calls that matter. Fox said its own teams and the agencies "maintain control over key decisions," and Carat said human expertise stays "at the center of strategy and activation." The rules for these trades are still being drafted. IAB Tech Lab, the advertising industry's standards body, has extended public comment on OpenProposal, its draft standard for how buying and selling agents describe an ad deal to each other, to November 10, 2026.
Inside marketing teams, agents are already routine. In a Basis survey of 184 marketing and advertising professionals, published in October 2026, 51.1% of marketing organizations use AI agents, a 155.5% increase on the year before by Basis's count. Those agents most often run reporting and analytics (72.3%) and draft campaign briefs (56.4%). Only 6.5% of organizations evaluate their AI investments against defined metrics and benchmarks, and 65.1% of respondents either don't measure AI's return at all or don't know whether anyone at their company does. Basis sells software for planning and buying advertising.
An agent is easiest to judge when someone writes down, before it starts, the number it has to beat. For a media-buying agent, that number is the price of reaching the audience you want, set against the buys your agency places the usual way. For a reporting agent, it is the time the weekly report used to take. Agreed in advance, the number shows whether a faster process also produced a better result.
If your agency buys TV for you, ask it to show agent-placed orders separately in its next report, priced against the same audience bought the usual way, so the first agent buys arrive with their own benchmark.
Common questions
Are AI agents buying TV ads yet?
Yes. On October 15, 2026, Fox Advertising said WPP, Omnicom, Horizon Media, Stagwell and Simulmedia were completing live linear TV transactions agent to agent. LG Ad Solutions opened its smart TV home screen to agent buying through Magnite on October 14, and Carat and NBCUniversal launched agents for upfront TV buys on October 6.
Do people still approve agent-placed ad buys?
The companies involved say people stay in charge. Fox said its own teams and the agencies "maintain control over key decisions," and that its platform runs a governance engine that monitors agent activity for compliance. Carat said human expertise stays "at the center of strategy and activation."
How many marketing teams use AI agents?
In a Basis survey of 184 marketing and advertising professionals, published in October 2026, 51.1% of marketing organizations use AI agents, which Basis counts as a 155.5% increase on the year before. The agents most often run reporting and analytics and draft campaign briefs.
How many marketing teams measure AI against a benchmark?
Basis found that 6.5% of organizations evaluate their AI investments against defined metrics and benchmarks. In the same survey, 65.1% of respondents either don't measure AI's return at all or don't know whether anyone at their company does.