Sign in Subscribe
AI

AdCP is the tail wagging the dog, says industry veteran

Industry leader warns Ad Context Protocol launch misses opportunity to fix programmatic advertising's structural problems before building new AI systems.

Luis Rijo

• 10 min read
AdCP
AdCP

The advertising technology industry received a stark warning on October 15, 2025, when a prominent executive cautioned that the newly announced Ad Context Protocol represents a premature focus on automation tools before addressing fundamental structural issues plaguing digital advertising. David Kohl, Growth & Transformation Leader, posted his assessment on LinkedIn shortly after the protocol's introduction, arguing that rushing to build agentic advertising infrastructure without clear goals risks repeating the mistakes that created today's dysfunctional programmatic supply chain.

"With all due respect, AdCP is the tail wagging the dog," Kohl wrote. The protocol emerged from a coalition including Scope3, Yahoo, PubMatic, Swivel, Triton Digital, and Optable on October 15, built on Anthropic's Model Context Protocol. According to the announcement, AdCP provides a unified communication layer for managing campaigns across different ad tech systems without requiring custom integration work for each platform.

Kohl drew a direct connection between the protocol launch and the programmatic advertising ecosystem's troubled history. "The programmatic supply chain we live with today became a tangled mess because it evolved without foresight or a master plan," he stated. "Early innovation turned into an ecosystem cobbled together by adtech intermediaries more focused on profits than the needs of advertisers or publishers."

The criticism reflects long-standing transparency concerns that have plagued programmatic advertising for years. A 2023 study by the Association of National Advertisers found that only 36% of post-transaction programmatic budgets are allocated to valid, viewable, measurable, and non-MFA impressions. The research underscored substantial advantages awaiting marketers who transition their partnerships to transparency frameworks.

Kohl acknowledged the protocol's potential value while emphasizing the need for clear objectives before implementation. "Agentic advertising holds tremendous promise, but we must not repeat the sins of the past by plowing ahead with protocol without being clear about the goals for which we must architect," he wrote. His analysis specified that agentic advertising should deliver "awareness, affinity and outcomes with transparency and a far higher share of working media value for every media dollar spent."

Follow PPC Land

Follow on Google, Google News, X, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Bluesky, or via RSS

The executive raised specific concerns about security and fraud prevention. "Lest ye forget fraud -- the next generation of agentic automation must bake in stronger security and authentication from the start," Kohl noted. This warning gains significance against the backdrop of ongoing transaction identifier disputes that eliminated buyers' ability to identify duplicate bid requests across different supply-side platforms on August 27, 2025, as reported by PPC Land.

Industry observers have questioned whether the sector needs another protocol when existing standards remain underutilized. Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab, told The Current: "What we don't need is another industry trade group." He noted that IAB Tech Lab operates open-source structures where anyone can work, including Ads.Cert. "We already have solved some of the problems that this AdCP initiative is trying to," Katsur said.

The protocol's introduction occurs amid significant shifts in programmatic infrastructure. The Trade Desk launched OpenAds on October 2, 2025, as a response to transaction ID changes, attempting to maintain transparency despite modifications to industry-standard identifiers. CEO Jeff Green described it as necessary to preserve fair auction mechanics.

Kohl predicted potential market consolidation as a consequence of protocol proliferation without clear goals. "Because there will be winners and losers in the shift from today's automation to tomorrow's, throwing out a mediation protocol and counting on FOMO to drive adoption might get attention, but without clarity and agreement on goals, it's easy to predict a future that rewards the largest and fastest tech platforms before the marketers and publishers this ecosystem is meant to serve."

Advertise on ppc land

Buy ads on PPC Land. PPC Land has standard and native ad formats via major DSPs and ad platforms like Google Ads. Via an auction CPM, you can reach industry professionals.

Learn more

The criticism received support from industry participants in the LinkedIn comments. Mike Scafidi, EVP and Chief Digital & Growth Officer, expressed agreement with Kohl's assessment. Alessandro De Zanche, an independent consultant specializing in audience and advertising, also endorsed the perspective. Ken Brook, founder of AdPrompt.Ai, AdChain.com, and AdToken.com, indicated support for the analysis as well.

Kohl offered measured support for the protocol while maintaining his critique of its timing and approach. "AdCP is the kick in the ass we need to wrap our heads around the potential of agentic advertising," he wrote. He credited Brian O'Kelley, along with Yahoo, PubMatic, Scope3, Optable, and Triton Digital "for getting us past the cold start and sparking the call to action."

The executive called for industry leadership to establish shared goals before widespread protocol adoption. "While we're playing with protocol, a critical mass of our industry's leadership must lean in to establish shared goals, a structured approach to innovation, and measurable success metrics," Kohl stated. He advocated for deliberate progress: "With the vision for the touchdown sufficient clear in our heads, we can then move the ball downfield ten yards at a time, with deliberate, sustained momentum. AdCP will certainly be in the playbook."

Technical implementation of AdCP covers three distinct phases, according to the protocol documentation. During discovery, users describe target audiences in natural language rather than navigating platform-specific targeting interfaces. The comparison phase presents pricing, reach, and targeting capabilities in consistent data structures. Activation launches campaigns across selected platforms through single commands while maintaining platform-specific optimizations.

The protocol provides nine core tasks covering the complete advertising lifecycle. The get_products function discovers advertising inventory using natural language campaign briefs. The create_media_buy function launches campaigns with budget allocation, timing parameters, and promoted offering specifications. Response times vary based on operation complexity, with format listings completing within approximately one second through database lookups while product discovery requires around 60 seconds for inference and retrieval-augmented generation processing.

Industry adoption of Model Context Protocol technology has accelerated across advertising platforms throughout 2025. Google released an open-source MCP server for its Ads API on October 7, 2025, enabling AI applications to query advertising campaigns through natural language. Microsoft launched its Clarity MCP server on June 4, 2025, for web analytics queries. Google Analytics released its MCP server on July 22, 2025, while AppsFlyer introduced its MCP tool on July 17, 2025, for mobile marketing measurement.

The programmatic advertising ecosystem has experienced mounting regulatory pressure throughout 2025. Senator Mike Lee reintroduced the AMERICA Act on March 13, 2025, targeting conflicts of interest in the $700 billion advertising ecosystem. The legislation would prohibit companies with more than $20 billion in annual digital advertising revenue from simultaneously operating multiple supply chain layers.

The Media Rating Council released a draft document in September 2025 outlining comprehensive transparency requirements for digital advertising auctions across multiple channels, including display, text, video, audio, search, social, retail media, streaming connected TV, and addressable television. The standards emerged from a collaborative project initiated by Omnicom, with backing from the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers.

Agentic AI capabilities have emerged as a major technology trend throughout 2025. LiveRamp introduced agentic orchestration capabilities on October 1, enabling autonomous AI agents to access identity resolution, segmentation and measurement tools. Adobe launched its Experience Platform Agent Orchestrator on September 10 for managing agents across Adobe and third-party ecosystems.

Industry analysis suggests agentic AI could fundamentally alter programmatic advertising infrastructure. A July 21, 2025 assessment by Ari Paparo, founder and CEO of Marketecture Media, argued that autonomous AI systems could automate campaign setup, targeting, and optimization functions currently handled by demand-side platforms. The modern DSP represents "one of the most complex categories of software ever invented," according to Paparo, but technological shifts threaten this established model through AI-driven alternatives.

Concerns about transparency in agentic systems have emerged alongside development efforts. Augustine Fou, a fraud researcher and marketing consultant, cautioned that agentic AI does not eliminate bad actors in the supply chain. "More automation means less transparency," Fou told The Current. Agents can still act on behalf of people with bad incentives, he noted.

The protocol launch drew mixed reactions from publishers and media buyers. Joe Root, co-founder of Permutive, expressed concerns that AdCP could distract from foundational performance issues. "If the product doesn't compete on incremental outcomes, it doesn't matter," Root told The Current. "AdCP runs the risk of publishers jumping to create agents when they haven't fixed the foundational problem."

According to Root's conversations with publishers, no companies are forecasting transacting a single dollar against AdCP at present. He characterized the protocol as primarily allowing the industry "to congregate and get the ball rolling" at this stage. However, Ben Kahan, senior director of programmatic at the media agency Brainlabs, defended the standardization effort. "The industry goes through eras, and now we seem to be entering an agentic era. But everything is siloed or fragmented. There hasn't yet been a push for standardization across any of it," Kahan told The Current.

The marketing community faces critical decisions about infrastructure investment timing. Kohl's analysis suggests that protocol adoption without clear goals creates predictable outcomes favoring large platforms over advertisers and publishers. His call for shared goals, structured innovation approaches, and measurable success metrics represents an alternative path that prioritizes ecosystem health over rapid technology deployment.

Microsoft's decision to sunset Microsoft Invest (formerly Xandr, originally AppNexus) effective February 28, 2026, removes one of the industry's most transparent DSP options from the market. Microsoft Advertising Corporate Vice President Kya Sainsbury-Carter cited incompatibility between traditional DSP models and the company's vision for "conversational, personalized, and agentic" advertising futures.

The Trade Desk's OpenPath program has demonstrated publisher revenue improvements that validate transparency-focused approaches. Publishers adopting OpenPath have shown significant revenue gains, with The New York Post reporting a 97% boost in programmatic display revenue and Hearst Newspapers achieving a 4x improvement in fill rates. According to The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green, "OpenPath volume has grown many hundreds of percentage points this year alone."

Financial markets have begun recognizing programmatic advertising's mainstream importance despite ongoing transparency challenges. The Trade Desk's inclusion in the S&P 500 index on July 18, 2025, demonstrates the sector's financial significance. The company processed $12 billion in gross spend through its platform in fiscal year 2024 while maintaining customer retention rates exceeding 95%.

Kohl's LinkedIn post gained traction among industry professionals, generating reactions from 26 people including Anthony Katsur and 25 others. Three comments engaged with the analysis, reflecting ongoing debate about the appropriate timing and structure for agentic advertising standards. The discussion highlights fundamental questions about whether the advertising technology sector will learn from past mistakes or repeat them in new forms.

The programmatic advertising industry now faces a choice between two paths: adopting new protocols rapidly in hopes of capturing market share, or pausing to establish clear goals and success metrics before committing to specific technical implementations. Kohl's intervention argues for the latter approach, warning that protocol-first development creates predictable winners and losers rather than optimal outcomes for the ecosystem as a whole.

PPC Land Newsletter

Subscribe PPC Land newsletter ✉️ for similar stories like this one

Subscribe

Timeline

Summary

Who: David Kohl, Growth & Transformation Leader, posted a critical analysis on LinkedIn that received support from Mike Scafidi (EVP, Chief Digital & Growth Officer), Alessandro De Zanche (independent consultant), and Ken Brook (founder of AdPrompt.Ai). The Ad Context Protocol was developed by a coalition including Scope3, Yahoo, PubMatic, Swivel, Triton Digital, and Optable. Industry figures including Anthony Katsur (CEO of IAB Tech Lab), Joe Root (co-founder of Permutive), Ben Kahan (senior director of programmatic at Brainlabs), and Augustine Fou (fraud researcher) provided commentary on the protocol.

What: Kohl warned that the Ad Context Protocol launch on October 15, 2025, represents a premature focus on automation tools before addressing fundamental structural issues in programmatic advertising. He argued that building agentic advertising infrastructure without clear goals risks repeating mistakes that created today's dysfunctional supply chain. The protocol, built on Anthropic's Model Context Protocol, provides a unified communication layer for managing campaigns across different ad tech systems. Kohl called for industry leadership to establish shared goals, structured innovation approaches, and measurable success metrics before widespread protocol adoption.

When: The Ad Context Protocol was announced on October 15, 2025, with Kohl posting his criticism the same day. The protocol emerged during a period of significant programmatic infrastructure changes, including the elimination of cross-exchange transaction ID functionality on August 27, 2025, The Trade Desk's OpenAds launch on October 2, 2025, and Google's release of an open-source MCP server for its Ads API on October 7, 2025.

Where: The criticism appeared on LinkedIn and received widespread attention within the digital advertising community. The protocol affects programmatic advertising globally, impacting buyers, sellers, and technology providers across multiple advertising platforms including Google Ad Manager, connected television platforms, and digital out-of-home systems.

Why: Kohl argued that the programmatic supply chain evolved "without foresight or a master plan," creating an ecosystem where intermediaries prioritized profits over advertiser and publisher needs. He warned that rushing to adopt new protocols without clear goals creates predictable outcomes favoring large platforms over advertisers and publishers. The criticism matters because transparency issues have resulted in only 36% of post-transaction programmatic budgets reaching valid, viewable, measurable impressions, according to 2023 research. Industry participants debate whether to adopt new automation standards rapidly or establish clear objectives first, with implications for how the next generation of advertising technology will function.