Optable's AI Agent Aims to Fix Broken Ad Planning for Publishers

MONTREAL, QC – January 05, 2026 – Ad technology firm Optable has launched a new artificial intelligence solution aimed at overhauling one of the most notoriously slow and manual processes in digital media: publisher ad planning. The company announced the general availability of its Planner Agent, a tool designed to reduce the time it takes to respond to advertiser proposals from weeks to mere hours, promising a dramatic efficiency boost for overworked media operations teams.

The new solution enters a market where publishers are under constant pressure to maximize revenue while navigating an increasingly complex technological landscape. By automating the laborious steps of ad campaign planning, Optable is betting that AI can solve a long-standing industry bottleneck.

Tackling a Broken Workflow

For years, publishers have described their ad planning process as fragmented and inefficient. The typical workflow involves juggling disconnected spreadsheets, a deluge of emails, and multiple internal systems to respond to a single advertiser Request for Proposal (RFP). This manual coordination between sales, ad operations, and data teams frequently creates bottlenecks, invites human error, and can lead to lost revenue as nimble competitors respond faster.

"Publishers have been telling us for years that ad planning is broken—it's too slow, too manual, and too dependent on heroic efforts from overworked teams," said Bosko Milekic, Chief Product Officer at Optable, in the company's announcement.

Optable's Planner Agent is designed to ingest and interpret RFPs directly, understand campaign goals, and then automatically build audience segments using a publisher's valuable first-party data, often enriched with third-party signals. It then proposes inventory packages and, upon approval, can activate the campaigns in the publisher's ad server or supply-side platform (SSP). Industry analysis confirms this is a critical pain point, with reports from firms like McKinsey & Company suggesting that AI-driven automation can increase revenue by 2-5% simply by optimizing such processes.

The Promise of Agentic AI and Open Standards

Beyond immediate efficiency gains, Optable's strategy hinges on two forward-looking concepts: agentic AI and open standards. The Planner Agent is described as an "agentic solution," meaning it's an AI system capable of autonomously performing complex tasks and interacting with other systems on behalf of a user. The vision is a future where AI agents representing buyers and sellers can negotiate and orchestrate ad campaigns with minimal human intervention.

Critically, the platform is built on open protocols, including the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP). AdCP, launched in late 2025 by a consortium including Optable, Yahoo, and PubMatic, provides a common language for advertising agents to exchange structured data about audiences, inventory, and campaign goals. This open-source approach is a deliberate move to foster an interoperable ecosystem, standing in contrast to the proprietary, "walled garden" AI tools offered by tech giants like Google and Adobe.

"The advertising industry is at an inflection point where agentic systems will fundamentally reshape how buyers and sellers interact," commented David Olesnevich, Head of Product VP of Weather Data and Advertising Products at The Weather Company. "That's precisely why we've been strong supporters of...the Ad Context Protocol—open standards are essential to ensuring this transformation benefits the entire ecosystem, not just a handful of walled gardens."

This push for open standards is not without competition. The IAB Tech Lab, the industry's primary standards-setting body, has introduced its own Agentic RTB Framework (ARTF) and is backing the User Context Protocol (UCP) donated by LiveRamp. This signals a dynamic, and potentially fragmented, race to define the foundational rules for the next generation of programmatic advertising, with Optable planting its flag firmly in the camp of cross-platform interoperability.

Empowering Publishers with Control and Efficiency

For publishers, the immediate appeal of a tool like Planner Agent lies in its potential to increase proposal throughput without adding headcount. Early partners are optimistic about its impact.

“Hearst has long monetized first-party data at scale, but the next frontier is operational speed and intelligent automation,” said Jessica Hogue, Chief Data Officer, Consumer Media at Hearst. “Planner Agent is an exciting development in the market that seeks to connect systems and agents to automate key planning and activation steps.”

Charlie Morris, VP of Partnerships & Data Strategy at ad management firm Mediavine, echoed this sentiment, adding, "Ad planning has needed a smarter approach for a while, and Planner Agent delivers... Most importantly, it keeps humans in control."

This "human-in-the-loop" control is a cornerstone of Optable's design and a critical factor for responsible AI adoption in advertising. While the AI automates the heavy lifting of data analysis and segment creation, the final recommendations are presented to a human for review and approval. This oversight is essential for factoring in nuanced business rules, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR, and upholding brand safety standards—tasks where human judgment remains irreplaceable.

The industry is acutely aware of the risks of unmonitored AI, from perpetuating biases hidden in training data to creating "hallucinations" or off-brand content. Regulatory bodies are also taking notice, with frameworks like the EU AI Act imposing stringent requirements on high-risk systems. By designing its agent with mandatory human checkpoints, Optable is aligning with an emerging consensus that AI should amplify human expertise, not replace it. This approach allows publishers to leverage the power of automation to better monetize their first-party data and compete more effectively, while still maintaining ultimate command over their operations and partner relationships. As the ecosystem evolves, this blend of machine speed and human wisdom may prove to be the most viable path forward for a more intelligent and accountable advertising industry.