Spain's First Agentic AI Ad Campaign Delivers a Wake-Up Call for Europe

MADRID, SPAIN – June 09, 2026 – While the advertising industry has been buzzing with the promise of artificial intelligence, a recent campaign in Spain has shifted the conversation from theoretical potential to tangible reality. Ad tech firm PubMatic, in partnership with global agency Havas Media Network, has successfully executed Spain's first fully agentic advertising campaign for telecom giant Telefónica’s Movistar brand on Connected TV (CTV). The results are not just promising; they are a clear signal of a fundamental transformation in media buying, delivering an 18% lower cost-per-mille (CPM) and 23% more impressions than targeted.

This initiative marks a pivotal moment, moving beyond pilots and experiments to demonstrate that autonomous AI agents can manage complex, high-stakes advertising campaigns with a level of efficiency and transparency that outperforms traditional programmatic methods. It suggests the era of AI as a mere assistant is over; the era of AI as an autonomous operator has begun.

The AI Revolution in Action: Deconstructing AgenticOS

At the heart of this breakthrough is PubMatic's AgenticOS, a proprietary AI operating system that represents a significant leap from the predictive and generative AI tools that have dominated the market. Unlike systems that simply offer recommendations or automate single tasks, agentic AI involves autonomous systems capable of planning, executing, and optimizing complex workflows with minimal human intervention.

For the Movistar campaign, the process began with Havas providing a campaign brief in natural language. AgenticOS, leveraging the Claude Large Language Model (LLM), interpreted these instructions and converted them into a fully operational programmatic strategy. From there, a team of over 20 specialized AI agents took over. These agents autonomously selected premium CTV inventory, applied sophisticated brand safety parameters, managed frequency capping to avoid ad fatigue, and optimized bids in real-time. The entire setup process, which traditionally can take days of manual work, was reduced by up to 80%, enabling deployment in mere minutes.

This automation fundamentally redefines the role of the human media buyer. “This campaign with Movistar is a clear example of how agentic AI can transform the way we plan and activate media in CTV,” said Germán Becker, Digital Transformation Manager at Havas Media Network. He emphasized that the platform’s ability to streamline execution across disparate data sources and platforms allowed his team to “dedicate more time to strategy and client partnerships.” This shift from tactical, repetitive tasks to high-value strategic thinking is the core value proposition of agentic technology.

A New Benchmark in Europe’s Booming CTV Market

The campaign's success is amplified by the context of Europe's rapidly expanding CTV landscape. In 2024, CTV became the dominant screen for ad-supported content in Europe, accounting for 46% of all ad views—a 31% year-over-year increase. Spain, in particular, boasts one of the highest CTV usage rates on the continent. This explosive growth, however, has brought challenges, including measurement fragmentation, transparency concerns, and the complexities of navigating privacy regulations like GDPR.

It is within this complex environment that the Movistar campaign provides a compelling case study. By delivering both cost efficiency and increased reach simultaneously, it demonstrates how agentic AI can cut through the friction of the current ecosystem. The platform’s ability to operate with direct access to Spain's premium CTV publishers while maintaining strict brand safety and frequency controls addresses key advertiser concerns head-on.

The results validate a sentiment already brewing in the market. According to the American Express Business Barometer, 68% of EU businesses believe that adopting agentic technology will grant them a significant competitive advantage. Telefónica and Havas have now provided a powerful, real-world proof point for that belief, setting a new performance benchmark for the entire European market.

The Strategic Imperative: Why Brands Are Betting on AI

For Telefónica, this campaign was far from a casual experiment. “By working with Havas and PubMatic, we have demonstrated that agentic AI can operate with the level of rigour and performance that brands require,” stated Esther López, Head of Media at Telefónica. “This is not an experiment. It is the foundation of a smarter and more responsible way to invest in media.”

Her statement underscores a critical strategic shift. For major brands, the appeal of agentic AI lies not just in efficiency metrics, but in the promise of greater control, transparency, and intelligence. In an increasingly fragmented media world, the ability to have a unified system autonomously execute against strategic goals—while providing a clear audit trail—is invaluable. López pointed to the future possibilities as the most exciting aspect: “greater precision, less friction, and more room for the thinking that truly drives business results.”

This sentiment is echoed on the agency side. Havas's embrace of the technology signals a proactive move to evolve its own value proposition. By leveraging platforms like AgenticOS, the agency can deliver superior results for clients while repositioning its human talent as strategic consultants, focusing on creative problem-solving and long-term brand growth rather than the mechanics of ad delivery.

From Pilot to Production: The Scalable Future of Advertising

This Spanish activation is not an isolated event. It follows successful AgenticOS campaigns in the Netherlands and France, underscoring PubMatic's accelerating expansion across the EMEA region. The message from the company is clear: agentic technology is ready for primetime.

“This campaign proves that agentic technology is no longer a pilot concept,” added Pablo Morales, Director of Advertiser Solutions at PubMatic. “A global Holding Company and a Tier 1 telco have now run a fully agentic programmatic campaign in Spain, with results that outperformed on every metric. The question for the rest of the market is not whether agentic works. It is how quickly they choose to move.”

The underlying architecture, built on NVIDIA-accelerated computing and connected to a vast ecosystem of publishers and data partners, is designed for global scale. As more advertisers, agencies, and publishers onboard to this new way of working, the compounding effects of a shared intelligent system could reshape the entire digital advertising supply chain, fostering a more efficient, transparent, and ultimately more profitable ecosystem for all participants.