Viva La Workflow: Optable’s Vlad Stesin On What’s Actually Changed In Agentic Advertising

Optable CEO Vlad Stesin told AdExchanger that agentic advertising is moving from theory to practice, with workflow automation as the essential starting point. He highlighted Publicis's $2.2 billion acquisition of LiveRamp as a signal of where value lies in the new landscape, and described buy-side AI agents transacting with agent-ready publisher infrastructure as a real behavioral shift now underway.

A year ago, agentic advertising was mostly theoretical. AdExchanger Managing Editor Allison Schiff sat down with Vlad Stesin, CEO and Co-Founder of Optable, to talk about what’s actually changed — and which companies are doing real work rather than chasing the buzzword. Stesin breaks down why workflow automation is the unglamorous but essential starting point for agentic ad tech, what Publicis’s $2.2 billion acquisition of LiveRamp signals about where value sits in this new landscape, and what it actually looks like when a buy-side AI agent transacts with a publisher built on agent-ready infrastructure. The throughline: this isn’t about new technology existing. It’s about a real change in behavior — and that shift is finally underway. Must Read Popular - OPINION: The Sell Sider https://www.adexchanger.com/category/the-sell-sider/ Dynamic Take Rates Are A Market-Wide Squeeze Disguised As Innovation https://www.adexchanger.com/the-sell-sider/dynamic-take-rates-are-a-market-wide-squeeze-disguised-as-innovation/ The pitch for dynamic take rates is reasonable. Total volume goes up, and the publisher sees more impressions clearing. But the problem is where the extra volume comes from. - CTV Buyers Are Getting The Show-Level Performance Optimization They’ve Always Wanted https://www.adexchanger.com/tv/ctv-buyers-are-getting-the-show-level-performance-optimization-theyve-always-wanted/ A collaboration between InterMedia Advertising, Peer39 and Pontiac Intelligence provided show-level cost-per-acquisition data for 94% of CTV ad impressions. - MFA Ad Spend Is Increasing. Is AI Slop To Blame? https://www.adexchanger.com/ai/mfa-ad-spend-is-increasing-is-ai-slop-to-blame/ This year, the percentage of ad spend going toward made-for-advertising MFA sites went up instead of down for the first time since 2023. - Kickbacks Takes An Outsider’s View While Bringing Ads To AI Agents https://www.adexchanger.com/marketers/kickbacks-takes-an-outsiders-view-while-bringing-ads-to-ai-agents/ Andrew McCalip is a founding engineer at Varda Space Industries, where he oversees the manufacturing of things like hypersonic reentry vehicles and satellite buses. - The IAB Wants To Get Ad Tech Speaking The Same Language About Digital Video https://www.adexchanger.com/tv/the-iab-wants-to-get-ad-tech-speaking-the-same-language-about-digital-video/ Ask five people in ad tech to define “CTV” – or any other streaming-related three-letter acronym – and you’ll get five different answers. The IAB wants to fix that.