AI is making media buying faster, smarter and more automated. But smarter optimisation doesn't automatically mean better outcomes. As more media decisions are handed to machines, the quality of the inputs matters more than ever.

Somewhere along the way, the industry normalised a level of operational faff and complexity that would feel ridiculous almost anywhere else. This piece explores why agencies are still working so hard to hit KPIs - and how curated marketplaces are changing the starting point for programmatic performance.

Programmatic shouldn’t feel like déjà vu. Yet for many planners, every campaign starts from scratch — rebuilding audiences, reselecting inventory, and repeating the same steps with no memory of what worked before. This isn’t inefficiency. It’s structural.

Curation has become adtech’s favourite buzzword. But beneath the hype, it’s simply common sense: structuring supply intelligently to reduce waste, increase transparency, and buy media better.

As agentic advertising tests the limits of the open web, the industry is being forced to confront a bigger question: what sits above the pipes? In 2026, progress will come from simplification, transparency, and curation that surfaces value rather than hiding it.

Still confused about what curation actually means? We break it down with a healthy dose of humour, rugby analogies, and zero adtech jargon, finally explaining the art of smarter media buying, once and for all.

Anne, the Agony Aardvark, replies to her first letter from a frustrated publisher.

Welcome to Letters to Anne: Our new initiative where industry folks can submit their programmatic pain points, existential media-buying crises, and general adtech grievances to our in-house agony aunt; Anne the Aardvark.

You’ve got curated deals from us live in your DSP. But something’s not quite clicking like it did when our eyes first met. Fewer bids. Dodgy delivery. Impressions drying up faster than a suburban British lawn during a six-week rain drought. Let's explore why.

If attention is the new currency in advertising, then time is its most undervalued asset. And if there’s one thing that makes my Welsh blood boil like a pan of Bisto, it’s time wasters.

As the conversation around adtech tax gains momentum, so too does scrutiny of the hidden incentives shaping the programmatic ecosystem.

Imagine a world where the complexities of media buying are simplified to the point where time is no longer a barrier to success.

Imagine a company that curates the actual placements these incredibly valuable audiences are found within.

The saying "don't be good, be lucky” was rattling around our heads a lot this past year, as the opportunity we saw in the market very quick

It’s fair to say that 2024 has been a whirlwind; Paris gave us an unforgettable (and slightly soggy) Olympics, Netflix’s TV adaptation of Th