As we head towards 2026, Videoheroes gathered some industry experts to offer their thoughts on what the next 12 months holds for programmatic...

What will define the next era of media buying? The answer, according to our partners, lies in a dual focus on technological sophistication and ecosystem integrity.

The VideoHeroes team reached out to experts from Criteo, PubMatic, Equativ, Azerion, OpenX, Verve, and 33Acrossto gather their insights. While their perspectives vary, a unified vision emerges: a 2026 where "transparency" and "performance" are no longer optional.

Whether it is navigating the decline of open-web static content, adopting new identity standards, or leveraging next-gen AI for negotiation and optimisation, these industry voices provide a comprehensive look at how programmatic is maturing to meet the demands of modern brands and publishers.

In 2026, I believe the programmatic industry will focus on simplification and trust. We’ll see a stronger push for transparent supply paths and real value for both publishers and advertisers, moving away from complexity and middle layers. CTV and Audio will continue to grow, but the real progress will come from better data usage and smarter automation that actually improves performance. AI will automate trafficking, QA, and creative variants. The winners will be publishers and platforms.

Jose Macías Fdez, Head of Supply & Partnerships Iberia & LATAM, Azerion

I think that in 2026, real-time bidding (RTB) will revolve around connected TV (CTV), for brands looking for efficiency and scalability within a premium inventory and highly engaged audiences. I also expect advertisers and publishers to rely more on demand path optimisation (DPO) and supply path optimisation (SPO) to make transactions smoother and more efficient. Metrics like attention, inventory quality, and transparency will play a key role in guiding bidding decisions and ensuring campaigns deliver real results.

I’m especially excited about generative AI, which I believe will transform creativity, enabling dynamic optimisation and personalised messaging tailored to audience behaviour. Major events like the Winter Olympics and the World Cup will provide unique opportunities to reach large, diverse audiences.

Overall, I feel RTB in 2026 will be smarter, more automated, and outcome-focused, and brands that combine creativity, data, and technology will see the greatest impact.

Elena Oporto, Head of Client Services, Equativ

AI has fundamentally reshaped the digital landscape, which is evident in user behaviour. Users are replacing traditional search with ChatGPT queries, and we should anticipate shopping agents taking the place of direct visits to e-commerce sites. In 2026, we can expect to see programmatic advertising spend continue to shift to premium content like live sports and current events. More static informational content, such as recipes, medical content, and study guides, will struggle since larger AI companies can easily index the information. While premium inventory will attract more ad spend initially, the overall decline of page views from actual users will challenge marketers to navigate and find their audiences in environments dominated by AI bots and non-human traffic.

Yuri Burka, EVP, Global Partnerships,33Across 

It’s an exciting time in our industry, with AI advancements creating a sea change we haven’t seen since paid search. While Agentic Commerce is far from transforming how consumers buy today, it will evolve gradually, driven by consumer trust, usefulness, and measurable value, and clearly impact how digital advertising is getting done. In 2026, I thus expect programmatic will be reshaped by companies capable of turning advanced AI, predictive intelligence, and transparent data ecosystems into tangible performance, helping advertisers unlock smarter audiences, deeper intent signals, and truly adaptive experiences.

At the same time, CTV will emerge as a strategic growth channel, as agencies shift intentional budgets toward environments that blend premium storytelling with measurable outcomes. Having direct CTV access will allow capturing those budgets and deliver unified cross-channel value at scale.

The winners of 2026 will be those who merge AI-driven precision with high-quality, user-centric advertising experiences, creating a programmatic ecosystem where intelligence, performance, and trust advance together.

Giuseppe Ruocco, Director, Publishers Partnerships, Criteo

Programmatic in 2026 will be shaped by three intersecting shifts: AI, identity, and supply power. 

• AI stops being a bolt-on feature and becomes the default engine of buying and selling. Creative, bidding, audience building, campaign optimisation, and even attribution are increasingly run by models. The biggest performance gains sit with players that control both data and inventory.

• Identity moves away from user-level tracking toward a mix of first party data, on-device signals ,and richer contextual signals such as tone, sentiment, and environment. Clean rooms, privacy-by-design architectures, and state-level regulation (including age gating) make this shift non optional rather than experimental. 

• On the supply side, publishers and app developers try to regain control of their stack. Demand and supply path optimisation, and consolidation of weaker SSPs, all point to fewer intermediaries and more transparent economics, while CTV and gaming pull in more brand budgets. 

Programmatic leaders in 2026 will be the ones who pair heavy automation with very intentional control over data, supply routes and measurement.

Alex Stil, Chief Strategy Officer, Verve

Everyone expects AI to change how we buy ads, but the real revolution is in the infrastructure. Current OpenRTB pipes are too thin to carry the complex data that modern AI needs. In 2026, we will transition from simple real-time bidding to agentic negotiation.

Buying and selling agents will no longer just bid on impressions. They will negotiate outcomes using new standards like the Ad Context Protocol. Instead of just matching IDs in milliseconds, AI agents will interview inventory sources to validate attention metrics and deep semantic context before a bid is ever placed.

This moves the industry from a probability-based market betting an impression will convert to a certainty-based market buying pre-validated and outcome-scored inventory. This evolution represents the maturity of programmatic. It allows us to trade on the true nuance of premium content, ensuring that inventory is valued not just by who is watching, but by the quality of the engagement itself.

Edward Castillo, Head of Demand & Partnerships, VideoHeroes

Over the past year, we’ve seen the start of a shift toward a more quality-driven programmatic ecosystem, and I see that shift only accelerating as we enter 2026. Agencies and buyers are demanding more from their media-buying experience, prioritising quality, direct supply, and reaching real audiences in premium environments. This means publishers have the opportunity to unlock the true value of their inventory by capitalising on their engaged audiences and seeking out partners who provide transparency into how their inventory is packaged and delivered.

When we prioritise direct relationships, transparent supply paths, and data-driven targeting, we create a cleaner, more efficient ecosystem that ultimately channels revenue to the publishers producing premium, trusted content for consumers.

Mitchell Greenway, Vice President, Publisher Development EMEA, APAC, OpenX

As we move toward 2026, programmatic advertising will be shaped by intelligent automation, accountability, and data independence. The convergence of generative AI, advanced optimisation, and human strategic insight will redefine creativity, personalisation, and efficiency across an increasingly omnichannel ecosystem — spanning display, video, CTV, and the growing world of commerce media.

Marketers will become more fluent in AI, relying on generative and autonomous systems to plan, optimise, and execute campaigns with minimal intervention. Meanwhile, contextual advertising will evolve as semantic intelligence becomes embedded into every solution, driving relevance and scale.

These innovations will democratise access to powerful tools, helping smaller businesses compete effectively, supported by emerging protocols such as AdCP and new standards around data, decisioning, and interoperability. For PubMatic, 2026 will mark the year AI truly hits its stride in marketing — delivering a more transparent, sustainable, and performance‑driven programmatic future.

Manuel Lahuerta, Associate Director, Customer Success EMEA, Pubmatic