NBCUniversal just turned what’s arguably the most old-school corner of ad buying—live linear NFL TV—into a sandbox for AI experimentation. Partnering with RPA, Newton Research, and FreeWheel, NBCU successfully tested AI agents on both the buy and sell side to handle key parts of the sales process for a playoff game. This wasn’t about full automation or replacing reps just yet, but as chief product officer Ryan McConville puts it, “It works.” The agents mapped out inventory availability, pricing, and impressions, ultimately packaging a proposal delivered from one AI agent to another.
The real win? Reducing the heavy lifting in what’s still mostly an IO-driven industry. Think fewer emails, zero faxes 🙄, and digital back-and-forth handled by AI intermediaries, with human oversight at both ends. It is beginning to pave the way for something McConville dubbed the “AI as UI” era. The plumbing remains the same; what’s shifting is who—or what—is asking the questions.
There’s plenty still on the to-do list, from ensuring clean data feeds to organizing product catalogs so these agents don’t serve… well, garbage. But the broader implication is clear: AI agents could eventually handle more premium, nuanced TV buys—sponsorships, custom deals, all the stuff OpenRTB can’t.
Full story at Digiday.