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This month’s Ad Tech Insights is strongly shaped by discussions and observations from industry events. For us, events are an important way to hear diverse perspectives, exchange ideas, gain inspiration, better understand where the market is heading, and connect with people across the industry.
In this edition, Ronny Linder (CPO & Partner) shares takeaways from the Programmatic AI event in Las Vegas, including the growing role of AI in day-to-day programmatic operations and the challenges still surrounding buyer and seller agents. Petri Kokkonen (CEO & Partner) reflects on discussions from IAB Europe’s Virtual Programmatic Day around publisher monetisation in 2026. In addition, Samantha Giaver (Head of Sales, US) shares observations from POSSIBLE 2026 and Navigator NYC, where conversations repeatedly returned to AI, transparency, workflow efficiency, and the importance of maintaining strong human collaboration in an increasingly automated ecosystem.
Programmatic AI Las Vegas: AI Moves into Everyday Operations
The programmatic AI event in Las Vegas finished last week, and it was a nice event to participate in. Naturally, it was focused specifically on AI, and LLMs in particular, with both general discussions and tech demos on the table. In general, I felt that the presentations were good and constructive. Some of the initial presentations were quite general, but as the event evolved, so did the details in some of the sessions. I guess that was intended to embrace the less experienced during the initial part of the event, creating a shared knowledge base. The event catered to both the Sell and Buy sides, and I focused a bit more on the Publisher trail throughout.
LLMs in Products: Progress, But Still Early
As a Relevant Yield product owner, I was especially interested in the tech demos, as it is always nice to see how far other products have come in terms of actual LLM usage within their products. While I do feel that there is certainly some progress being made and some nice examples, it is still quite limited relative to the potential we see internally. We started quite early with our own LLM integration, so maybe that is why it is hard to see anything revolutionary, but I guess that is very much based on my perspective and the fact that we are maybe a little bit further than a lot of other companies in this aspect. Which is also nice and reassuring! We do have some really nice features coming around this during 2026 - that is a promise.
Buyer & Seller Agents Still Far from Scale
No AI event without discussions around both Buyer and Seller agents, and just like at the recent Prebid Event in London, there is a general consensus that the market is still quite far away from having anything ready to go at scale. There are still many things to solve, some related to the market unifying around specific standards/decisions, and some related to concrete practical issues like trust, discoverability, and technical implementation. Someone mentioned that maybe 10% of Direct could be a target in 2028, but given how much is still unknown, it is very, very hard to predict.
Control, Risk and Security
I think my favourite session was around Control and Risk (“AI is Reshaping Digital Advertising - if you don’t define the control layer, someone else will”) by James Deaker, as it touched on security issues when developing and working with AI in general, and the potential massive risks involved, that gets very little attention. We spent quite a lot of time discussing these things when first building out our LLM-based AI Assistant, so it was nice to see some updated perspectives in that area as well.
So all in all, a really nice event at the PARK MGM in Las Vegas with some really nice people involved!
- Ronny Linder - CPO, Partner and Member of Several IAB Tech Lab Task Forces
Notes from the IAB Europe Virtual Programmatic Day: Where Publisher Money Sits in 2026
At the end of April, IAB Europe and Google hosted the Virtual Programmatic Day in London. I was lucky enough to be in the room as part of a panel on publisher monetisation, alongside Pierce Cook-Anderson, Emmanuel Ogidan and Nick Welch. Big shoutout to Lauren Saving for moderating. And of course, thanks to everyone who showed up, on-site and online.
The panel discussion focused on where publishers are seeing monetisation growth in 2026 and which industry trends are creating real business impact rather than just noise.
2026 focus: no silver bullets
There is no single recommendation that works for every publisher. Context matters. That said, if I had to pick one move likely to bring concrete uplift for many, focus on server-side setup. Running and implementing server-side programmatic can genuinely move the needle. And if in-app is part of your business, there is still real programmatic growth potential there for most publishers.
Competing with the platforms
Understand your weaknesses, but build on your strengths. We know advertising works in publishers' environments. News sites, for example, are an excellent context for impactful advertising. Publishers also sit on a lot of quality data, and make sure those signals actually flow through to the buy side. And listen to your customers. Adjust based on what they tell you, not on the latest industry buzzwords.
A word on curation
Curation can be a genuinely positive thing for some publishers. Not everyone has a strong internal sales team, and a good curation partner can add real value. But it has to be transparent. Publishers need to demand transparency. The IAB Europe Programmatic Working Group's Supply Side Transparency Graph is one tool that helps you ask the right questions.
And then there's this thing called AI
My take on that: right now, the concrete revenue lives on the ML side of AI. Focus on price and setup optimisation — there is real money there today. LLMs can help with reporting, insights, and data discovery, and that is useful. But concrete €$£ from LLMs? Not yet. We are getting there. Just not today.
Plenty more was said, of course. But these were the threads I kept returning to. The publisher monetisation story in 2026 is less about chasing the next shiny thing and more about getting the fundamentals right — server-side, your own data, transparent partnerships — and being realistic about where the AI hype currently meets the P&L.
Looking forward to the next one.
- Petri Kokkonen - CEO & Partner, Member of the IAB Finland Board and Co-Lead of the IAB Europe Programmatic Working Group
AI, Transparency & Monetisation: notes from POSSIBLE and Navigator NYC
This spring, I attended both POSSIBLE 2026 in Miami and Beeler.Tech’s Navigator NYC. Although the two events are very different in scale and audience, many of the same themes shaping today’s media and adtech landscape were present in both.
At POSSIBLE, thousands of leaders across marketing, media, publishing, retail media, and adtech came together to discuss what’s next for the industry. The event brought together a ton of fun energy and a wide range of perspectives from brands and agencies to publishers and adtech companies, creating an atmosphere that felt both ambitious and highly collaborative.
To no one’s surprise, conversations focused heavily on AI, alongside discussions around retail media, measurement, data strategy, transparency, and accountability. But beyond the major industry themes, one of the biggest takeaways was the importance of maintaining human connection in an increasingly automated and AI-driven world.
A few days later, at Navigator NYC, hosted by Beeler.Tech, the conversations became more focused on the operational realities publishers and revenue teams are navigating every day. Topics included AI’s growing role, increasing pressure on monetization teams, data strategy and maintenance, transparency across the ecosystem, and the importance of building more efficient workflows.
The Same Priorities Kept Emerging
While the scale and audiences of the two events were different, what stood out most was how consistent the core themes have become across the industry. Whether speaking with publishers, agencies, retail media leaders, or adtech partners, conversations repeatedly came back to the same priorities: improving visibility into performance, creating operational efficiencies, maintaining transparency, and building strategies that are sustainable long term.
Both events also reinforced something equally, or maybe even more important: despite how quickly AI and automation are evolving, this remains a deeply human business. Relationships, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking continue to be just as important as the technology itself. We need to continue to maintain human creativity and connection, with AI as a complement, not a replacement.
For us at Relevant Digital, these conversations continue to reinforce the importance of our team helping publishers simplify complexity, gain better visibility into performance, and build monetization strategies that are both smarter and more sustainable for the long term.
- Samantha Giaver - Head of Sales US