Australian chapter backs open standards for agentic ads

AgenticAdvertising.org has launched an Australian chapter focused on open standards for using agentic AI in media buying and selling.

The chapter brings together executives from pubX, Apostra, PubMatic, Mutinex, WPP Media and News Australia. Andrew Gilbert, Country Manager ANZ at pubX, and June Cheung, Head of JAPAC at Apostra, will co-lead it.

The move adds an Australian arm to the nonprofit's broader effort to set common rules for how AI agents transact in advertising markets. The local chapter is intended to help businesses in Australia adopt agentic methods of buying and selling media while contributing to work on interoperability and governance.

At the centre of that work is AdCP, or Ad Context Protocol, an open standard that lets AI agents used by buyers and sellers communicate through a shared framework. The protocol is intended to standardise how agents discover inventory, exchange proposals, execute transactions and report results.

The launch comes as media owners, agencies and advertising technology companies test how AI systems can take on more of the planning and transaction process in digital advertising. For local publishers, one issue is that inventory outside the largest global platforms often requires separate integrations, workflows and reporting arrangements, making access more fragmented for buyers.

Cheung said the approach could broaden advertisers' options in Australia.

"Agentic advertising hands control back to brands. The brand sets the objectives and the boundaries, and its agents go and find the media that fits," said June Cheung, Head of JAPAC at Apostra.

"For Australian advertisers, that reaches far more of the local market than a single global buying stack ever made practical, which is good for brands and good for the independent publishers they want to support."

Gilbert pointed to the position of local publishers in a market shaped by large international buying systems.

"Australian publishers offer valuable audiences and advertising environments, but accessing that inventory can be more complex than buying through a single global platform," said Andrew Gilbert, Australia Chapter Lead at AAO and Country Manager ANZ at pubX.

"A shared protocol can help level the playing field, making it easier for buyers and sellers to connect while ensuring Australian media has a voice in shaping the future of agentic advertising."

Standards push

The Australian chapter will also take part in discussions around transparency, accountability and human oversight. That includes work linked to AAO's Embedded Human Judgement framework, which is intended to build governance into agentic workflows rather than leave decisions entirely to automated systems.

Members in Australia can join AdCP working groups and help develop standards for the local market. This gives agencies, publishers, brands, and technology companies a route to shape how the protocol is applied as adoption grows.

For agency groups, the case for common standards is tied to measurement and efficiency. WPP Media said broader interoperability could make it easier to assess more media opportunities and compare outcomes.

"Our responsibility is to ensure clients' media investments deliver measurable outcomes," said Dylan Dharmadasa, GM of Product at WPP Media.

"Greater interoperability could help us evaluate a broader range of media opportunities more efficiently and better demonstrate their performance."

News Australia framed the issue from the publisher side, where premium inventory doesn't always fit neatly into a single automated bid request.

"Programmatic advertising has created enormous efficiencies, but an individual ad request doesn't always capture the full value of premium inventory," said Paul Oyama, Head of Supply and Agentic Trading at News Australia.

"Agentic advertising could enable publishers to better communicate the value of their audiences, content and formats, helping buyers identify opportunities that align with their objectives."

PubMatic also backed the case for common infrastructure across the market.

"For agentic advertising to work at scale, we need to be better connected, and infrastructure will be crucial to achieving that," said Pete Barry, VP Commerce & Audience Solutions at PubMatic.

"Open standards like AdCP can reduce the need for multiple integrations, enabling agents to work together through a common framework and unlocking new opportunities the industry has not had access to before."

AgenticAdvertising.org was founded in October 2025 and says it now has more than 150 member companies. It has already supported early implementations of agent-to-agent advertising transactions using AdCP.