Fox Corporation’s television advertising business Fox Advertising has started executing linear TV ads transactions through its artificial intelligence-powered Fox AdStudio platform, working with several major advertising agencies and technology companies to automate portions of the traditional television media buying process.
On Thursday, Fox Advertising said WPP, Omnicom, Horizon Media, Stagwell and Simulmedia are using its agent-to-agent technology for live advertising campaigns. The development follows Fox’s introduction of the platform in June, when the company demonstrated how AI agents could support audience planning, media transactions and campaign activation.
Fox first introduced the technology in June, demonstrating how AI could be used throughout the advertising process. The latest development puts those capabilities to work on actual campaigns rather than technical demonstrations.
Under the new system, an advertising agency can use its own AI software to communicate with Fox’s advertising platform. The two systems can exchange campaign information, identify available commercial spots and complete certain transactions without requiring employees to manually coordinate every step.
The technology can also recommend alternatives when a requested commercial spot is unavailable: Rather than simply removing that placement from an ad order, Fox’s system can suggest another spot that reaches a similar audience.
The platform includes security controls and a monitoring system designed to ensure transactions follow established rules, the company affirmed. Fox employees and workers at agency partners will continue making important decisions about campaigns, with AI handling some of the work involved in carrying them out.
“Now, together with our partners, we’re putting those capabilities to work on live campaigns — moving agentic advertising from capability to real-world execution while maintaining the governance and human oversight essential to doing it responsibly,” Jeff Collins, the President of Fox Advertising, Marketing and Brand Partnerships, said in a statement on Thursday.
The participating agencies are connecting their existing advertising systems to Fox AdStudio. Omnicom is using its Omni platform to help advertisers select audiences and purchase individual television spots, while Horizon Media is working with technology company Databricks to connect its advertising systems with Fox. Stagwell is using its Media Machine platform to help turn advertiser requests into media plans, and WPP is testing live transactions as part of its broader work to develop standards for AI-powered advertising. (WPP in June announced a partnership with Fox and others to standardize the use of artificial intelligence for TV and video advertising.)
Simulmedia is also participating, with a focus on using campaign results to make changes to television advertising schedules. Those results could include website visits, app downloads and purchases attributed to commercials.
The technology could make traditional TV ad inventory easier to purchase and adjust, bringing some of the automation already common in digital advertising to broadcast and cable TV, Fox said.
Fox did not disclose how many advertising transactions have been completed through the platform, how much money those transactions represent or whether the system has reduced costs for advertisers.
Fox Corporation is expected to publish its next financial earnings report in early November.
