Observed Signal · Sep 4, 2026 · Technical Release · Source: Digiday · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
AI in Advertising / Agentic Advertising Market: Agencies Build Audit Tools to Monitor AI Agents, Prevent Overcharging
Media agencies are deploying AI agents for planning and buying, but are discovering the need for monitoring to prevent cost overruns and hallucination. Agencies like Rise, Brainlabs, Dept, and PMG are building or adopting audit tools that log agent actions, track token usage, and enforce model selection policies. PubMatic offers an audit log feature for its AI media buying tests. Gartner reports that 60% of organizations using AI may face cost overruns due to lack of usage tracking. Agencies are implementing tiered token access, AI gateways, and daily caps to control costs and ensure accountability. The article highlights the importance of human oversight and model selection to manage AI-related expenses.
The article highlights a growing trend in AdTech: the need for monitoring and auditing AI agents used in media buying. This is relevant as AI adoption increases, but it is not a single industry-shifting event.
Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Gartner survey of 1,300 senior marketers found 56% of companies lack clear AI usage policies.
- Gartner estimates 60% of organizations using AI will face cost overruns due to lack of usage tracking.
- Rise, a Quad agency, has been testing AI media buying agents with a supermarket client since June.
- PubMatic provides an audit log feature to monitor AI agent actions and prevent drift.
- Dept uses an 'AI gateway' that centrally controls model selection to manage token costs.
- PMG developed 'Alli For You' to set daily token caps for users.
Connected Companies & Entities
7 Entities mappedPubMatic
Independent adtech platform for publisher monetisation and programmatic supply.
“PubMatic, an SSP provider, developed an audit log feature used by Rise to monitor AI agents. Harry Tong, director of sales engineering at Pu...”
Brainlabs
Performance marketing agency combining media buying, measurement and experimentation tools.
“Brainlabs tracks the use and development of AI agents by its teams. It grants staff access to AI tokens using a tiered system....”
Rise Interactive
Digital marketing agency with proprietary audience and measurement tools.
“Performance media agency Rise, part of the Quad agency group, has been testing AI media buying agents with a supermarket client since June....”
DEPT®
Digital agency group combining managed services with proprietary marketing operations tools.
“Jonathan Whiteside, global evp of technology at Dept, says agentic tools can get out of control very quickly. Dept is developing monitoring ...”
PMG
Independent marketing company combining agency services with proprietary marketing software.
“PMG developed a tool dubbed 'Alli For You' that provides users a daily cap on AI token usage....”
Gartner
Research and advisory firm for enterprise technology and business leaders.
“Gartner survey of 1,300 senior marketers found 56% of companies lack clear AI usage policies. Gartner analyst Nicole Greene commented on ris...”
Rise
Programmatic auction platform for publisher yield across web, app and CTV.
“Performance media agency Rise, part of the Quad agency group, has been testing AI media buying agents with a supermarket client since June....”
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