Observed Signal · Apr 30, 2026 · Interview · Source: AdExchanger · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
AI Could Break Agency Silos, Horizon Media Says
At POSSIBLE 2026 in Miami, Domenic Venuto, Chief Product & Data Officer at Horizon Media, described how Horizon uses AI to centralize media buying functions — from audience planning and targeting to measurement and strategy — enabling faster collaboration between agency teams and clients. Venuto, who joined Horizon in late 2024 after earlier roles at Razorfish and Publicis Groupe, argued that AI can reduce the lag between questions and answers inside agencies and help restore agencies’ roles as strategic partners. He also warned that AI increases fragmentation of channels and ad products, creating both efficiencies and new complexities for marketers. The interview was published by AdExchanger on 2026-04-30.
The interview outlines how AI is being used to centralize agency workflows and client collaboration — relevant to agency strategy, AI tooling adoption and ad operations — but it is an industry discussion/opinion rather than a platform-level technical release or regulatory change.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Domenic Venuto is Chief Product & Data Officer at Horizon Media.
- Article published by AdExchanger on 2026-04-30.
- Horizon Media uses AI to centralize media buying activities across audience planning, targeting, measurement and strategy.
- Venuto joined Horizon in late 2024 and previously worked at Razorfish and under Publicis Groupe.
- Venuto said AI can reduce response lag within agencies and help agencies act as strategic partners, but also increases fragmentation across channels and ad products.
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POSSIBLE 2026: Industry Experts Discuss AI Trends
At POSSIBLE 2026 in Miami, Digiday conducted interviews with agency and brand executives about the practical impact of generative AI on marketing while emphasizing the need to stay human. The conference, headed by Christian Muche and owned by The Hyve Group, surfaced recurring themes: pragmatic uses of AI for measurement and efficiency, talent and hiring implications, economic uncertainty, and maintaining emotional/creative connections with audiences. Executives interviewed include Geico’s Katie Klumper (on using AI to find and retain talent), 1440 co-founder Tim Huelskamp (on neutral news and fact‑checking), Marketcast CMO Kerel Cooper (on AI to speed data crunching without losing human insight), media veteran Alan Schanzer, CROING founder Alejandra Salazar and Maybelline New York president Yasmin Dastmalchi (on authentic Latin consumer engagement). Digiday notes a second installment will feature conversations with Christian Muche, Hyve Group CEO Mark Shashoua and other industry execs.
Agency 'Black Box' Is Breaking, Says Horizon's Bob Lord
Bob Lord, president of Horizon Media and former CEO of Razorfish who led digital transformation at IBM, argues that many agencies are focused narrowly on cost-cutting with AI rather than using AI to drive advertiser growth. Lord says supply-chain opacity, siloed tech stacks and hidden programmatic costs persist, and that transparency, open-source approaches and performance-based compensation models can help agencies become true growth partners. At Horizon, Lord says the agency is shifting toward payment tied to client business outcomes and is pushing for transparent contracts that pass publisher discounts to clients. He calls for systems that let clients self-serve campaign insights and for tighter integration of creative and media to deliver measurable business impact.
Bob Lord Urges Agency Transparency and AI Reinvention
Bob Lord, president of Horizon Media Holdings, delivered a keynote at the Advertising Research Foundation’s Audience X Science conference arguing that traditional agency business models are antiquated and lack transparency. Lord said agencies must redesign around performance alignment, clear disclosure of platform and data fees, and explainability in AI models; Horizon discloses technology fees and charges a Blu fee for its AI platform. Forrester’s Jay Pattisall warned that emerging agentic media buying could increase opacity even as it reduces intermediary hops and fees. A separate report from Keen Decision Systems found 44% of advertisers plan to in-house more media planning, and that brands are testing advertising within generative-AI interfaces. The briefing also notes industry product and funding news: Dentsu launched a Global Media Planner (powered by Lumen), and new AI-native agency Multiply raised $9.5 million.
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