AI-powered DSPs are redefining programmatic advertising, delivering smarter insights, unmatched efficiency, and real-time adaptability for modern marketers.
Gone are the days when Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) simply automated media buying to maximize impressions and minimize costs. Today’s digital landscape demands much more. Brands face unprecedented challenges like channel fragmentation, budget pressure and fractured audience viewing habits. Marketers are looking to their DSPs, not just for campaign setup, but for AI-powered insights and strategic support. As the industry shifts from “set it and forget it” to “always-on intelligence,” DSPs must evolve to stay relevant.
At Viant, we believe this evolution is critical. AI is poised to reshape programmatic advertising, enabling new levels of efficiency, performance and ROI. Just as SaaS redefined software with scalability and on-demand access, AI is poised to deliver a new level of campaign efficiency – from planning to bidding to measurement and decisioning. In line with this, we developed ViantAI—the world’s first fully autonomous media buying platform—to introduce AI as a Service, delivering unmatched speed, precision, and scalability in campaign management.
As marketers refine their DSP choices and as DSPs take on a more strategic role, here’s how AI is becoming the key differentiator that can no longer be overlooked.
There’s an Opportunity Cost to Inefficiency
As consumers divide their attention across devices, campaign planning remains a major challenge for marketers, and many feel they don’t have access to sufficient tools — 74% of organizations feel unprepared to adapt to emerging technologies in multichannel marketing. This calls for DSPs to provide both automation and strategic impact.
ViantAI answers this need with a simple but powerful approach: by using just four inputs — advertiser URL, campaign dates, budget, and overall objective — it builds a complete media plan aligned with the campaign’s goals. For example, with a $5 million Q4 budget to drive in-store visits for Sprouts Farmers Market, ViantAI can identify the ideal audience and competitor landscape, then allocate budgets across channels like CTV, streaming audio and online video. Each choice is primed for maximum reach and effectiveness, with specific line-item publishers, timing and frequency caps included in the plan.
This process, which typically takes days or weeks, now only takes minutes, saving both time and resources. Research shows AI-driven efficiencies such as these significantly cut manual campaign costs, freeing teams to focus on high-value strategic initiatives.
Next Gen Measurement Tools Are Now Essential for Buyers
In digital marketing, measurement is essential — but true value comes from quality insights over sheer data volume. Leading DSPs help marketers access comprehensive, end-to-end analytics, giving marketers a complete view of campaign performance and enabling them to adjust strategies based on meaningful data, not just fragmented metrics.
With ViantAI, traders can get the exact campaign metrics they are looking for through a simple prompt without pouring through pages and pages of analytics. In addition, ViantAI collaborates with trusted data providers like Comscore to offer validated channel metrics and audience reach, instilling confidence in campaign targeting and effectiveness.
With marketing budgets under the microscope, brands need to be able to do more with less and see measurement and attribution. DSPs that can provide access to robust, end-to-end measurement tools help ensure programmatic dollars aren’t wasted.
DSPs Are Only as Effective as Their Market Agility
Today’s top-performing DSPs do more than just buy media; they integrate seamlessly across the ad tech ecosystem and adapt to emerging trends, future-proofing campaigns against rapid industry changes.
Marketers need real-time agility for a shifting programmatic market. ViantAI delivers the responsiveness today’s campaigns demand, providing instant, AI-driven insights that guide performance. With real-time recommendations for optimizing campaigns based on feedback, ViantAI helps marketers tailor campaigns in-flight. This approach means brands don’t need extensive pre-launch research; instead, they can launch quickly, testing and optimizing in real-time for better results.
ViantAI will soon integrate even more closely with first-party data, empowering advertisers to make privacy-compliant, performance-driven adjustments that respond to shifting consumer behavior.
ViantAI is not about replacing humans in delivering a perfect media plan, but giving them a superpower and saving them immense amounts of time to focus on strategic tasks that require their guidance. This AI-human combination allows marketers to dynamically reallocate budgets, shift channels and set frequency caps, ensuring campaigns stay impactful and responsive.
AI-Powered DSPs Are the Future of Programmatic Advertising
DSPs are no longer just buying intermediaries– they’re becoming comprehensive platforms built with buyers in mind. Put bluntly, only AI-driven platforms like ViantAI can meet the demands of a fast-evolving market. With 74% of CMOs betting on AI to drive business outcomes, it’s clear: AI isn’t optional — it’s the future. ViantAI leads the charge, putting AI at the heart of programmatic advertising. For advertisers, this is the edge they need to stay impactful and agile. AI-as-a-Service is no longer the next step…it’s the new standard.