SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The ad industry talks a lot about removing friction. Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to do it by threading agentic AI into its advertising workflows and rebuilding its ad tech stack from the ground up around open, API-driven architecture.
WBD has already moved parts of its ad workflow through agentic systems, freeing staff from low-value tasks and returning time to more strategic work. The longer-term ambition is more sweeping: a fully agentic ad workflow spanning the company’s entire portfolio, accelerating deal velocity, optimization, and client outcomes.
Whether the broader industry gets there is a different question that hinges on buy-side adoption, sell-side commitment, and a level of ecosystem standardization that, by the company’s own admission, is still largely theoretical.
“Where we see it going long-term is potentially a full agentic ad workflow at WBD, which will just allow us to move business faster through the ecosystem of our portfolio,” said Jill Steinhauser, group svp, platform, monetization and partnerships, Warner Bros. Discovery, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
Agentic ambitions take shape
Steinhauser described WBD’s current posture on agentic AI as early-stage but with meaningful momentum. The company has begun routing specific workflow components through agentic systems, with the goal of eliminating the back-and-forth that bogs down both direct and programmatic transactions. Its pitch is fewer low-value handoffs, faster deal flow, more room for human judgment on the things that actually require it.
Steinhauser Wants a future where agents handle not just optimization and revisions, but potentially the full arc from negotiation to billing. But she also noted caution. “Will we see a point where we’re seeing a full transaction from negotiation to billing commanded by agents? I’m not completely sure,” she said. “I don’t believe that we will take the human element out of the sales process, but it will continue to be a natural evolution towards automation.”
That measured outlook is worth noting against a backdrop of industry hype. Gartner has predicted that more than 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027, citing escalating costs, unclear business value, and inadequate risk controls — a reminder that enthusiasm and execution are not the same thing.
Rebuilding the stack for openness
Alongside its AI efforts, WBD has kicked off a significant overhaul of its ad tech stack, with interoperability as a guiding principle. The goal is an open, API-driven architecture that allows the company to build on existing infrastructure rather than replace it wholesale – and that gives buy-side partners cleaner, more direct integration points.
Steinhauser said she has seen genuine movement from technology partners on this front, with the walled-garden mentality that has historically constrained the industry beginning to erode. “A lot of that walled garden mentality has broken down,” she said. “We still have a ways to go truly to work under this framework, but it’s hugely valuable to us to allow us to build on top of what we currently have without having to recreate the tech completely from the ground up.”
The effort aligns with WBD’s May 2025 launch of NEO, an ad platform unveiled at the upfronts designed to give buyers simplified, direct access to WBD’s premium video inventory across channels. The platform is part of the company’s broader push to reduce transactional complexity while expanding programmatic reach.
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