Advertising intelligence — who decides the buy — is the contest that remains as AI starts to evaporate the workflow moat. At LUMA Partners’ November 9 Digital Marketing Summit in New York, Terry Kawaja and Conor McKenna argued that advantage is shifting to real-time choices about signals, creative, and placement, not campaign operations. Kawaja’s quoted differentiator is decisioning coupled with unique signal, while impression-level decisions still sit inside Google, Meta, and Amazon.
Updated November 13, 2026
Key Takeaways
- McKenna said the workflow moat begins to evaporate with AI technology coming out.
- Kawaja called efficiency a 10% gain and effectiveness a possible 10x gap.
- Google, Meta, and Amazon still make impression-level decisions in their systems.
- Viant’s Waymark deal adds AI-assisted CTV creative inside its buying platform.
What does losing the workflow moat change?
Conor McKenna, a LUMA partner, told the summit, “The workflow moat begins to evaporate with the AI technology that is coming out,” as Digiday reported. Setup, delivery, optimization, and reporting are what much of ad tech has competed on. Once that work is easier to automate, operational expertise stops being enough of a differentiator.
Kawaja split efficiency from effectiveness. “I like to think of efficiency as the 10% incremental improvement, whereas the effectiveness could make a 10x difference,” he said. He added, “Decisioning coupled with unique signal is what will differentiate the companies, separate the winners from the losers, and finally promote consolidation.”
How do walled gardens compare with DSPs on advertising intelligence?
Ravi Patel, co-founder and CEO of SWYM.ai, told Digiday that Google, Meta, and Amazon still make impression-level decisions within their own systems. Of unified media platforms, he said, “It can manage the ‘what’ and the ‘how much.’ It can’t manage the ‘which impression.’ That distinction is the whole story.”
AdExchanger reported that Amazon, Google, Meta, and most recently Viant include an AI-assisted creative generator in the buying platform. Viant bought Waymark, which AdExchanger said will let clients, especially small and midsize businesses, make CTV ads that are better, cheaper, and regularly refreshed.
The Trade Desk’s reported markers are different: revenue declined just $3 million to $736 million year over year, and the stock rose 20%. AdExchanger said TTD touted strength in attracting political and healthcare advertising, while rivals do not play deeply in those verticals. Amazon outright bans political advertising and is open to healthcare and pharma ads, with standard caveats. Google tightly restricts both.
| Buyer-side seat | What it still holds | Limit or proof point |
|---|---|---|
| Google, Meta, Amazon | Impression-level decisions, plus AI creative in the buying platform | A unified layer cannot pick the impression |
| Viant | AI CTV creative via Waymark, aimed at SMBs | Described as better, cheaper, and regularly refreshed |
| The Trade Desk | DSP buying; strength attracting political and healthcare ads | $736 million revenue, down $3 million; stock up 20% |
| Agencies | Campaign process that AI is making easier to automate | Operational expertise stops being enough |
Where do agencies and retail media fit?
WeRSM, following Digiday, puts DSPs, supply-side platforms, agencies, retail media networks, and major platforms in one contest over advertising intelligence. Digiday calls the open web’s budget share “(modest)”; the LUMA team described that share as fragmented beside the scale and simplicity of large platforms. The challenge is to deliver easier workflows and demonstrably stronger outcomes, not one without the other.
Allocating budget across gardens covers the what and the how much, not the which impression. Retail media networks are named in that contest; these sources do not rank them against the gardens. Digiday reported that the key to success in this scenario is scale, access to useful signals, decision-making intelligence, and trust.
What should buyers demand before outsourcing the brain?
Ana Milicevic, cofounder of Sparrow Advisers, told Digiday, “Like this is the brain that we’re trying to outsource to a bunch of agents.” Speakers expect people to remain involved for now, delegating tasks rather than handing over decisions entirely. The summit’s second shift is on the consumer side: AI assistants could bring research, discovery, and comparison into a single interface.
WeRSM added that the interface becomes less useful if consumers cannot separate relevance, payment, data access, and platform preference. It also argued that access to an AI buying interface will matter less than earning a place in its decision logic.
- Decision rights. Can this seat pick the impression, or only the budget?
- Signal. Is the input unique, or only a cleaner workflow?
- Effectiveness. Is it Kawaja’s 10% efficiency gain, or the 10x effectiveness difference he described?
- Trust. Can results improve without undermining consumer confidence?
Before spend, score an AI conversion claim before budget, and ask what a trust wall lets buyers see.
Frequently asked questions
What is the workflow moat?
Conor McKenna told LUMA’s November 9 summit, “The workflow moat begins to evaporate with the AI technology that is coming out.” Digiday reported that AI is making previously complex campaign workflows easier to automate.
Who still decides which impression runs?
Ravi Patel of SWYM.ai told Digiday that Google, Meta, and Amazon still make impression-level decisions inside their own systems. A unified media platform can manage the what and the how much, not the which impression.
How do efficiency and effectiveness differ in this argument?
Terry Kawaja said he thinks of efficiency as a 10% incremental improvement, whereas effectiveness could make a 10x difference. He argued that decisioning coupled with unique signal will separate winners from losers.
Which buying platforms already include AI creative?
AdExchanger reported that Amazon, Google, Meta, and most recently Viant include an AI-assisted creative generator. Viant bought Waymark so clients, especially SMBs, can make CTV ads that are better, cheaper, and regularly refreshed.
