AI, and specifically agentic AI, are rewriting the possibilities of streaming advertising – making complex ideas reality in lightning speed. These solutions are bringing efficiencies to the buying and selling of advertising and helping to streamline workflows, cutting down on some of the manual processes so that buyers can focus on more strategic outputs that drive real results.
As AI-driven technology becomes more embedded into buying systems, companies are looking into how they can best utilize these tools to deliver outcomes for their business and their agency clients, and what platforms are best suited to their unique needs.
Recently, Todd Keats, VP Platform Demand at FreeWheel, sat down with Tom Leone VP, Media Services at Brkthru to discuss how they are leaning into AI, how agentic AI is changing the game, and why they chose FreeWheel’s Buyer Cloud as the platform to build their agentic solutions on top of.
Here is what he had to say:
What is your long-term and short-term vision for leveraging AI at Brkthru?
Leone: At Brkthru, we’ve fully leaned into AI. As a company committed to being the gold standard in service, we are very optimistic about the benefits AI brings to supporting our customers and staff. In the short term, we’re using AI to make information gathering and communication more efficient, with long-term goals of increasing operational efficiency which ultimately benefits our partners. This enables us to gain deeper insights, deliver faster turnaround times, and create more opportunities to provide innovative media buying solutions.
How does this fit into your broader agency strategy?
Leone: AI is an important part of our strategy, supporting everything from lead generation to post-campaign reporting. While our business will always remain relationship-driven, AI streamlines routine tasks, allowing our team to focus more on delivering exceptional client service and campaign results at the end of the day.
What problem were you trying to solve that led you to explore agentic AI workflows?
Leone: One of our core brand pillars is “We Say Yes” – three simple words that require immense agility. Saying yes means finding the best solution to achieve a client’s goals – not just the easiest or most comfortable option. To meet every partner’s needs, our talented team manages over 23 media platforms, a feat that demands a heavy cognitive load. Agentic AI changes the game. It allows us to effortlessly onboard new platforms and continue saying “yes,” while allowing our experts to focus on driving marketing outcomes rather than navigating ever-changing user interfaces.
Was this driven by client demands, internal efficiency needs, or competitive differentiation?
Leone: Intellectual curiosity drives us. I don’t see that ever changing. My greatest pet peeve is complacency, which is why I love Brkthru’s commitment to getting better every day. While clients are our priority, I also view my staff as my ‘client.’ By streamlining the daily grind, I can empower them to focus on marketing outcomes and flex the creative muscles where they truly shine and find the most joy. And if we’re doing that the right way, it translates into better outcomes for our partners.
Why did Brkthru choose to build on Buyer Cloud for your agentic strategy?
Leone: Our longstanding partnership with Buyer Cloud is built on transparency and precision. We value their log-file access, real-time optimization, and the expertise of their highly responsive account team. As a company built on service, we try to find partners who share that same passion. Beyond service, their best-in-class offering spans a robust, deterministic audience graph, engaging owned and operated inventory, and the power of the FreeWheel ad server.
Can you walk us through what you’re looking to build using the MCP server?
Leone: It might be a cliché, but the possibilities are endless. We are starting by using LLMs to extract data and insights through natural language prompts. Historically, there were times where traders could spend hours pulling reports, cobbling data in Excel, and manually analyzing results. Now, querying that same data via the MCP server cuts hours down to minutes. Over time, we envision semi-autonomous agents proactively flagging optimization opportunities for our team and eventually assist with initial campaign set up.
How are you positioning this capability to your clients?
Leone: Behind the scenes, we’re working on several of these initiatives. Our clients can continue to expect the same high level of service and ROI they’ve grown accustomed to at Brkthru. AI simply allows us to evolve and move even faster, which translates into a better experience for our partners.
How do you think agentic AI will change the role of agencies and traders?
Leone: There is no way to replicate the knowledge and experience of our talented trading team. These tools simply give them more time to do what they do best: manage high-performing campaigns that drive meaningful business results for our clients.
Agentic AI is bringing the next wave of streaming advertising
As agentic AI becomes more prevalent in streaming advertising, advertisers need to look to partners that not only have intelligence and AI built into their foundation, but those that allow their clients to build their own custom solutions on top of their platforms to drive results for their business.
Brkthru is leveraging Buyer Cloud’s MCP server in our closed beta to build custom AI agents on top of our platform. Want to explore how you can build your own competitive advantage? Get a demo or learn about beta opportunities here.
