The Future of AdOps: Why Agencies are Switching to AI-Powered Operating Systems

By 2026, agencies that succeed in an increasingly crowded Retail Media market will not be the ones hiring faster or adding more disconnected tools. They will be the ones that replace fragmented AdOps processes with AI-first operating systems, allowing teams to spend less time managing complexity and more time on strategy, planning, and growth.

“The industry isn’t taking full advantage of what AI can already do,” says Angelina Eng, VP Measurement, Addressability & Data Center, IAB.

Angelina adds: “AI can build media plans, generate audience segments, select media partners, forecast performance, and even use synthetic data to improve marketing mix modeling and attribution. This will change how media campaigns are planned, executed, and managed from start to finish.”

AI is set to transform the digital advertising industry and Retail Media has reached an operational breaking point. Below is how GoWit One approaches this challenge with an AI-first operating system designed for agencies running multi-network, multi-retailer, and multi-brand Commerce and Retail Media campaigns across markets.

“Single Login” Is What Modern Agencies Need

The RMN ecosystem is large and still expanding. Econsultancy cites 216 retail media networks worldwide, framing fragmentation as a core challenge.

Launching campaigns across multiple retailers means working inside a patchwork of dashboards, each with different creative specifications, attribution windows, bidding rules, and API limitations. Many agency teams now manage 10 or more retailers at once, forcing constant logins across disconnected systems just to complete routine tasks.

This creates a hidden but costly problem, which is the fragmentation tax. It shows up as duplicated work, inconsistent execution, slower launches, and reporting that does not line up across platforms.

Modern agencies need a single, unified control layer that centralizes campaign management, standardizes workflows, and brings consistency to reporting across networks. Without it, fragmentation continues to drain time, margin, and performance.

The AI Agent Solution

An AI operating system acts as a unified campaign dashboard. By providing a single login for cross-network and multi-retailer campaigns, it removes the fragmentation issue. Instead of opening 10 browser tabs to manage a single brand, agencies use a centralized workflow to create, schedule, and report across the entire ecosystem.

GoWit One offers a centralized create-schedule-report flow. By unifying 100% of ad spend across multiple networks into one login and one workflow, agencies can scale campaigns confidently across markets without duplicating effort.

A single dashboard is not just a UI decision; it is an operational necessity. It helps agencies:

• Reduce duplicated work
• Standardize naming/UTMs/taxonomies
• Monitor pacing and performance across networks consistently

Agentic AdOps: Moving from “Manual Tasks” to “Seamless Automation”

Traditional AdOps is plagued by repetitive, low-value tasks, resizing banners, checking budget minimums, and manual data entry. To launch multi-network campaigns, tasks like checking creative sizes, verifying compliance, and manual data entry can take up to 10 hours a week per team member.

An AI-powered operating system like GoWit One enables end-to-end campaign automation. Features like automated compliance checks ensure that creative and spec adherence are verified. Instead of a half-day delay due to back-and-forth with retailers, campaigns can go live in minutes.

Retail Media Expertise Built Into One AI-Powered System

One of the hardest parts of multi-retailer management is the sheer volume of technical specs. “Does Retailer B support this format?” “What is the minimum CPM for this market?” In the past, answering these questions required digging through PDF and Excel files or waiting for retailer support.

GoWit One acts as an on-demand agentic knowledge assistant, instantly answering questions about bids, creative specs, and available formats. It removes the need for manual research or ongoing back-and-forth with retailer support, allowing junior teams to execute complex multi-network and multi-retailer campaigns with confidence.

The impact goes beyond saving time. When knowledge lives inside the system:

• Junior team members can execute confidently
• Senior operators are no longer bottlenecks
• Onboarding becomes faster and more consistent

Why This Matters:

• Protects margins of agencies as campaign volume increases
• Reduces costly mistakes such as incorrect SKUs or attribution settings
• Speeds up optimization by reducing time spent on manual checks

Advanced Analytics Across Retailers and Networks

Standard RMN dashboards are rigid and inconsistent, making cross-platform comparison difficult. According to IAB Europe ’s Attitudes to Retail Media 2025 report, 78% of brands cite measurement and 69% cite attribution as critical areas requiring standardization.

When you are running multi-network and multi-retailer campaigns, you need a consolidated view to understand true ROI.

GoWit One delivers consolidated analytics and flexible reporting across retailers, giving agencies a single view of performance and ROI. From seasonal campaigns to global launches, teams can track cross-channel results and manage budgets without manual spreadsheets.

What This Means for Agencies

According to the IAB State of Data 2025, only 30% of agencies, brands, and publishers have fully integrated AI across the campaign lifecycle, and many still lack a clear AI strategy.

That gap creates an opportunity.

For agencies, the solution is no longer finding “better tools” to succeed in Commerce and Retail Media; it is leading the fundamental shift in digital advertising toward an AI-powered ad operating system like GoWit One.

Explore GoWit One: https://gowit.com/contact?utm_source=socials&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=general

Sources

IAB. (2025, March 24). IAB state of data 2025: AI is on the brink of transforming how advertising works at its core [Press release]. https://www.iab.com/news/iab-state-of-data-report-2025/

IAB Europe. (2025, July 15). Attitudes to retail media 2025 [Report]. https://iabeurope.eu/knowledge_hub/iab-europes-attitudes-to-retail-media-report-2025/

IAB Europe. (2026, January 8). What retail and commerce media trends will define 2026? A Q&A with our Retail & Commerce Media Committee. https://iabeurope.eu/what-retail-and-commerce-media-trends-will-define-2026-a-qa-with-our-retail-commerce-media-committee/