pubX launches in Australia with Andrew Gilbert appointment

pubX has launched in Australia and appointed Andrew Gilbert as Country Manager, ANZ, giving the advertising technology company a local lead across Australia and New Zealand.

Gilbert joins pubX after senior roles at Afterpay, Yahoo and IAS. Most recently, he ran advisory business Systems That Decide. He will oversee local operations and develop partnerships with publishers, advertisers and agencies across both markets.

The company focuses on what it describes as agentic advertising, in which independent artificial intelligence agents make and execute media trading decisions for buyers and sellers. It says this differs from existing automation tools that operate within a single demand-side platform, supply-side platform or other ad technology service.

Its entry into Australia comes as media groups and advertisers face growing pressure over how much campaign spending reaches publishers through the programmatic supply chain. pubX says campaigns run on its system have sent 78 cents of every advertising dollar to the publisher, compared with an average of 43 cents through the traditional open programmatic supply chain, citing figures reported by the Association of National Advertisers.

Gilbert said the Australian market has lagged the US in understanding and adopting agentic advertising.

"Australia has traditionally been a fast follower in adtech, perhaps three months behind the US in most areas. But on agentic advertising we are closer to a year behind, with many in the market still grappling with what genuine agentic solutions actually look like.

"My concern is that we are in danger of mistaking an AI interface on an existing adtech platform for genuine agentic advertising. An agent tied to a DSP, SSP or other platform is still operating within that company's commercial interests. These agents act as interns or autopilots for advertisers; they do not make investment decisions or improve the economics of advertising. That is very different from an independent agent acting on behalf of the buyer or seller.

"For the past 15 years, we have added layer after layer to solve problems created within the existing programmatic supply chain. This is the first time an external technology innovation has impacted our industry, and agentic buying gives us the opportunity to rethink that architecture entirely rather than simply adding another layer. What excites me about pubX is that it has been built from within the advertising ecosystem, with independence at its core," Gilbert said.

Supply chain pressure

Programmatic advertising has long been criticised by parts of the industry for the number of intermediaries involved in buying and selling digital inventory. Those concerns have sharpened as publishers seek stronger revenue models and advertisers look for greater accountability over where spending ends up.

pubX says its modular technology is designed to work independently rather than tie clients to a single technology stack. It has already run campaigns across several international markets and says it is among a small number of businesses globally to have handled campaigns end to end on an agent-to-agent basis.

Takami Kowalski, Managing Director, APAC, said the model could change how value is distributed in digital advertising.

"Programmatic created enormous scale, but it also introduced layers into the supply chain that have progressively reduced the share of the advertiser dollar reaching publishers.

"Independent agentic trading gives us an opportunity to reverse some of that, simplifying the transaction and putting more of the value created by advertising back into the hands of the publishers creating the content and audiences.

"We're excited to welcome Andrew to the team. His expertise, relationships and understanding of the Australian media ecosystem will add enormous value as we build partnerships with advertisers, agencies and publishers across the market," Kowalski said.

Local market

Australia has often been an early adopter of advertising technology compared with other markets outside the US, but newer forms of AI-based media buying remain at an early stage locally. Gilbert's appointment suggests pubX sees an opportunity to build direct relationships as agencies, brands and publishers assess whether newer automated trading models can reduce costs and improve media returns.

The company says its system has been developed over the past year for campaigns run end to end between autonomous buying and selling agents. It also says the wider platform is built on five years of AI infrastructure and relationships with thousands of websites worldwide.

For Australian publishers, the central claim is financial rather than technical: a larger share of advertiser spend can reach media owners if fewer intermediaries sit between buyer and seller. For advertisers and agencies, the pitch is that independent decision-making may offer an alternative to tools embedded within the largest existing ad platforms.