Published on: September 11, 2026
PubX has expanded into Australia with the launch of its agentic advertising solution and appointed advertising and technology executive Andrew Gilbert as Country Manager ANZ to lead its operations across Australia and New Zealand.
PubX describes its technology as an independent agentic advertising solution designed to give advertisers, agencies and publishers greater flexibility without tying them to a single technology stack. The company has developed and deployed its agentic technology over the past year and says it is among a limited number of companies globally to have executed end-to-end, agent-to-agent campaigns.
The company’s modular AI technology is already being used by publishers, brands and agencies, with campaigns running across several international markets.
Unlike traditional programmatic automation, PubX’s agentic approach uses independent AI agents to make and execute media trading decisions on behalf of advertisers and publishers. Rather than operating within the commercial framework of a single DSP, SSP or platform, the agents are designed to act independently for buyers and sellers.
Gilbert joins PubX after holding senior positions at Afterpay, Yahoo and IAS. Most recently, he led independent advisory firm Systems That Decide, where he worked with clients on the emerging AI-powered media buying ecosystem, with a particular focus on agentic solutions. At PubX, he will focus on developing partnerships with advertisers, agencies and publishers across Australia and New Zealand.
He said: “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 will impact 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.”
A central element of PubX’s proposition is its focus on simplifying the programmatic supply chain by reducing the number of intermediaries between advertisers and publishers. The company says 78 cents of every advertising dollar on campaigns it has run to date has reached the publisher, compared with an average of 43 cents through the traditional open programmatic supply chain, based on figures attributed to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).
Takami Kowalski, Managing Director, APAC at PubX, said agentic advertising could significantly reshape the economics of programmatic advertising by directing more value towards advertisers and publishers as media businesses seek more sustainable revenue models.
He said: “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.”
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