The universal adapter for AI. Every AI tool used to need a custom integration for every system it touched. MCP gives agents one standard way to connect to your ad server, your CRM, or a publisher's inventory system. It's the USB-C port of the agent world. Boring, but critical.
Ad tech glossary
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
Technical definition
An open standard for connecting AI applications to external data sources, tools and workflows through a common interface. AdCP uses MCP as a transport layer.
The ADLINGO translation
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Related terms
- A2A (Agent2Agent Protocol)
- AAMP (Agentic Advertising Management Protocols)
- adagents.json
- AdCP (Ad Context Protocol)
- Agent Manifest
- Agentic Advertising
- Agentic Audiences
- Agentic Commerce
- Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)
- Agentic Marketplace
- AgenticAdvertising.org
- Answer-Based Ads
Where this shows up
AI: What we owe the team
I'm clocking two kinds of advertising executives right now: Ones who treat AI like a procurement decision, and the ones treating it like a leadership test. One buys tools. The other builds teams that know how to use them.
The skills that survive
You cannot automate a decade of being trustworthy. You can't prompt your way to someone wanting to work with you for the next year.
The RFP Oracle
The ad tech sales season is wrapping up for 2026. AI dominated everything the market responded to this year, and it was the most predictable trend ever. All we had to do was pay attention to what the agencies were asking.