Trade Desk's Koa AI agent now plans and optimizes programmatic buys via chat

August 29, 2026 · adpass_media

Media buyers now describe a campaign goal in Zuma, the updated interface for The Trade Desk's Kokai platform, and the AI agent Koa answers with audience and setting recommendations, then analyzes results and suggests next actions. The company frames the update as a way to simplify programmatic work and cut the operations buyers handle themselves, coming as ad agencies keep raising complaints about the DSP. Separately, Gracenote, a Nielsen division, signed its first DSP agreement with The Trade Desk to feed data on individual TV programs and content into connected TV programmatic buys, letting targeting run on what a viewer is actually watching in addition to audience traits.

Programmatic buying on connected TV gains more signals to base purchase decisions on, and each additional signal raises the cost of a wrong one. An ADPASS and Postmarketing investigation found that the seller Everest discovered fraudulent traffic sold through programmatic platforms: after a federal TV channel's site fully shut off monetization, ads kept appearing through programmatic sales, and the site kept being offered to buyers in an even larger volume. Autonomous agents like Koa add a layer to this risk. As Koa picks audiences, settings and optimization moves on its own, the decision behind where an impression lands and why the algorithm selected that inventory sits one step further from human review.