As the traditional bridge between buyers and sellers in the video ad business, agencies have a huge vested stake in how programmatic plays out. On the one hand, programmatic gives advertisers more control than ever in terms of managing their spending and targeting their audiences. But on the other hand, programmatic requires highly specialized new skill sets and investments to truly pay off.

These topics and more were part of our “Agency of the Future” session at last month’s SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit. The session included Christina Beaumier (SVP, Xaxis Media), Adam Kasper (Chief Media Officer, Havas Media North America) with Steve Grubbs (Prohaska Consulting and former CEO, PHD North America), moderating.

Adam and Christina shared how their organizations are structured to capitalize on programmatic, why automation does not lead to staffing cost savings, what the proper agency compensation models are for programmatic, whether programmatic video and TV should be planned/executed in one group, why connected TV advertising is gaining momentum and much more. It’s a fascinating discussion for anyone with an interest in agencies’ role in the programmatic future.