What agentic commerce media means in 2026

Commerce media has spent the last decade focused on visibility: How do you get to the top of the page? How do you win the auction? How do you drive more clicks?

But as AI moves from theoretical to practical to transformational, those questions are beginning to change. 

Koddi’s latest research, The state of agentic commerce (media) reveals a fundamental shift: commerce media is moving from a model based on placements and impressions to one based on access, influence, and outcomes. As competitive advantage moves from winning attention on screens to earning eligibility within AI-driven decision systems, what matters now is being chosen within recommendation engines and decision frameworks that shape consumer purchasing. This is the new world that commerce media networks are creating for AI-native consumers, and this is the new world that brands will need to operate within. 

The below article outlines the findings from our new study of 750 consumers and 150 commerce media professionals across the US, UK, and Germany. In it, we detail the current state of agentic commerce today and provide a roadmap for how networks will need to act in the future. 

What is agentic commerce?

Agentic commerce is the application of AI agents to buying, selling, and monetization, where AI systems actively participate in product discovery, evaluation, recommendations, and—in some cases—purchasing decisions.

In agentic commerce, AI goes beyond surfacing products, like traditional ecommerce experiences, and instead actively participates  in the decision-making process itself.

This creates a massive shift in commerce media. If consumers change their browsing and buying behavior, brands and commerce companies must quickly follow suit. Instead of spending minutes scrolling through search pages, consumers are spending seconds conversing with an agent to discover brands quickly and buy immediately. 

Through these new agentic commerce experiences, brands no longer have the luxury of paying for visibility within a search, and  now must compete for eligibility for the agent’s decision. That means networks must think differently about how value is created, how products are surfaced, and how advertisers influence outcomes.

The three waves of agentic commerce  

Although agentic commerce is evolving  rapidly, we predict adoption of agentic commerce will occur through a series of three distinct waves:

Wave 1: AI within existing systems

In the first wave, AI is embedded within existing shopping and advertising experiences. Most commerce media networks are already here today, with AI improving advertiser performance through:

• Personalization and recommendation engines
• Automated bidding and targeting
• Campaign optimization
• Relevance improvements

While AI helps improve outcomes, it does not fundamentally change how decisions are made or how value is captured.

Wave 2: Agentic decisioning

The second wave encompasses much of the shift in today’s market. Here, AI begins actively participating in decision-making, as agents assist consumers with:

• Product discovery
• Comparisons
• Research 
• Filtering
• Recommendations

This phase demonstrates AI moving beyond optimization and into influence. 

Wave 3: Orchestration and system-level monetization

Finally, in the third wave, AI moves from merely supporting decisions to full orchestration. Brands want to coordinate experiences across retailers, publishers, platforms, and networks. Networks must make their data, inventory, and recommendation logic work together to shape stronger outcomes.

This gives platforms the ability to monetize based on:

• Access
• Influence
• Outcomes

The report shows that the shift to Wave 3 could happen within the next 12-18 months. This is a wakeup call for networks and brands alike: soon, we won’t live in a world where factors like audience, inventory, and bid strategy determine visibility. Instead, AI-powered orchestration will determine mere eligibility for results within agentic experiences. When this happens, brands and networks must shift strategically to ensure they can capture spend.  

When Wave 3 radically shifts consumer behavior and expectations, eligibility will become the new visibility. 

How consumers are responding to agentic commerce media

As the industry rapidly evolves, consumers are approaching agentic commerce with more caution. They are setting clear boundaries for how AI should participate in shopping experiences, and across the US, UK, and Germany, most consistently describe AI as a tool that should help make decisions—not make decisions for them.

The report calls this permissioned delegation, where consumers are happy to let AI:

• Research products
• Compare options
• Narrow choices
• Recommend alternatives
• Surface better deals

However, consumers remain less comfortable letting AI spend money autonomously, make final decisions, and execute purchases without approval, with 72% of consumers saying they want AI to be a “co-pilot, not a full autopilot.”

But this actually means more opportunity for commerce media: consumers aren’t handing over the reins of purchasing yet. Therefore, brands still have the opportunity to compete for the decision, not have AI have the final say. While competition is tighter, the upside still is too. 

Additionally, networks must earn the trust of consumers with the influx of AI, and transparency, control, explainability, and reversibility will become competitive advantages. Those who focus on these seamless experiences and build trust will stand out. 

How advertisers are investing in agentic commerce media

Because of the relative novelty of AI, it’s easy to think that brands are still experimenting with agentic commerce and agentic commerce media. But the research suggests otherwise, revealing that advertisers have largely moved beyond test-and-learn programs and are actively funding agentic capabilities today.

Around one-third expect to invest between $50,000 and $249,000 over the next 12 months, while another third expect investments between $250,000 and $999,000.

More importantly, these investments are coming from performance budgets, with sixty-one percent of advertisers reporting that  agentic commerce media investments will primarily come from performance and paid search budgets.

This means advertisers are evaluating agentic commerce media as a channel for increased outcomes, where they now expect:

• Measurable outcomes
• Transparent attribution
• Independent verification
• Clear ROI

Networks will need to demonstrate the value of new agentic experiences to garner increased investment, with seven in ten industry respondents requiring at least a 10–25% improvement in ROAS or CPA before scaling spend.

How agentic commerce media differs globally

Globally, networks, brands, and consumers alike are not transitioning evenly toward agentic commerce. The United States remains the most mature market, with nearly half of U.S. industry respondents reporting that AI is already integrated and scaled across multiple functions. In Germany, this is one-quarter, and in the UK, one-fifth.

Consumer sentiment follows a similar pattern. U.S. consumers are generally the most comfortable with AI-assisted decision-making, the U.K. sits somewhere in the middle, and Germany remains the most cautious market overall. 

Yet despite differences in adoption speed, all three markets are moving in the same direction: greater AI participation in commerce decisioning and greater investment in agentic capabilities.

How commerce media networks should prepare for agentic commerce

The report clearly states that commerce media networks’ role is changing from selling placements to shaping decisions. This means networks will need to focus on three key capabilities:

1. Access: Ensuring brands are eligible for consideration. This requires structured, machine-readable data, inventory, and product information that AI systems can access and understand.
2. Influence: Ensuring brands can shape recommendations and shortlist inclusion. This is where relevance, optimization, recommendation logic, and commercial models converge.
3. Execution: Ensuring networks can drive performance and prove outcomes. Measurement, attribution, fulfillment, and closed-loop reporting become increasingly important.

Networks that fail to support these capabilities risk becoming disconnected from the decision process itself.

Five actions commerce media networks should take today

While every network’s path will look different, the research points to five clear priorities:

1. Structure data for AI systems: Product catalogs, inventory, pricing, and content must be machine-readable and accessible.
2. Invest in measurement infrastructure: Measurement is one of the largest barriers to scaling agentic commerce. Networks that prove incremental impact will unlock greater advertiser investment.
3. Build transparency into recommendation systems: Consumers accept commercial influence when it is visible and understandable. Hidden influence erodes trust.
4. Expand beyond placements: The future of monetization extends beyond sponsored placements into access, influence, and outcomes.
5. Design for AI plus human intelligence: The dominant model is not AI replacing humans, but rather AI and humans working together.

Networks should build for collaboration, oversight, and governance—not unchecked automation.

The future belongs to the networks included in the decision process

As AI agents increasingly shape how products are discovered, evaluated, and purchased, value will  shift away from impressions and clicks toward access, influence, and outcomes. The networks that thrive will be those that integrate deeply into the systems making decisions. Pay attention to consumer behavior and brand pressures as you plan your strategic agentic commerce roadmap. 

Frequently asked questions about agentic commerce