Media Tech Talk Brian O’Kelley (Scope3) - Media Tech Talk #006
Nov 24, 2025
Brian O’Kelley, Co-founder and CEO of Scope3 and ad tech pioneer, joins the hosts to discuss the evolution of advertising through AI and sustainability. He shares insights on how agentic advertising can significantly reduce carbon footprints and fix misaligned incentives in programmatic markets. Brian also highlights the importance of open standards versus walled gardens in ad tech and predicts AI will revolutionize the industry as the new operating system. His reflections on the transition of AppNexus to Xandr and the future of media make for a compelling conversation.
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Episode notes
Banana Slide Sparked Scope3
- Brian traced Scope3's origin to an MIT supply-chain slide about a banana's carbon footprint during COVID.
- That spreadsheet-style back-of-envelope on nytimes.com led him to see millions of tons of carbon and tens of billions in wasted ad supply spend.
Agentic Buys Cut Carbon By Reducing Decisions
- Agentic buys make far fewer real-time decisions than programmatic bidding, lowering carbon per outcome massively.
- Transacting fewer times (per campaign instead of per impression) multiplies carbon efficiency even if each transaction is heavier.
Lost Value From Header Bidding
- Header bidding removed eCPM prediction and alignment between buyers and sellers, creating incentive misalignment.
- Reintroducing transaction structures that tie outcomes to intent can reconnect buyer and seller needs efficiently.
