Guideline Expands Ad Intelligence with Digital Pricing Data
Guideline expands data coverage across Programmatic Direct and retail media, making insights accessible through its AI Agent and MCP Server technology.
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Guideline, a global provider of ad intelligence and media plan management solutions, has announced six updates rolling out in Q4 of 2026 across two areas: agentic AI capabilities and expanded advertising data.
The agentic updates bring US digital pricing data to the Guideline AI Agent and Guideline Ad Intelligence MCP Server, giving clients access through Guideline’s agent or their own AI tools.
The data updates include a new Programmatic Direct view, retail media coverage in Canada, and market data enhancements that add Quick Serve Restaurant segments and align digital classifications across the US, UK and Canada.
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“Clients want our data to fit the way they already work,” said Steve Silvers, Chief Product Officer of Guideline. “This quarter’s enhancements do that two ways. They put our pricing data wherever clients ask questions, and they organise spend the way the market actually buys.”
US digital pricing, in the AI Agent or clients’ own AI tools
Clients can now ask Guideline’s AI Agent, in natural language, what digital ads cost by publisher, ad type or programmatic marketplace and see both pricing and spend in a single response.
They can also build custom dashboards and use advanced charting to modify dimensions, measures, filters and custom formulas beyond standard dashboard views.
The same data and natural-language querying are available through the Guideline Ad Intelligence MCP Server, introduced in July. Teams can query data and trends from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot or their own agents with no file exports, giving them workflow-native access to U.S. digital pricing.
Programmatic Direct: a fuller view of programmatic spend
Many digital buys are placed directly with publishers but run through programmatic channels, such as private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed deals. Guideline is adding a Buy Channel view that splits U.S. spend and pricing three ways: Direct, Programmatic Direct and Third-Party.
Clients get a complete programmatic total, CPM benchmarks by buy channel and a view of how spend shifts between channels over time. Media owners can see their Programmatic Direct share against their competitive set, and the AI Agent can answer how a buy was placed.
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Quick Serve Restaurants by segment
Quick Serve Restaurants, the second-largest U.S. product subcategory at $4.5 billion a year, now splits into Burgers, Chicken and Other Quick Serve Restaurants. Pizza Eateries & Delivery remains its own separate subcategory.
Retail media in Canada
Canadian clients can now isolate retail media spend, one of the fastest-growing areas of digital advertising, on the same classification U.S. and U.K. clients use.
One digital classification across the US, UK and Canada
Digital subtype names in UK and Canadian data are updated to match industry standards and the US, covering all current and historical data. Clients who work across markets now read one scheme instead of reconciling three.
