Mark Zuckerberg outlines a future without creative agencies, media planners, or analytics consultants. Meta plans to automate the entire advertising chain with AI tools – from briefing to performance measurement. A $650 billion market faces revolution.
In an extensive conversation with tech author Ben Thompson of Stratechery, Mark Zuckerberg outlined a future that fundamentally changes the advertising industry. His vision: A company connects its bank account, enters a sales goal – and the platform handles everything else.
"You're a business. You come to us, tell us your goal, connect your bank account. You don't need creative, audience planning, measurement – except the results we deliver. This is a redefinition of the advertising category." – Mark Zuckerberg
Digital platforms have been nibbling at classic agency tasks for over 15 years. But this time it's different. Traditionally, four players share the job: a creative team for ideas, a media agency for placement, an analyst for evaluation, and an account manager for coordination.
Zuckerberg wants to transfer the entire chain into a single automated service on Meta infrastructure. This vision is relevant because it reduces friction. Every external step costs time and money. Fewer handoffs mean less friction loss, faster tests, more learning effects – and potentially better results.
Meta isn't starting from zero. The Advantage+ tools already write ad copy, combine images, select placements, set bids, and continuously adjust budgets. The first numbers are promising:
The system behind it is called Andromeda – a ranking model that selects ads in real-time. It analyzes user signals, past performance, and creative features, evaluating thousands of variants in milliseconds.
After delivery, the system observes every impression, feeds results back into the model, and optimizes the next round. This runs every second – for billions of users. This capability is crucial when every user sees an individual ad that dynamically adapts.
In the interview with Thompson, Zuckerberg divided Meta's AI strategy into four revenue pillars:
More precise audiences, cheaper tests, stronger results through AI-optimized campaigns and automated creation.
AI recommendations that keep users scrolling longer and significantly increase engagement rates.
Automated sales and support via WhatsApp and Messenger for seamless business communication.
Assistants and creative tools outside classic Meta apps as new business fields.
The first pillar – advertising improvement – is most developed and poses the greatest threat to agencies. According to Zuckerberg, Meta will soon "generate advertising materials for customers" and "personalize while they view them." The marginal cost for additional concepts thus approaches zero.
If Meta takes over the entire advertising chain, jobs disappear. Forrester expects around 32,000 job losses in US advertising service firms by 2030 . Particularly at risk are:
Creative and strategic roles look better. Originality protects against automation. Copywriters, designers, editors, and planners could even become more productive through AI assistance.
Learn Meta's Advantage+ and similar platforms. Become AI-augmented rather than AI-replaced.
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