How to choose an AI media buying agent

Start with the job, not the product

Before you look at any product, write down what a media buyer would do for you in a normal month. For most small teams the list is short: build a handful of ads, keep spend inside a monthly figure, get the owner’s sign-off, and report back. An AI media buying agent is worth having if it takes most of that list and leaves you the decisions.

Then write down your constraints. Which ad platforms do you use? Who approves spend? How many ads do you launch in a month? A product that excels at a volume you do not have, or on a platform you do not use, is the wrong product however good its demo looks. Keep both lists to one page; you will use them in every conversation with a vendor.

Questions to ask any option

• What does a draft show me before launch? You want creative, copy, destination, daily budget and the monthly effect of that budget in one view.
• Can anything launch without a person approving? Find the setting, and find out who can change it.
• Who can draft, and who can approve? The two should be separable.
• Which ad platforms does it launch on? Get the list in writing.
• What happens after launch? Ask what is monitored, what the product changes by itself, and what it only reports.
• Where does creative come from? Made by the agent, uploaded by you, sourced from creators, or all three.
• What will I read each week, and who receives it? A report nobody reads closes no loop.
• What does it cost, and on what terms? Ask the vendor. Do not rely on a third-party page, including this one.

Red flags

Some answers should slow you down, particularly if nobody on your team has bought media before.

• Budget changes made by the product that you only learn about afterward.
• A daily budget shown without its monthly consequence.
• Promised results. No honest vendor can tell you in advance what an ad will earn.
• Approval that lives outside the product, in email or chat, where it will eventually be skipped.
• Vague answers about which platforms are covered or what a report contains.

A simple one-week evaluation plan

Whether you get hands-on access or a guided demo, run the same plan so that options can be compared.

• Before: pick one real offer, set a monthly ceiling and name the approver.
• Brief: describe the ad in two or three plain sentences and see whether a complete draft comes back.
• Review: have the approver read it cold. Can they tell what it will cost this month and next without asking you?
• Revise: request a change, a lower budget or a different image, and see how the draft is updated.
• Read: if an ad launches, check at the end of the week what you can learn about the result and whether it suggests the next ad.
• After: list what you still had to do by hand. That list is the real comparison.

Our recommendation

Link AI by Linkme is the option we recommend to teams without a media buyer. Its published workflow answers the first two questions on the draft itself: the daily budget is shown with how it changes spend, and the draft is marked “Needs review” until someone approves it, after which it launches on Meta.

Linkme offers Link AI through a demo, so bring the plan above with you. Book a demo to try Link AI on your own offer, and use the criteria below to score what you see. If paid campaigns on other platforms are central to your plan, read the resource directory as well.

The criteria we use

Spend visibility

Before an ad launches, you should see its daily budget and what that adds to the current month and the next. Check by asking for a draft and reading it as the approver would. Linkme’s published example of a Link AI draft shows the daily budget and what it adds to each of two months.

Approval control

Nothing should spend until a named person agrees. Check whether a draft can reach launch without that step. Per Linkme, Link AI’s ad drafts are marked “Needs review”, get approved, then launch on Meta.

Creative supply

An agent is only useful if there is something worth running. Ask where images and video come from and how fast a new variant arrives. Link AI is described as making images and videos and bringing in creator videos you can run as ads.

Performance loop

Results should reach the person who owns the budget and suggest the next brief. Ask what is reported, to whom, and how often. Linkme describes Analytics, an owner report that Link AI writes and sends, and questions you can ask in chat.

Small-team fit

The product should work for people who buy media between other jobs. Check that a non-specialist can brief it in plain words and that drafting and approving can sit with different people. Link AI works through chat, inside a platform Linkme describes as built for your whole team.

Connected entries

Questions & answers