S1: Media buy mastery

AdCP specialist module S1: Media buy mastery. Full transaction lifecycle, pricing models, proposals, forecasting, and multi-agent orchestration with live sandbox agents.

S1: Media buy mastery

Members only — Requires Practitioner credential. ~45 minutes with Addie. Combines hands-on lab and adaptive exam.

This specialist module tests your mastery of the media buy transaction lifecycle. You’ll work with live sandbox agents to execute complex flows: proposals, forecasting, refinement, packages, and multi-agent orchestration. Addie evaluates both your hands-on work and your conceptual understanding.

Passing earns the AdCP specialist — Media buy credential.

What you’ll demonstrate

• Execute the full media buy lifecycle including proposals and forecasting
• Manage order lifecycle: confirmation, pause/resume, cancellation, and terminal states
• Use get_media_buys to check status, valid_actions, and creative approvals before acting
• Handle pricing negotiation, budget allocation, and multi-agent orchestration
• Use refinement and package requests for complex buying scenarios
• Monitor and optimize campaign delivery using protocol tools
• Reason about failure modes, conflict resolution, and edge cases

Prerequisite reading

Core transaction tasks

get_products

Product discovery: natural language briefs, structured filters, response schemas.

create_media_buy

Campaign creation: manual mode, proposal mode, approval lifecycle.

update_media_buy

Campaign modification: budgets, targeting, scheduling, creative swaps.

get_media_buys

Operational status: lifecycle state, creative approvals, valid actions, delivery snapshots.

get_media_buy_delivery

Delivery reporting: impressions, spend, completion rates, performance.

Supporting concepts

Media buy specification

The formal specification for the media buy protocol.

Pricing models

CPM, flat rate, performance-based pricing, and rate cards.

Media buys overview

Campaign structure, states, and the approval lifecycle.

Trusted Match Protocol

How TMP handles impression-time decisions such as cross-publisher frequency capping.

AdCP and OpenRTB

How campaign workflows in AdCP connect to impression-time execution patterns.

Orchestrator design

Architecture patterns for multi-agent orchestration.

Conversion tracking

Event sources, log_event, and attribution setup.

Performance feedback

Seller optimization feedback based on campaign performance.

Context and Identity Match

The two structurally separated operations that power impression-time execution.

Router architecture

Deployment, fan-out, and provider configuration for the TMP Router.

Lab exercises

During the module, Addie will guide you through hands-on exercises:

1. Product discovery and evaluation — Query multiple sandbox agents, compare products, evaluate pricing
2. Proposal and forecasting — Request proposals, analyze delivery forecasts (spend curves and availability)
3. Campaign creation and optimization — Create a media buy, monitor delivery, execute updates
4. Lifecycle management — Check valid_actions, cancel a package, handle NOT_CANCELLABLE, use revision for concurrency
5. Multi-agent orchestration and execution — Manage campaigns across multiple sellers. Trace a cross-publisher suppression scenario: a viewer sees an ad on publisher A, then visits publisher B within the 2-hour recency window — what does Identity Match return and why? Configure frequency parameters (5/week, 2-hour minimum recency) and predict delivery impact. Explain why Context Match and Identity Match are structurally separated.

Assessment

Dimension	Weight	What Addie evaluates
Protocol mastery	30%	Comprehensive understanding of media buy lifecycle
Targeting expertise	25%	Masters advanced targeting capabilities
Analytical skill	25%	Analyzes delivery data effectively
Problem solving	20%	Handles complex scenarios and edge cases

Passing threshold: 70%.

Start this module

Start S1 with Addie

“I’d like to start the media buy specialist module.”