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Product discovery is the foundation of AdCP media buying. Use natural language to describe your campaign goals and discover relevant advertising inventory that matches your requirements. AdCP’s product discovery revolutionizes how advertising inventory is found and evaluated:
  • Natural Language First: Describe campaigns in plain English instead of navigating complex catalogs
  • AI-Powered Matching: Advanced algorithms match briefs to relevant inventory
  • Format-Aware Discovery: Products include creative format compatibility
  • Principal-Specific Results: See inventory based on your access and negotiated deals

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The Discovery Process

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1. Write Your Brief

Start with a natural language description of your campaign objectives: “Mike’s Plumbing Services needs to reach homeowners in the Denver, Colorado area who might need plumbing services. We have $8,000 USD to spend from October 15-31, 2024. Looking for display and native formats to drive phone calls.”

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2. Discover Products

Use get_products to find matching inventory based on your brief and brand.

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3. Evaluate Results

Review returned products for:
  • Audience alignment with your target customers
  • Format compatibility with your creative assets
  • Pricing model (fixed CPM vs auction-based)
  • Delivery type (guaranteed vs non-guaranteed)
  • Delivery forecasts on proposals to estimate expected impressions, reach, and spend

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4. Refine and Iterate

Use buying_mode: "refine" with the refine array of change requests to iterate on products and proposals — include, omit, or find similar products, and request adjustments to proposals before committing to a buy. See Refinement.

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5. Work with Proposals

Publishers may return proposals alongside products—structured media plans with budget allocations that can be executed directly. See Proposals.

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Key Concepts

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Natural Language Briefs

AdCP accepts campaign descriptions in conversational English rather than requiring:
  • ❌ Product catalog navigation
  • ❌ Technical targeting syntax
  • ❌ Platform-specific terminology
Instead, describe your campaign naturally:
  • ✅ “Premium sports fans for energy drink launch”
  • ✅ “Local restaurant targeting dinner rush commuters”
  • ✅ “B2B software for marketing managers”
Learn more in Brief Expectations.

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Product Model

Products describe sellable inventory along three independent dimensions:
  • Publisher properties — WHERE the ad runs (the website, app, or platform)
  • Collections and installments — WHAT CONTENT the ad runs in or around (a series, podcast, or live event)
  • Placements — WHAT POSITION the ad appears in (pre-roll, mid-roll, host read)
Each product also includes audience targeting, creative format requirements, pricing, and delivery characteristics. When products reference collections, buyers resolve full collection metadata (talent, genre, content ratings, distribution identifiers) from the collection creator’s or publisher’s adagents.json. Understand the complete product structure in Media Products. For collection-centric inventory like podcasts, CTV series, and live events, see Collections and Installments.

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Catalog-driven discovery

For catalog-driven campaigns (retail media, job boards, travel), pass a catalog on get_products to find products that match your catalog items. Products declare which catalog types they support via catalog_types, and the response includes catalog_match with matched item counts. See Catalogs.

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Property Governance Filtering

For compliance-filtered discovery, pass a property_list on get_products to restrict results to properties that meet governance requirements (COPPA certification, sustainability scores, brand safety ratings). Property lists are created via a property governance agent. See get_products — Property Governance for details.

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Format Discovery Integration

Product discovery works hand-in-hand with creative planning:
  1. Products return format IDs for required creative specifications
  2. Use list_creative_formats to get detailed format requirements
  3. Plan creative production based on discovered format needs

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Brief Examples & Patterns

Real-world examples of effective briefs for different campaign types:
  • Local Business: Service area, customer demographics, business outcomes
  • E-commerce: Product categories, shopping behaviors, conversion goals
  • B2B: Job titles, company characteristics, lead generation
  • Brand Awareness: Lifestyle attributes, media consumption, reach objectives
Explore comprehensive examples in Example Briefs.

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Discovery Best Practices

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Effective Brief Writing

  • Be specific about your business and what you’re promoting
  • Describe your ideal customer rather than demographic codes
  • Include geographic scope and any location relevance
  • Mention format preferences if you have creative constraints
  • State business objectives (calls, visits, sales, awareness)

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Iterative Discovery

  • Start with a broad brief to explore available inventory
  • Use structured filters to narrow results by delivery type or pricing
  • Refine specific products with the refine array before committing
  • Experiment with different customer descriptions to find new opportunities

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Working with Results

  • Review all returned products for unexpected opportunities
  • Check format requirements before creative production
  • Consider mix of guaranteed and non-guaranteed inventory
  • Evaluate pricing guidance for budget planning

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Response Times

Product discovery operations:

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Next Steps

After discovering products:
  1. Create Media Buy - Build campaigns from selected products
  2. Creative Planning - Prepare assets matching format requirements
  3. Task Reference - Detailed API documentation for implementation