Guide

AdCP, AAMP, MCP or direct APIs: what does each one do?

AdCP and AAMP are protocols for agents that buy media from sellers. MCP is a way for any AI application to call tools. Direct platform APIs are where a campaign is actually built, on Meta, Google, TikTok or DV360. They answer different questions, and a media team usually needs more than one.

By Nathan Venezia, Co-founder & CEO · Updated October 14, 2026

The four, side by side

	What it is	Who runs it	Status, October 2026
AdCP	Ad Context Protocol: an open protocol for agents to buy and manage media from sellers	AgenticAdvertising.org, since its launch in October 2025	Version 3.2, generally available since September 30, 2026
AAMP	Agentic Advertising Management Protocols: IAB Tech Lab's standards for agentic advertising	IAB Tech Lab, since February 2026	Version 3.0, published September 22, 2026
MCP	Model Context Protocol: an open standard for connecting AI applications to tools and data	Created by Anthropic in November 2024, now under the Linux Foundation	Widely adopted. Ad platform servers range from read-only to campaign creation
Direct APIs	Each advertising platform's own programmatic interface, its broadest set of campaign settings	Each platform: Google, Meta, TikTok, Snap, Amazon	Mature. Platform interfaces and most tools are built on them

AdCP and AAMP: agents buying from sellers

AdCP and AAMP standardise the conversation between a buyer's agent and a seller's agent: discovering inventory, exchanging proposals, agreeing on deals and creating media buys with publishers and SSPs.

AdCP is an open protocol launched in October 2025 by Yahoo, PubMatic, Scope3, Swivel, Triton Digital and Optable, and governed by AgenticAdvertising.org, an industry association. It defines tasks such as get_products, create_media_buy and sync_creatives, and runs over MCP or A2A, so the same task works over either. Version 3.2 also introduced a shorter proposal-based lifecycle.

AAMP is IAB Tech Lab's umbrella for its agentic standards. It brings together buyer and seller agent SDKs, Agentic Direct built on OpenDirect, the Deals API, Agentic Audiences, ARTF for real-time decisioning, and an agent registry. Its buyer agent books deals with sellers and hands the resulting deal IDs to DSPs. Version 3.0 added OpenProposal, open for public comment until October 22, 2026.

The two overlap. IAB Tech Lab describes them as frameworks with different design philosophies, "not two cleanly separated layers", and AdCP's own FAQ notes they are not wire-compatible just because both support MCP. Neither is how you configure a campaign inside Meta, Google Ads or TikTok.

MCP: a connector, not a media buyer

MCP lets an AI application call tools that another system exposes. Several advertising platforms now publish official MCP servers, with very different scopes:

Google Ads. Read-only: it can query accounts and reports, not change bids or create campaigns.
Meta. Can create and edit campaigns, ad sets and ads. Open beta since April 2026.
Amazon Ads. Can create, update and delete campaigns. Open beta since February 2026, for partners with API access.
TikTok. An official server for TikTok for Business that can create campaigns and adjust budgets and bids.
Snapchat. Read-only at launch in August 2026, with write access announced for later.
DV360. No official MCP server.

An MCP server exposes what the underlying API makes available, at best. The agent still has to choose the right tool, understand the platform's object model, assemble the parameters and order the calls. And what the AI sends goes straight to the platform: nothing checks it against your plan.

Direct APIs: where the campaign is built

Every campaign ends up as calls to a platform's own API: the Google Ads API, the Display & Video 360 API and its Structured Data Files, the Meta Marketing API, the TikTok API for Business, the Snapchat Marketing API and the Amazon Ads API.

They are the broadest surface a platform offers, though each has its own gaps: some creative types or campaign types cannot be created through the API. A single campaign setup can involve hundreds of variables, from objectives, budgets and bidding to targeting, pacing, creatives, tracking and naming, with dependencies between campaign objects. Executing correctly means knowing which of them are required, which depend on each other, and what each platform accepts.

Which one does a media team need?

To buy guaranteed or curated inventory from publishers through agents: AdCP or AAMP, whichever your sellers support.
To let an assistant read reports or make simple changes on one platform: that platform's official MCP server, where one exists.
To build and run campaigns across Meta, Google Ads, TikTok, Snapchat, DV360 and Amazon from one plan: tools built on the full platform APIs, with validation and approval before anything is sent.

They combine. One agent can speak AdCP to a seller, call tools over MCP, and have its campaigns executed through direct APIs.

Where Concord fits

Concord is the agentic infrastructure for media buying, automating campaign execution across advertising platforms. As AdExchanger reported, Concord connects to advertising platforms through their APIs, not through MCP.

Concord builds purpose-built tools on those direct integrations, and runs every operation through 1,000+ checks before anything is sent. Significant campaign actions require approval by an authorized user.

Concord also works the other way round: it exposes its own tools over MCP, so your agents can delegate an outcome to Concord with askConcord and Concord does the execution. See how headless works.

Concord is a member of AgenticAdvertising.org, the association that governs AdCP.

Questions

What is the difference between AdCP and AAMP?

Both standardise how buyer and seller agents trade media. AdCP is an open protocol governed by AgenticAdvertising.org and runs over MCP or A2A. AAMP is IAB Tech Lab's set of agentic standards, building on its existing specifications such as OpenDirect. IAB Tech Lab describes them as overlapping frameworks with different design philosophies, and they are not wire-compatible.

Is AdCP built on MCP?

AdCP uses MCP and A2A as transports. The same AdCP tasks work over either one.

Can I set up a Meta or Google Ads campaign through AdCP?

AdCP and AAMP are designed for agents buying media from sellers such as publishers and SSPs. A campaign inside Meta, Google Ads or TikTok is set up through that platform's own API, or through its official MCP server where one exists and allows it.

Which advertising platforms have an official MCP server?

As of October 2026: Google Ads (read-only), Meta (create and edit, open beta), Amazon Ads (open beta for partners), TikTok, Snapchat (read-only at launch) and Microsoft Advertising (read-only pilot). DV360 has none.

Does Concord use MCP?

Concord connects to advertising platforms through their direct APIs, not MCP. It exposes its own tools over MCP, so other agents can delegate work to Concord with askConcord.