Sam Bloom on AI Hype, CTV's Growing Pains & Why Two People in a Garage Scare Him

Sam Bloom, Head of Partnerships at PMG, returns to the ADOTAT Show for round two. Either that's heroic or deeply concerning. In this episode, Sam gets brutally honest about the AI hype cycle flooding ad tech, why most "agentic" tools are just the same old crap with a .ai domain, and how to tell the difference between real innovation and vendor theater. He breaks down his two-question filter that every pitch must pass, explains why 70% of agency time disappears into work nobody enjoys, and reveals why he fears two people in a garage more than the big holding companies. We also dive deep into CTV's graduation from high school (still figuring out laundry), why attention metrics are overrated, the coming tsunami of AI slop hitting connected TV, and how retail media is becoming identity infrastructure for a post-cookie world. Plus: the transparency paradox, why CMOs keep signing deals with agencies whose profits depend on opacity, and what happens when agencies disappear entirely. 🔥 IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 - Intro 02:15 - The AI Hype Cycle: Sorting Wheat from Slop 08:30 - Sam's Two-Question Vendor Filter 12:45 - What "Agentic" Actually Means (And How It's Abused) 18:20 - The 70% Problem: Why Agency Work Sucks 24:00 - Mental Health in Advertising 28:15 - The Garage Threat: Why Small Teams Win 35:40 - What AI Cannot Replace 42:00 - CTV: Graduating High School 48:30 - Why Attention Metrics Are Overrated 54:15 - The AI Slop Tsunami Coming to CTV 59:00 - Retail Media as Identity Infrastructure 1:05:30 - The Measurement Reckoning: Killing Last-Click 1:12:00 - The Transparency Paradox 1:18:45 - What Clients Actually Need 1:24:00 - The Agency Extinction Scenario 📢 SPONSORS: Troutman Amin LLP - https://www.troutmanamin.com/ Incremental - https://www.incremental.com/ 🎙️ ABOUT THE ADOTAT SHOW: The ADOTAT Show with Pesach Lattin. Where ads get torched, truth gets told, and the industry pretends not to read us. Stay Bold. Stay Curious. Know More Than You Did Yesterday. 👉 SUBSCRIBE for weekly episodes with the sharpest minds in advertising, media, and ad tech. CONNECT WITH US: 🌐 Website: https://www.adotat.com 📧 Newsletter: https://new.adotat.com 🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/pesach_lattin?lang=en 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pesach-lattin/ #AdTech #DigitalMarketing #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #CTV #ConnectedTV #RetailMedia #ProgrammaticAdvertising #MediaBuying #MarketingStrategy #AgencyLife #PMG #SamBloom #ADOTATShow #PesachLattin #MarketingPodcast #AdvertisingPodcast #MediaPlanning #Attribution #Transparency #AdAgency #MarketingTech #MarTech Tags: sam bloom, pmg, adotat show, pesach lattin, ad tech, advertising technology, ai in advertising, agentic ai, connected tv, ctv advertising, retail media, retail media networks, programmatic advertising, media buying, digital marketing, marketing strategy, agency life, marketing podcast, advertising podcast, ai hype, attention metrics, last click attribution, incrementality, media mix modeling, transparency in advertising, principal media, holding companies, marketing technology, martech, cmo, media planning, ad agency, future of advertising, ai slop, streaming advertising