Huella launches HuellaNXT to scale AI-led programmatic advertising

MUMBAI: For years, programmatic advertising has been brilliant at finding eyeballs but not always great at holding attention once it gets there. Huella now wants to change that equation. The creative intelligence and adtech company has unveiled HuellaNXT, a new live programmatic infrastructure layer aimed at scaling interactive, AI-enabled and creatively richer advertising experiences across premium digital and connected TV environments.

In simpler terms, Huella is trying to make programmatic advertising less robotic and a lot more engaging.

The company says HuellaNXT is not being positioned as just another supply-side platform in an already crowded adtech market. Instead, it is designed to solve what Huella sees as programmatic advertising’s biggest creative problem automation may have scaled ad delivery, but the ads themselves often remain static, passive and painfully forgettable.

HuellaNXT attempts to inject interactivity, AI-driven creative customisation and richer storytelling into those automated ecosystems.

Huella Services co-founder and COO Karan Khanna said the company’s focus is shifting from merely where ads appear to what they can actually do once they show up on screen.

The platform brings together Huella’s existing adtech products under a broader infrastructure play.

That includes NEXad, which powers VAST-compatible interactive connected TV ads; Newsroom AI, focused on storytelling-led branded content; and AIgnite, the company’s AI-enabled creative scaling engine that generates multiple ad variations across languages, formats, screen sizes and audience segments.

HuellaNXT effectively becomes the distribution backbone connecting all those capabilities to premium programmatic inventory.

The company said the platform is already live with real-time programmatic connectivity, intelligent demand routing and publisher monetisation capabilities. Huella claims to have activated more than 100 first-hand premium publisher supply partners and also operates as a Google MCM partner.

Its ecosystem integrations currently span major programmatic environments including Magnite, Equativ, The Trade Desk, Google DV360 and Yahoo.

But Huella believes access alone is no longer enough.

The bigger opportunity, according to the company, lies in helping advertisers transform standard banner ads and pre-roll videos into more immersive experiences particularly as connected TV, premium streaming and AI-personalised advertising continue to gain momentum.

Through HuellaNXT, brands can run VAST-compatible interactive CTV campaigns, AI-generated creative variations, rich media formats and measurement-ready campaigns across Programmatic Guaranteed and Private Marketplace deals spanning mobile, display and connected TV ecosystems.

The platform also supports third-party measurement and verification integrations, a growing priority for advertisers increasingly demanding proof of engagement rather than just impressions.

The launch marks a broader shift in Huella’s business strategy from building standalone ad formats to becoming a full-fledged infrastructure-led creative intelligence platform.

And timing may be on its side.

As advertisers grapple with shrinking attention spans, AI-generated content overload and rising pressure on campaign performance, adtech firms are increasingly racing to make digital advertising not just smarter, but harder to ignore.

In that battle, Huella is betting the future of programmatic advertising may not simply be automated media buying but advertising that behaves less like wallpaper and more like an experience.