Mumbai: IAB Tech Lab, the global digital advertising technical standard-setting body, has announced the release of its Agentic RTB Framework (ARTF) v1.0 for public comment. The new specification introduces a standardized approach aimed at transforming interoperability across the programmatic advertising ecosystem. Leveraging containerized architecture, ARTF enables faster communication and more efficient data exchange between technologies operating within the same data center. The extended public comment period remains open until January 15, 2026.
“Agentic RTB Framework v1.0 represents a fundamental step toward modernizing how systems interact in real time,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab. “By allowing agents and other real-time technologies to operate within the same virtual environment, we’re creating a foundation for agentic workflows and near-instantaneous media trading. This is the groundwork for an interoperable, high-performance ecosystem.”
Katsur further highlighted the importance of rethinking real-time operations. “In real-time systems, time is every bit as precious a resource as processing power, energy, or high-speed memory. Agentic workflows, constantly engaged in high-speed bi-directional conversations, demand architectures that treat time as a first-class asset. A container-based design does exactly that, minimizing latency, optimizing execution windows, and freeing systems from legacy time constraints so agents can think, act, and transact without delay,” he said.
According to Tech Lab, ARTF v1.0 is designed to reduce bid request and response times by up to 80%, dramatically increasing opportunities for bid enrichment and real-time decisioning with third-party specialist technologies. By enabling systems to interact within the same data center, server, or even virtual machine—rather than across networks—the framework accelerates auctions while reducing compute overhead and energy consumption. The result is a faster, more cost-efficient, and more sustainable programmatic ecosystem.
Katsur noted that the development reflects extensive engineering efforts and industry collaboration. “We’ve been working toward this for some time. What we’re doing here is building the real-time control plane for agentic collaboration, where DSPs, SSPs, enrichment partners, measurement solutions, and other services, including agents, can communicate at high speed within the same virtual machine.”
Industry leaders are already welcoming the development:
“At Index, we’ve spent the past year advancing agentic services through partner container integrations. Agentic RTB Framework v1.0 marks a major milestone for our industry, bringing robust, production-tested agentic standards to OpenRTB,” said Joshua Prismon, Chief Architect at Index Exchange. “With agentic standards applied through ARTF and powered by OpenRTB, companies can seamlessly unlock the full potential of sell-side decisioning, enabling precise, real-time, per-impression choices based on what matters most to them and their customers.”
“This new standard will change how we think about the use of AI in real-time programmatic,” added Adam Heimlich, CEO, Chalice. “We look forward to greater interoperability for custom optimization of media campaigns, not just between companies but between agents, too.”
“After developing and testing a custom container-based bidstream augmentation solution with Chalice, which was a simple precursor to IAB Tech Lab’s new agentic spec, I’ve been very pleased to witness this spec take shape during and between our discussions,” said Arpad Miklos, Staff Software Engineer, The Trade Desk. “It is a sensible and empowering approach to opening up the augmentation space that will enable brand new ways to add collaborative value to the bidding pipeline, and we are looking to implement it for the above project we are actively working on at The Trade Desk in the near future.”
Beyond performance acceleration, ARTF v1.0 establishes a domain framework for agentic trading, supporting protocols such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) communication. The standard, built on Tech Lab’s open-source infrastructure and GitHub collaboration model, enables developers and organizations to test, experiment, and contribute to the evolving specification.
