IAB Tech Lab, the global digital advertising technical standard-setting body, has announced the release of its Agentic Roadmap, outlining how the industry can scale agentic buying and selling by extending established standards with new agentic and high-performance protocols. The roadmap defines a practical path to enable secure, interoperable agentic execution across digital advertising without rebuilding the market's foundational languages.
AI is moving from “assist” to “execute” in advertising - systems that can take actions, coordinate tasks, and run workflows. IAB Tech Lab’s new agentic Initiative is an industry effort to make that shift safe and scalable, extend the standards already used, publish a practical roadmap, and release open-source reference tools so automation can work across partners - not just inside one platform.
New Zealand relies on global platforms and supply chains. If AI automation develops as disconnected one-off solutions, it increases complexity and cost for everyone, so shared standards reduce that risk.
Key Outtakes:
IAB Tech Lab has released an Agentic Roadmap for digital advertising, setting out how the industry can scale AI-driven (“Agentic”) buying and selling responsibly.
The core strategy is to extend the ad standards the industry already uses, rather than rebuilding the ecosystem or creating multiple new standards that could fragment the market.
IAB Tech Lab’s goal is secure, interoperable agentic execution at scale, while keeping the foundational languages of ad tech intact.
The roadmap builds on existing standards across transactions/management/delivery (OpenRTB, AdCOM, OpenDirect, VAST, Deals API), plus measurement (Open Measurement ID and a pending Conversion API), and privacy/regulatory frameworks (GPP and TCF). If you're unfamiliar with any of these terms, we've added a Glossary of Terms below.
It also references important industry taxonomies (ad product, content, audience) as part of the foundational layer being carried forward.
Tech Lab highlights ARTF (Agentic RTB Framework) as a “control-plane” standard that enables autonomous agents/LLMs to participate in real-time transactions without sacrificing performance.
The roadmap includes integrating modern protocols (MCP, Agent2Agent, and gRPC) to support machine-speed execution and coordination between independent systems.
This approach should deliver faster speed-to-value, reduce integration complexity, and lower operational risk for agencies, publishers, brands, and technology providers.
For 2026, Tech Lab plans open-source reference implementations (buyer and seller agents), a neutral MCP reference server, standardised agent profiles, and technical mappings to existing specs. Plus a focus on trust, provenance, measurement, and transaction-integrity signals aligned with GPP/TCF.
If you want to find out more about the roadmap and don't mind an early start you can join the U.S. IAB Tech Lab Agentic AI Roadmap Webinar on Thursday 29 January 5-6am NZDT by registering here. The webinar will provide an overview of the roadmap, the standards being extended, and how agentic execution will be applied across digital advertising.
You can find our more about the IAB Tech Lab Agentic AI Roadmap initiative here
Glossary of Terms:
MCP (Model Context Protocol): A standard way for an AI assistant/agent to connect to tools and data so it can take actions (not just chat).
A2A (Agent2Agent): A standard way for one AI agent to communicate and coordinate with another AI agent (even if built by different companies).
gRPC: A fast, reliable method for computer systems to send structured messages to each other behind the scenes.
Think of it as a high-speed courier between systems.
OpenRTB: The standard format and rules used for real-time programmatic ad auctions (bids on impressions).
AdCOM (Advertising Common Object Model): A shared “dictionary” of ad objects and fields so platforms describe inventory, placements, and creatives consistently.
OpenDirect: A standard way to automate direct/guaranteed advertising deals (reserved inventory) between buyers and sellers.
VAST (Video Ad Serving Template): A standard format that tells video players what ad to show and how to track it.
GPP (Global Privacy Platform/Protocol): A standard way to package and pass privacy/consent signals across the ad supply chain.
TCF (Transparency & Consent Framework): A framework for collecting and sharing user consent choices for data use in advertising (commonly used in Europe).
Deals API
A standard API to share and sync deal details between platforms, reducing manual setup and errors.