IAB Tech Lab, the global standard-setting body for digital advertising technology, has unveiled its Agentic Roadmap. This initiative outlines a practical approach to scaling agentic buying and selling by extending existing standards with modern agentic and high-performance protocols, enabling secure, interoperable execution without overhauling foundational market languages.
Agentic execution is already integral to digital advertising, facilitated by open standards. The roadmap enhances core protocols—such as OpenRTB for transactions, VAST for video, Global Privacy Protocol (GPP) for privacy, and the recent Agentic RTB Framework (ARTF)—to support autonomous agents and large language models in real-time transactions while maintaining performance.
By incorporating contemporary protocols like Model Context Protocol, Agent2Agent, and gRPC, the approach ensures machine-speed coordination, security, and scalability across independent systems.
"Agentic execution is already part of how digital advertising operates today," said Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab. "Open, interoperable standards are what make that possible, and our focus is on scaling it responsibly. The fastest and smartest way forward is to build on an existing shared foundation, not introduce multiple new standards that create fragmentation."
The roadmap prioritizes practical extensions, including open-source reference implementations for buyer and seller agents, a neutral Model Context Protocol server, standardized agent profiles, Protocol Buffers and gRPC mappings, and additional tools based on community input.
Emphasis remains on developing trust, provenance, measurement, and transaction-integrity signals, aligned with privacy frameworks like GPP and Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF).
Industry leaders endorse the strategy:
"IAB and IAB Tech Lab have always been incredible leaders in their focus on interoperability," said Ryan McConville, EVP, Chief Product Officer, Advertising Platforms & Operations, NBCUniversal Advertising & Partnerships.
"Scale only works when interoperability is real," said George Panagopoulos, Chief Technology Officer, Experian Marketing Services.
"Agentic advertising only scales when intent, execution, and governance evolve together," said Nishant Khatri, EVP of Product Management at PubMatic.
"Our multi-party digital advertising ecosystem operates best when we all embrace, improve, and extend the transparency and interoperability standards," said Ray Ghanbari, CTO, Index Exchange.
To facilitate adoption, IAB Tech Lab will host a webinar on January 28, 2026, reviewing the roadmap and its applications. Starting February 12, 2026, monthly in-person Agentic AI Boot Camps and workshops will offer hands-on guidance.
Backed by dedicated AI engineering resources, this roadmap provides a stable path for advancing intelligent systems in digital advertising, preserving interoperability while building industry trust.
About IAB Technology
Laboratory Established in 2014, the IAB Technology Laboratory (Tech Lab) is a non-profit consortium that engages a member community globally to develop foundational technology and standards that enable growth and trust in the digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers, ad technology firms, agencies, marketers, and other member companies, IAB Tech Lab focuses on solutions for brand safety and ad fraud; identity, data, and consumer privacy; ad experiences and measurement; and programmatic effectiveness. Its work includes the OpenRTB real-time bidding protocol, ads.txt anti-fraud specification, Open Measurement SDK for viewability and verification, VAST video specification, and Project Rearc initiative for privacy-centric addressability.
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