Agentic RTB Framework (ARTF)

First-mover industry standard for agentic AI participation in RTB, developed under IAB Tech Lab's open standards process

The Agentic RTB Framework (ARTF) is IAB Tech Lab's first formal standard addressing the integration of AI agents into real-time bidding (RTB) infrastructure. As autonomous AI systems increasingly participate in programmatic advertising workflows—making bidding decisions, optimizing campaigns, and negotiating inventory without direct human intervention—ARTF provides the technical and governance scaffolding needed to ensure interoperability, transparency, and accountability across the supply chain. The framework defines protocols for how AI agents authenticate, communicate, and transact within existing RTB ecosystems, building on foundational standards like OpenRTB. ARTF represents a significant evolution in programmatic advertising, moving beyond human-configured rules and algorithms toward fully autonomous agent-driven buying and selling. The standard addresses critical questions around agent identity, decision auditability, latency constraints, and compliance with privacy regulations, ensuring that agentic participants can operate within the same trust and safety frameworks as traditional DSPs and SSPs. It is developed collaboratively through IAB Tech Lab's working groups, drawing participation from major buy-side, sell-side, and technology platform stakeholders. In the broader AdTech ecosystem, ARTF is positioned as a foundational infrastructure standard rather than a commercial product. Its significance lies in enabling the industry to safely and consistently adopt AI-agent-driven advertising without fragmenting interoperability. As generative AI and large language model-based agents proliferate across marketing technology, ARTF provides the guardrails and common language necessary for the next generation of programmatic trading.