OpenRTB Consortium

The OpenRTB Consortium is a non-profit standards organization that serves as the governing body for the OpenRTB (Real-Time Bidding) protocol, the foundational technical specification enabling programmatic advertising transactions globally. Established to bring together leading advertising technology companies, demand-side platforms (DSPs), supply-side platforms (SSPs), ad exchanges, and publishers, the consortium facilitates collaborative development of protocols that power billions of real-time ad auctions daily. Through its standardization efforts, the organization reduces integration complexity across the digital advertising ecosystem and enables efficient programmatic transactions at massive scale. Operating through a collaborative governance model, the consortium allows member companies to contribute to protocol development, propose enhancements, and vote on specification updates. Beyond the core RTB protocol, the organization maintains related specifications including AdCOM (Advertising Common Object Model) and OpenMedia, which standardize data structures and communication protocols across display, video, native, audio, and connected TV advertising channels. The consortium actively addresses critical industry challenges including privacy compliance, supply chain transparency, and identity solutions in the post-cookie era. With global influence and near-universal adoption by major programmatic advertising platforms, the OpenRTB protocol has become the de facto standard for automated media buying and selling. Through regular specification updates, technical working groups, and continuous industry collaboration, the consortium shapes the future of digital advertising infrastructure, ensuring the programmatic ecosystem can adapt to technological evolution, regulatory requirements, and market changes while maintaining operational efficiency and scale.