OpenProposal establishes a common framework for moving media transactions from RFPs and proposal evaluation toward buy commitments

IAB Tech Lab, the global organization responsible for developing technical standards for digital advertising, has announced AAMP 3.0, the latest major release of its Agentic Advertising Management Protocols framework.

The new release introduces OpenProposal, a specification designed to create a standardized process for buyers and sellers to move from a request for proposal (RFP) through proposal evaluation and toward a media buying commitment in an increasingly agent-driven advertising environment.

Although digital advertising already has standards covering many stages of media buying and execution, the process between receiving an RFP and reaching a buy commitment has traditionally relied heavily on manual workflows. As AI agents become more involved in media discovery, evaluation and planning, IAB Tech Lab says the industry needs a consistent method for buyer and seller agents to exchange and assess proposals before transactions proceed to execution.

OpenProposal addresses this need by providing a standardized, agent-readable format for sellers to describe advertising products and respond to buyer briefs. Buying agents can use the specification to discover, compare and evaluate opportunities, while sellers retain control over how their inventory and advertising products are presented.

The OpenProposal specification will remain available for Public Comment through October 22, 2026. During this period, it will also be incorporated into the Buyer and Seller Agent SDK reference implementations.

Connecting RFPs With the Existing Advertising Ecosystem

AAMP 3.0 expands the protocol framework into the RFP and proposal stage while connecting it with established IAB Tech Lab standards already used in media transactions and execution, including AdCOM, OpenDirect and the Deals API.

Together, these standards are intended to provide a consistent foundation for agentic workflows covering the media buying process from discovery and planning through negotiation, purchasing, execution and reporting.

“As agents take on more of the work in media planning and buying, the industry needs a common framework for the RFP and proposal process,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab. “OpenProposal fills a major gap between a buyer’s brief and a buy commitment, giving buyer and seller agents a standardized way to exchange and evaluate opportunities. By connecting that process to the standards the industry already uses for execution, AAMP 3.0 creates a foundation for agentic workflows across the media buying lifecycle.”

From Media Discovery to Execution

OpenProposal provides publishers with a standardized method for describing advertising products and packages and including them in RFP responses. Buying agents can then assess proposals against a buyer’s requirements, compare available opportunities and determine suitability before a purchase commitment is made.

AAMP 3.0 supports a broader media lifecycle that includes:

• Publish: Sellers can make public packages available for discovery while reserving certain products for customized proposals.

• Discover: Buyer agents can search available packages or submit detailed briefs to receive tailored proposals.

• Compare: Agents can assess opportunities against a defined brief and process information from a wider group of publishers than traditional manual workflows typically allow.

• Qualify: Agents can evaluate inventory availability and determine whether opportunities match the audience, timing and requirements of a media plan.

• Negotiate: Buyer and seller agents can negotiate customized terms while maintaining a connection to the original offer.

• Bind & Execute: Once an agreement is reached, transactions can proceed using existing digital advertising standards and infrastructure.

• Report: Campaign performance can be returned through established reporting standards, allowing results to be measured against the plan’s original objectives and commitments.

Throughout these stages, AdCOM provides a shared vocabulary designed to maintain consistency as information moves from discovery and planning through negotiation, execution and reporting.

Making Publisher Ad Products Readable by AI Agents

OpenProposal gives publishers a common format for presenting a broader range of advertising products to buying agents and responding to buyer requirements. Proposals can contain information that helps buyers understand how products can be purchased, implemented, measured and evaluated.

For buyers, this approach can expand the number of media opportunities that can be considered during planning. Agentic systems can process and compare information from a larger number of publishers than a human planner could reasonably review manually, potentially creating a broader consideration set for media planning.

OpenProposal is also designed to work alongside existing digital advertising infrastructure. It complements OpenDirect, AdCOM and the Deals API, allowing opportunities to transition from planning into transaction and execution using established standards. Existing implementations can continue supporting their current use cases without requiring DSPs, SSPs or other platforms to fundamentally change their existing workflows.

AAMP’s agent software development kits (SDKs) are also designed to strengthen deterministic safeguards around pricing, advertising packages, orders and media-buy details. They also support stronger agent identity controls and transaction idempotency to promote consistent responses and data integrity as automated systems operate at increasing speed and scale.

In practical terms, idempotency means that repeating the same instruction does not create a duplicate action. For example, if an agent retries a request after failing to receive a response, the system can confirm the original order instead of creating another one.

Industry Moves Toward Agentic Media Standards

As agencies, advertisers and publishers increasingly incorporate AI agents into media planning and transaction workflows, the industry is looking for shared standards that allow agents from different companies and platforms to communicate effectively.

AAMP agents and OpenProposal are designed to provide that common foundation while allowing participants to maintain control over their own technology, inventory, business rules and data.

“By providing full agentic coverage for all existing IAB Tech Lab standards, while at the same time standardizing agent authentication and authorization protocols, AAMP 3.0 delivers a transaction-ready framework that will aid our industry’s movement from proof-of-concept tests towards the wide-spread use of AI Agents in media transactions,” said Michael Palmer, Global Vice President, Emerging Technologies at WPP Media.

Mike Treon, Head of CTV Strategy at PMG, said agentic planning can allow teams to consider a wider range of media opportunities and information when developing plans.

“What’s new in AAMP 3.0 is that the reasoning travels with the proposal,” Treon said. “A seller can tell us not just what a package costs, but why they believe it fits the brief — the audience rationale, the formats, the terms behind the price. That context is what our planning models need, and now it arrives in a form they can actually read.”

The global IAB Network is also participating in the development and testing of the framework. IAB Australia has opened expressions of interest for a seller-side pilot using the available AAMP reference implementations.

“We’ve been running those implementations in a lab for months and contributing feedback upstream,” said Jonas Jaanimagi, Technology Lead at IAB Australia. “Our role now is to help Australian publishers test discovery, proposal and approval workflows in a sandbox before any live spend is involved, and to turn that practical experience into useful evidence for the industry.”

With AAMP 3.0, IAB Tech Lab is extending agentic capabilities across the established standards that support digital advertising. By standardizing the process from RFP through buy commitment and connecting it with existing transaction, execution and reporting standards, the framework aims to support broader adoption of agentic media buying without requiring the industry to replace the infrastructure already in use.