MarTech » Marketing technology » IAB adopts Amazon framework to improve programmatic signals

IAB adopts Amazon framework to improve programmatic signals

A new open source framework helps buyers signal intent more clearly, reducing wasted bids across programmatic advertising.

Senior Editor, MarTech

Published on April 15, 2026 • Last updated on April 15, 2026 • 3 minutes read

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IAB Tech Lab is adding Amazon Ads’ Dynamic Traffic Engine to its open-source efforts to reduce inefficiencies and improve clarity in signaling across the programmatic advertising supply chain.

Currently, supply-side platforms send large volumes of bid requests without knowing exactly what demand-side platforms prioritize, leading to wasted infrastructure and unnecessary traffic.

The Dynamic Traffic Engine is designed to address that gap by giving buyers a way to define their priorities more explicitly. Demand-side platforms can outline the types of bid requests they want over a given period, ranging from broad criteria to highly specific audience or inventory preferences.

Supply-side platforms can then access and act on those signals, reducing the number of irrelevant requests and improving traffic distribution across the system.

The framework uses a file-based approach that allows buyer preferences to be shared in a structured format. Supply-side platforms can poll this information and adjust their bidding flows accordingly, thereby reducing query volume and system strain.

Fewer but more relevant bid requests can improve efficiency across the supply chain, while also creating better alignment between buyers and sellers. That alignment can translate into stronger campaign performance and more effective inventory monetization.

This approach also reflects a broader shift toward more transparent signal sharing in programmatic environments, where efficiency is becoming just as important as scale. The result is a system that relies less on inference and more on direct communication between platforms.

Built for industry collaboration

The work will be developed as part of IAB Tech Lab’s Open Source Project, with input from working groups including the Programmatic Supply Chain group and the Agentic Taskforce. These groups will help shape how the framework is implemented and extended.

Initial proposals include integrating the framework into agentic advertising protocols and supporting machine-readable formats such as Protocol Buffers. The goal is to ensure interoperability across platforms as automation increases.

By standardizing how intent is communicated, the framework aims to support a wide range of use cases without adding complexity for participants. As programmatic systems evolve, that kind of shared infrastructure is becoming more important for maintaining efficiency at scale.

Why it matters

This move highlights a broader industry effort to reduce waste in the programmatic supply chain by improving how signals are shared and interpreted. For advertisers, that means more efficient bidding and potentially stronger performance. For publishers, it creates a more predictable path to monetizing inventory without relying on excess traffic.

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Constantine von Hoffman

Senior Editor, MarTech

Constantine von Hoffman is senior editor of MarTech. A veteran journalist, Con has covered business, finance, marketing and tech for CBSNews.com, Brandweek, CMO, and Inc. He has been city editor of the Boston Herald, news producer at NPR, and has written for Harvard Business Review, Boston Magazine, Sierra, and many other publications. He has also been a professional stand-up comedian, given talks at anime and gaming conventions on everything from My Neighbor Totoro to the history of dice and boardgames, and is author of the magical realist novel John Henry the Revelator. He lives in Boston with his wife, Jennifer, and either too many or too few dogs.

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