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Live Events Ad Playbook (LEAP)

Last updated: February 19, 2026
Access the LEAP GitHub

The expansion of streaming TV has created substantial opportunities for both demand- and supply-side participants. However, live event inventory—such as sports broadcasts, political debates, and award ceremonies—presents a unique set of operational and technical challenges that current programmatic infrastructure is not fully optimized to support. These challenges are driven by the volatility of live event timelines and the stringent latency and scale requirements needed to deliver personalized ads concurrently to millions of viewers in real time. Addressing these issues requires the standardization of signaling mechanisms and metadata exchange to ensure interoperability and reduce friction in live ad delivery.

To meet this need, IAB Tech Lab is collaborating with stakeholders across the programmatic ecosystem to develop the Live Event Ad Playbook (LEAP)—a series of technical recommendations and protocol enhancements aimed at enabling scalable, low-latency, and reliable ad delivery for live streaming environments.

There are 5 phases that are expected to make up this set of standards:

  • Concurrent Streams API: Enhanced data sharing with a near-real-time concurrent streams API (v1.0 Final)
  • Forecasting API: Apply live content signals in the bid stream (In Public Comment until March 20, 2026)
  • Buyer Instructions API ((Expected in 2026)
  • Standardized ad pre-fetching: Manage bid request volume proactively (TBD)
  • Creative Readiness: Streamline creative compatibility for live events (Expected in 2026)

Unlike many of the standards that IAB Tech Lab develops, the standards that make up the LEAP initiative interact with other standards to create a workflow “conversation” between Buyer and Seller. Since many of these Live Events are high value inventory, they are often associated with Deals, so the Deals API comes into play, and then OpenRTB executes the transactions when the event actually occurs.

Conversation between Buyer and Seller around Live Events using LEAP and the Deals API

You can learn more about how the Live Event Ad Serving Sub-Working Group came up with the different phases of LEAP and what they are expected to include in this blog post from Index Exchange’s Catherine Cho.

Companies who want to get involved with later stages of the Live Event Ad Playbook can join the Live Events Sub Group by emailing membership@iabtechlab.com

Forecasting API

Current programmatic systems lack standardized mechanisms for surfacing future live event supply, limiting buyers’ ability to plan and reserve inventory in advance. The Forecasting API addresses this gap, by enabling, broadcasters and content owners to publish structured metadata—such as event schedules, expected ad breaks, and audience forecasts—to exchanges and DSPs.

Using a shared identifier and a schema aligned with OpenRTB and AdCOM standards, this API will make upcoming inventory discoverable and actionable, enabling a scalable advance market for live streaming advertising.

Forecasting API (In Public Comment until March 20, 2026)

Concurrent Streams API

The first deliverable for this Playbook is the Concurrent Streams API. This API aims to provide a standard methodology for subscribers to ask ‘how many viewers are in a stream?’ when a live event is occurring. In essence, how many devices are actually streaming the piece of content that’s happening in real time.

Concurrent Streams API was in Public Comment until July 28, 2025 and 1.0 is now final.

Concurrent Streams API (Final 1.0)

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