In the 2026 advertising landscape, agencies face an unprecedented “complexity tax.” The industry will move beyond the simple loss of cookies, into a fragmented era of agentic advertising—where autonomous AI agents handle many aspects of media planning and buying —alongside stricter global privacy mandates and the rapid rise of CTV. For an agency holding company, IAB Tech Lab membership is no longer just a technical line item; it is a strategic shield against obsolescence.

Active Tech lab engagement via membership and events transforms an agency from a passive observer of industry shifts into an architect of the ecosystem, ensuring your clients’ media remains measurable, aligned with your inventory quality expectations, and high-performing in an AI-first world.

Tech Lab Offers Agencies a platform to

Bring the Agency perspective to publishers and adtech vendors via working groups and commit groups developing standards across the different pillars of IAB Tech Lab innovation
Benefit from virtual customized training sessions for agency investment, and ad operations teams on standards like OpenRTB, Identity Solutions, OM SDK for CTV, Privacy and more
Coordinate On-site overviews of Tech Lab standards (problems they solve, what they accomplish and how to ensure and verify adoption) for agency buying and planning teams
Participate in webinars and in-person events demonstrating your thought leadership for the industry
Free workshops to dive into the issues facing agency buying teams and how IAB Tech Lab Standards can address them

Agencies working with IAB Tech Lab

Standards that Scale

With How Agencies Win with IAB Tech Lab

GAIN OPERATIONAL AGILITY | Utilize standards like the Global Privacy Protocol, the Deals API, OM SDK for measurement, ID and ID less guidance, and ECAPI to solve problems consistently across vendors and minimize custom integrations for every new client or platform

SCALE IN A PRIVACY-FIRST WORLD | Support a commitment to efficient and scalable deployment of solutions across vendors and business compliance

INFLUENCE THE ADVERTISING ECOSYSTEM | Lead the buyer requirements discussions and in defining industry solutions to buyer needs with standards that power digital media

DRIVE ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY | Active participation in standards like ads.txt and sellers.json enables agencies to demonstrably protect client budgets, positioning the agency as a “safe harbor” for brand spend

STRATEGIZE SMARTER | Have early access to upcoming industry standards to uplevel your media planning and buying from tactical to strategic and drive results enabling you to build client solutions around new standards before they become “table stakes” for the rest of the market

UNLOCK EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION | Build deeper alignment with your service providers, partners and peers on the industry topics that matters

CHAMPION AN INTEROPERABLE ECOSYSTEM | Support the adoption of standards to drive efficiency, growth, and mitigate risk for your agency, business partners, and the industry