ARTF + AdCP: What advertisers need to know

ARTF (Agentic RTB Framework) and AdCP (Ad Context Protocol). Both promise to revolutionize how AI agents buy and sell ads, and both are pretty well backed by industry heavyweights.

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Both have similar acronyms. Both deal with agentic advertising capabilities. Both are proposed standardization specs. And that's why it is causing a bit of confusion among marketers who don't have an engineering degree.

Let's explore.

The Tl;dr version

ARTF is essentially focused on the programmatic plumbing. This standard is the IAB Tech Lab’s attempt to modernize how programmatic auctions work so that they can run faster inside the supply chain. SSPs, DSPs, exchanges, etc., all remain in the mix, but sloppy deployment of AI threatens to slow down the transaction speed. ARTF is, in theory, the fix. It standardizes more of the transaction language and puts more of the AI infrastructure closer to the endpoints.

AdCP is intended to be the universal language that AI agents use to plan, buy, and measure campaigns on any platform. No need for custom integrations. The buyer and seller agents simply know how to “work it out themselves.”

	Advertisers & Agencies	Platforms & Infrastructure
Workflow Layer	AdCP for Buyers • NL planning & activation • Multi-platform orchestration • Reduced ops burden	AdCP for Platforms • Standardized capability exposure • Easier agent adoption
Execution Layer	ARTF Indirect Benefits • Better auction outcomes • Cleaner signals delivered • Higher-quality supply	ARTF Auction Runtime • Sub-ms agent runtime • Bidstream mutation API • Reduced latency & hops