The public comment period runs until the end of January, and initial feedback shows that the industry sees this as more than just a technical solution: it is a long-awaited efficiency improvement for deal-driven media buying.
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“The Deals API sync capability directly addresses a key inefficiency in the programmatic supply chain for high-value, managed, private marketplaces,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab, in a release. “It improves transparency and accuracy for all parties, and builds trust in a channel that is essential to publisher growth at a time when open web traffic is under pressure.”
Deals are especially important in heavily curated environments like streaming, where they often serve as the main monetization strategy. But today’s deal management is still largely manual (spread across spreadsheets and inconsistent interfaces), opening the door to mismatches, delivery shortfalls and confusion over who is actually involved in packaging and selling inventory.
Consistent structure
“Two-thirds of deals are configured with the desired offering, but generate no or very little revenue,” Magnite VP Product Nick Allen said in a press release. That inefficiency is not only frustrating, but also expensive.
The proposed API addresses this by introducing a consistent structure and increased visibility. It clearly identifies the seller, the deal packer and the trustee, providing long-missing clarity on who is responsible for what. This is especially critical as curation becomes a dominant force in programmatic.
“This formalizes the needs we have all had for years,” says Anna-Maria Nalepa, senior technical product manager at Basis Technologies. “Not only does it promote collaboration and data cleanliness, but for the first time it also provides transparency into who is involved in composite deals and what role they play.”
Future versions of the API aim to go even further and support full discoverability, so that every player in a deal can see who else is involved and what their respective roles are.
“As the curation category matures, media buyers and their DSP partners need to get a basic overview of the companies that package inventory,” said Chris Kane, founder of Jounce Media, in a press release. “A standardized deal API is a critical step toward more reliable sales-side decisions.”
To participate in the public comment process or view the full specification, click here.
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