IAB Tech Lab Releases Live Event Ad Playbook in Collaboration with Amazon, NBCUniversal, FreeWheel, and Index Exchange

Today, IAB Tech Lab, the global digital advertising technical standards-setting body, spotlighted its Live Event Ad Playbook, which includes the new Concurrent Streams API specification aimed at simplifying the monetization of live streaming events. Developed within IAB Tech Lab Working Groups in collaboration with deep collaboration and leadership from Amazon, FreeWheel, Index Exchange, and NBCUniversal, these new directives enable the transparency and foresight needed to handle high-stakes moments and ensure a premium, ad-supported live viewing experience.

“Streaming is now the dominant form of television viewership in the U.S., and the rest of the world is rapidly following suit. Live events — whether sports, news, or cultural moments — are increasingly broadcast via streaming platforms,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab. “Delivering a seamless live stream at scale is already a technical challenge. Seamlessly inserting ads during those peak moments of concurrency is even harder. The Live Event Ad Playbook and our new Concurrent Streams API are purpose-built to help the industry meet this moment — ensuring advertisers can act on high-impact opportunities without sacrificing the viewer experience.”

Streaming services are expected to spend more than $11 billion on sports rights alone this year. Marquee sporting events like Super Bowl LX and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games have driven mass viewership, demonstrating the power of live sports for advertisers looking to reach audiences at scale.

 

With more streaming services acquiring sports rights, the experience is evolving and with that is a need for new standards and best practices. Therefore, IAB Tech Lab formed the Live Event Ad Serving Working Group, which includes industry leaders Amazon, FreeWheel, Index Exchange, and NBCUniversal. The group is focused on leveraging its own learnings and best practices to create a more transparent supply chain for the live streaming ecosystem. The proposed standards aim to equip advertisers and streaming services with the tools needed to support live events with reliable and scalable ad delivery.

Amazon and NBCUniversal have been leaders in live streaming, with NBCUniversal elevating the ad experience for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Together, along with Index Exchange, the companies are collaborating with the IAB Tech Lab to ensure that the industry at large can address any live streaming challenges. To start, the group has proposed the Concurrent Streams API, which provides real-time insights into how many viewers are watching a live stream. This allows publishers — either independently or through their SSAI partners — to send live viewership data to ad systems, enabling faster ad decisions and reducing the risk of missed ad breaks. For advertisers, this means better handling of traffic spikes and the ability to adjust campaigns in real time to capture high-value moments.

“Between over a billion impressions during the 2024 NFL Playoff, and a 90% increase in advertiser participation in the 2024 Olympics, there's a very clear, booming demand for live sports,” said Mark McKee, General Manager at FreeWheel. “By partnering with IAB Tech Lab, Amazon, NBCUniversal, and Index Exchange, we’re making it easier for advertisers to tap into these high-impact moments with scalable, seamless, and low-latency ad experiences.”

"Live streaming events represent a unique opportunity for advertisers. The premium nature of these environments requires thoughtful technical infrastructure that can adapt in real-time,” said Neal Richter, Director, Amazon DSP. “By establishing common protocols and APIs, we're collectively moving toward a more reliable set of standards that benefits viewers, content creators, and brands.”

Another proposal on the horizon is an API that will provide projected viewership estimates for upcoming events over a rolling 2–3-week window, helping publishers prepare for traffic surges and enabling advertisers to fine-tune their budgets, deals, and delivery strategies.

“NBCUniversal has been a leader in live streaming for several years, paving the way for advertisers to reap the benefits of tentpole live event programming across news, sports, and entertainment,” said Ryan McConville, EVP, Chief Product Officer, Advertising Platforms & Operations, NBCUniversal. “With our extensive work in live event advertising, we have unique insight and expertise, and believe that the industry at large will benefit from the standards the IAB has put forward.

“The high degree of concurrency and unpredictability in live TV streams is both a challenge and a tremendous opportunity for the programmatic ecosystem,” said Catherine Cho, Lead Product Manager, Index Exchange. “The goal of this effort is to tame the chaos with standards and make every streaming impression opportunity biddable and addressable by buyers.”

With these proposed standards, every member in the media supply chain now has the clear framework required for a premium and seamless live sports streaming experience.

IAB Tech Lab invites all stakeholders including publishers, advertisers, developers, and technology partners to review the proposed guidelines at https://iabtechlab.com/standards/leap/

About IAB Technology Laboratory

Established in 2014, the IAB Technology Laboratory (Tech Lab) is a non-profit consortium that engages a member community globally to develop foundational technology and standards that enable growth and trust in the digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers, ad technology firms, agencies, marketers, and other member companies, IAB Tech Lab focuses on solutions for brand safety and ad fraud; identity, data, and consumer privacy; ad experiences and measurement; and programmatic effectiveness. Its work includes the OpenRTB real-time bidding protocol, ads.txt anti-fraud specification, Open Measurement SDK for viewability and verification, VAST video specification, and Project Rearc initiative for privacy-centric addressability. Board members/companies are listed at https://iabtechlab.com/about-the-iab-tech-lab/tech-lab-leadership/. For more information, please visit https://iabtechlab.com.