Published: 17 September 2026

TL;DR: Two open standards are shaping agentic advertising infrastructure. AAMP (Agentic Advertising Management Protocols) is IAB Tech Lab's open-source framework for agentic advertising, which extends existing standards for agents rather than replacing them. AdCP (Ad Context Protocol), published by AgenticAdvertising.org, is a separate task protocol that runs across the campaign. Alkimi is part of IAB Tech Lab's AAMP work and builds to the AAMP framework. This piece explains what each standard covers, the four structural checks buyers should apply to any agentic marketplace, and how Alkimi addresses each one in practice.

What Is AAMP and What Does It Cover?

The Agentic Advertising Management Protocols (AAMP) is IAB Tech Lab's open-source umbrella framework for agentic advertising, announced early 2026. It extends existing standards for agents rather than replacing them. Its components include agentic-direct for agent communication and orchestration, reference buyer and seller agents, OpenProposal for how publishers define products and packages and present them in RFP responses, registry-agent-example for agent discovery, the Agentic RTB Framework, and agentic-audiences.

AAMP is a set of protocols, not a marketplace certification, and there is no "AAMP compliance" badge. Separately from any standard, there are four structural things a buyer should check in an agentic marketplace.

Neutrality. The marketplace must not have a financial stake in the outcome of deal negotiations. Fee structures must not create incentives for higher deal prices.

Deal record integrity. The marketplace must produce a deal record that both parties hold independently, written before any impression is served. That record must be retrievable post-campaign without depending on the marketplace or the counterparty.

Mandate disclosure. The marketplace must verify, before negotiation begins, that each agent is operating under a human-approved mandate. Agents without a verified mandate must not be permitted to negotiate.

Audit access. Both parties must be able to retrieve their deal record independently, at any time post-campaign, to verify delivery against agreed terms.

A buyer evaluating an agentic marketplace can use these four checks as a practical checklist. Each one is a structural commitment, not a marketing claim. The capabilities either exist in the architecture or they do not.

What Is AdCP and What Does It Cover?

AdCP (Ad Context Protocol) is a separate open protocol published and governed by AgenticAdvertising.org, at version 3.2 as of October 2026. It is a task protocol that runs across the campaign over MCP or A2A.

AdCP covers four broad areas.

Discovery and buying. AdCP defines tasks for inventory discovery and for placing media buys.

Creative and signals. It also defines tasks for creative and for the signals used in a campaign.

Governance and reporting. AdCP includes governance checks and delivery reporting across the life of the campaign.

Outside its scope. AdCP's own documentation says payments, settlement, disputes and makegoods remain account or platform integrations unless a specific AdCP contract covers them. It does not define a deal record format: the DealSheet is Alkimi's own record.

How Alkimi Addresses Each Requirement

Neutrality. The Alkimi marketplace is neutral. It holds no inventory and does not act for either side of a deal: it provides the venue in which buy-side and sell-side agents agree terms, and the DealSheet gives both parties the same record of what was agreed.

Deal record integrity. At the conclusion of every negotiation, Alkimi produces a DealSheet that both the buy-side and the sell-side hold independently. The DealSheet is written at negotiation time, before any impression is served. Neither party depends on the other, or on Alkimi, to access their own copy. The record is not held centrally and released on request; each party has their own copy from the point of negotiation.

Mandate disclosure. Alkimi verifies at entry that each connecting agent is authorised by the buyer or publisher it claims to represent, before any negotiation begins. Agents that cannot demonstrate that authorisation are not permitted to proceed on the platform. This verification is an entry condition, not a periodic check.

Audit access. Both the buyer and the publisher can retrieve their DealSheet independently post-campaign. Audit rights are built into the structure of the platform. They do not depend on a request to the marketplace or cooperation from the counterparty.

How Alkimi Works With AAMP

Alkimi is part of IAB Tech Lab's AAMP work and operates as the venue layer for agent-to-agent negotiations, working within the AAMP framework. Its agent is listed in the IAB Tech Lab Agent Registry. It handles identity verification at entry, deal record storage, and neutral hosting. It does not replace buyer or seller agents. It provides the infrastructure those agents operate through.

Buyer and seller agents can find each other through Alkimi and agree terms without bespoke integration between buyer and seller. The agents handle the negotiation. Alkimi handles the venue: it verifies that each agent is authorised by the party it represents and writes the agreed terms to a DealSheet that both sides hold, with humans keeping approval rights at the deal level.

Why Structural Guarantees Matter for Buyers

A marketplace that builds these four checks into its architecture provides structural guarantees that a proprietary system does not. The guarantees are architectural.

The deal record is credible not because the marketplace promises accurate records, but because both parties hold it independently. Audit rights are not discretionary. They exist because both parties have direct access to their own copy, without any dependence on the marketplace.

For buyers moving AI buying agents into production, the practical question is not whether a marketplace claims to be neutral. The question is whether neutrality and deal record integrity are built into the architecture of the platform. A proprietary system can change its terms, its fee structure, or its record-keeping behaviour without the buyer having any structural recourse. Where both parties hold the deal record independently, the agreed terms cannot be quietly changed after the fact.

Open standards such as IAB Tech Lab's AAMP give agents a common framework to work within. Alkimi is part of that work and provides a neutral venue built to the framework. Buyers evaluating agentic marketplace options can use the four checks above as the basis of that evaluation and assess Alkimi, or any other marketplace, against each one in turn.