Business & finance · also called IAB, Interactive Advertising Bureau
IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau)
The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) is the US-based trade association for the digital advertising and media industry, founded in 1996, which publishes research, guidelines and policy positions.
The IAB represents companies that sell, buy and enable digital advertising: publishers, platforms, ad tech firms, agencies and brands. Founded in 1996 and based in New York, it runs research (including the long-running Internet Advertising Revenue Report with PwC), events, training and certifications, and lobbies on issues such as privacy law.
The IAB network is global: IAB Europe, IAB UK, IAB India, IAB Australia and dozens of other national IABs are independent organisations sharing the brand. IAB Europe, for instance, co-developed the IAB TCF consent framework. The technical standards most people associate with "IAB", such as OpenRTB, VAST, ads.txt and sellers.json, are developed by its sister organisation, the IAB Tech Lab.
The IAB co-founded the TAG with the ANA and the 4A's, and works with the MRC on measurement guidelines. Because it represents the sell side and platforms heavily, its policy positions sometimes differ from those of advertiser groups such as the ANA and WFA.
Think of it like this
The IAB is like a national chamber of commerce for digital advertising: it speaks for the industry, publishes the numbers and writes the rulebooks.
An example
A startup SSP joins IAB and IAB Tech Lab to take part in working groups on CTV standards and to be listed in industry directories.
Related terms
IAB Tech Lab
IAB Tech Lab is the non-profit standards body for digital advertising technology, founded in 2014, which develops specifications such as OpenRTB, VAST, ads.txt, sellers.json and the Open Measurement SDK.
TAG (Trustworthy Accountability Group)
TAG (Trustworthy Accountability Group) is an advertising industry initiative, founded in 2014 by the ANA, 4A's and IAB, that runs certification programs against ad fraud, malware, piracy and for brand safety.
ANA (Association of National Advertisers)
The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is the main US trade association for advertisers and marketers, founded in 1910, known for research on media transparency and programmatic waste.
MRC (Media Rating Council)
The MRC (Media Rating Council) is a US non-profit industry body that sets measurement standards and audits and accredits media measurement services, including viewability and invalid-traffic filtering.
IAB TCF (Transparency & Consent Framework)
The IAB TCF (Transparency & Consent Framework) is IAB Europe's standard for collecting users' GDPR consent and objections through CMPs and passing those choices to ad tech vendors in a consent string.
Sources: IAB