ARTF for Supply-side Platforms (SSPs)

This page describes how the Agentic RTB Framework (ARTF) can be used by supply-side platforms (SSPs) that manage publisher inventory and supply paths.

graph LR Media[Publisher inventory] --> Host[ARTF Host Platform] Host --> Agent1[ARTF Bidding Agent] Host --> Agent2[ARTF Bidding Agent] Host --> Buyers[Buy side platforms]

1. Role of an SSP in ARTF

For an SSP, the ARTF Host Platform is an execution environment that runs enrichment, quality, and bidding agents close to the publisher. The SSP remains responsible for:

  • Operating the auction or routing logic for supply.
  • Deciding which ARTF Bidding Agents may run and in what order.
  • Governing which publisher and contextual signals are exposed to each agent.

ARTF standardizes how these agents are deployed and invoked; it does not change the SSP's commercial role between publishers and buying platforms.

2. Latency and performance on the supply path

Legacy SSP integrations often depend on multiple external HTTP calls to identity, enrichment, and fraud services. ARTF is designed to:

  • Move these functions into co-located agents inside the SSP's environment.
  • Use local RPC calls instead of cross-internet requests.

This can reduce total auction latency and variability, which is especially important for:

  • Real-time header bidding and in-app supply.
  • High-volume or latency-sensitive events.

3. Data governance and publisher control

Publishers expect SSPs to protect their data and contractual constraints. Within ARTF, an SSP can:

  • Limit each agent to the minimum set of fields or derived signals needed for its declared intents.
  • Decide, via OpenRTB Patch evaluation, which proposed mutations are accepted into the live bid request.

This allows SSPs to host richer functionality in their own environment while maintaining a clear boundary around publisher and user data.

4. Integration with buyers and partners

SSPs can offer ARTF as a standardized way for:

  • Buyers to run their own ARTF Bidding Agents under SSP control.
  • Specialist partners (identity, quality, enrichment) to provide agents that run inside the SSP instead of as external endpoints.

This reduces bespoke integrations and can make the SSP's infrastructure more predictable for all participants.

5. Readiness considerations for SSPs

SSPs considering ARTF adoption should plan for:

  • Infrastructure. Container orchestration, monitoring, and resource management for many concurrent agents.
  • Policy and governance. Criteria for which agents are admitted, what data they can access, and how conflicts between mutations are resolved.
  • Operational processes. Deployment, rollback, and observability for agents across different publisher and demand configurations.

Handled carefully, ARTF allows SSPs to modernize their execution layer while preserving their existing commercial position between publishers and buyers.