OpenDirect

OpenDirect is the IAB Tech Lab API standard for buying guaranteed, reserved inventory, so buyers can search a publisher's products, check availability and price, place orders and submit creatives through one interface.

Real-time bidding trades one impression at a time. Reserved deals, such as a month of homepage takeovers, have traditionally been agreed by email and typed into each side's systems. OpenDirect standardises that workflow so a publisher's inventory can be offered in any compliant buying tool (IAB Tech Lab, OpenDirect). It is a RESTful API that uses OAuth to authenticate users.

The buyer's steps follow the paper process. It opens an account with the publisher, searches products with availability and pricing, creates an order, adds order lines, then uploads creatives for approval and assigns them to placements. Version 2.1 adopted AdCOM objects for consistency with OpenRTB and added product targeting for physical media such as digital out-of-home. Delivery still runs through the publisher's ad server, often with a deal ID that links the booking to programmatic guaranteed delivery.

Example: An agency tool searches a publisher's OpenDirect catalogue for a 300x600 homepage placement in March, receives available impressions and a fixed CPM, and books an order with two lines. After the publisher approves the creative, the lines go live in the publisher's ad server.

Related terms: programmatic guaranteed, AdCOM, deal ID, OpenRTB, DOOH, PMP.

Authoritative source: IAB Tech Lab, "OpenDirect Specification v2.1" (GitHub, last updated 19 September 2024).

Read the full guide: Programmatic guaranteed vs PMP vs preferred deal vs open auction.