What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
A curated private-marketplace deal can arrive in an OpenRTB 2.6 bid request as a standard PMP Deal: it includes an ID and auction terms, but the core schema has no field that identifies a curator or marks the deal as curated. An exchange may add curation details through its own extension, and a separate deal-management API can describe those roles; neither makes curator information a portable field in every bid request.
What a curated PMP deal looks like in an OpenRTB request
OpenRTB 2.6 represents a private marketplace with a Pmp object containing an array of Deal objects. A standard deal can tell a buyer which deal is involved and specify terms such as a bid floor, currency, auction type, eligible buyer seats, or advertiser-domain restrictions. It does not have a standard curator, curated, or curation attribute. OpenRTB 2.6 specification
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
So “plain PMP line” should not be taken to mean that the deal carries no useful metadata. It means that the standard Deal fields describe the auction and its restrictions, not the deal’s curation provenance: who assembled the package, or what inventory, technology, or data went into it.
What the ext field changes—and what it does not
The Deal object also has an ext field for exchange-specific extensions. An exchange could use that space to transmit curation-related information, but the names and meaning of such custom values are implementation-specific. A buyer cannot assume that a field defined by one exchange is available or interpreted the same way across other OpenRTB implementations. An extension is not a standard, portable curation field.
#1 Best Overall
What the Deals API adds
IAB Tech Lab’s Deals API v1.0 is a separate specification for synchronizing deal information; it did not add a curator field to OpenRTB 2.6’s core Deal object. The API defines a Curation object and a curator attribute for the business that packages inventory, technology, and/or data. It also distinguishes that role from the seller and the deal’s origin. Deals API v1.0 specification
IAB Tech Lab says the API was finalized on February 6, 2026, and is intended to improve curated-deal visibility, providing transparency “not currently present in the bid stream.” That distinction is the practical point: a deal-management record can carry a richer description than the auction-facing representation a buyer receives in a bid request. IAB Tech Lab Deals API
Rank #2
API support does not, by itself, guarantee that curator information will appear in a buyer’s OpenRTB request. The available specifications describe the API’s roles and the bid stream’s core schema; they do not establish universal adoption or pass-through behavior across exchanges and buyer platforms.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsSeller, curator, and origin are different roles
The Deals API separates roles that can belong to different businesses or systems:
- Seller: the business selling the deal to the buyer.
- Curator: the entity that packaged the inventory, technology, and/or data.
- Origin: the system where the deal is first entered, often an SSP.
The API’s examples allow these roles to differ—for example, a sales house can sell a deal, a separate business can curate it, and an SSP can be its origin. That separation matters when a deal ID and its commercial terms are visible in the bid stream but the package’s provenance is not.
Why this distinction matters for streaming and CTV
IAB Tech Lab identifies deals as important in curation and streaming contexts. Its Curated Audiences specification is described as usable across browsers, apps, and OTT/CTV environments and as integrating with OpenRTB 2.6 community extensions. This is context for where these workflows may be relevant, not evidence that every streaming deal is curated or that a particular CTV platform implements the Deals API. IAB Tech Lab Curated Audiences
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Questions to ask when evaluating a deal workflow
If you need to know whether a buyer can see who curated a deal, evaluate the management record and the bid request separately. Useful questions include:
- Does the system expose seller, curator, and origin as distinct roles?
- Is that information available only through a deal-management API, or is it also passed in bid requests?
- If curation is sent in an exchange-specific
extvalue, how is that value named and documented? - Can the inventory and data partners change during a deal, and how are those changes represented?
- Do the SSP and DSP synchronize deal updates automatically, or does the workflow rely on manual entry?
These are implementation questions, not guarantees about what any particular platform supports. OpenRTB 2.6 and the Deals API define the schema distinction, but the available specifications do not establish compatibility or adoption across every SSP and DSP.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
