What Is a Vendor in IAB?

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe defines vendors as:
“A company that participates in the delivery of digital advertising within a Publisher’s website, app, or other digital content, to the extent that company is not acting as a Publisher or CMP, and that either accesses an end user’s device or processes personal data about end users visiting the Publisher’s content and adheres to the Policies” (IAB Europe, 2023).

This definition highlights several key components:

• Vendors are third-party entities distinct from publishers and Consent Management Platforms (CMPs).
• Their main activities include:
  • Accessing end users’ devices
  • Processing personal data related to digital content consumption
• Compliance with IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) is mandatory for official recognition.

Analysis of the IAB Global Vendor List (GVL) demonstrates that approved vendors provide a broad spectrum of services, including:

• Ad-serving technologies
• Data management platforms
• Ad verification tools
• Audience measurement solutions

Publishers rely on these vendors for technical capabilities they do not develop in-house. Notably, third-party vendors facilitate complex programmatic advertising transactions that underpin much of today’s online advertising ecosystem.

Vendors’ participation in TCF ensures:

• Standardized procedures for obtaining and processing user consent
• Adherence to GDPR requirements by providing transparency into data collection and processing activities (Sørensen et al., 2022)

Empirical studies on the GVL indicate:

• Vendors listed must regularly update their data processing purposes and legal bases
• The presence of a dynamic registry incentivizes privacy compliance and enables publishers and CMPs to verify vendor status programmatically.

In summary, IAB vendors are integral third-party technology providers who drive digital ad delivery, data processing, and compliance in the online ecosystem. Their standardized participation under the TCF promotes accountability and privacy transparency between publishers, advertisers, and users.