OpenRTB 2.6 is the current line of the 2.x bidding protocol. As of October 2, 2026, the latest tagged release is 2.6-202606, published on June 11, 2026. Version 2.6 first appeared in April 2022 with ad pods, Network and Channel objects and a structured user-agent object. Out-of-home support arrived in a later release.

What did 2.6 add over 2.5?

The IAB Tech Lab OpenRTB page lists four highlights of the April 2022 release:

  • New attributes and guides for buying and selling ad pods.
  • New objects that describe the channel and the network of the content.
  • A structured user-agent object, built for upcoming freezes of the user-agent string.
  • Use of AdCOM 1.0 lists, so enumerations can change faster.

The spec’s change log records smaller 2.6 additions too. Two examples are ssai on the impression and rqddurs, a list of exact acceptable ad durations aimed at live TV and radio breaks.

The Network object names the parent entity of the content, such as a TV network. The Channel object names the curated channel or station. The spec recommends a top private domain on both, so DSP targeting can normalize them.

The structured user agent follows User-Agent Client Hints and carries browsers, platform, a mobile flag, architecture, bitness and model. When a request carries both device.ua and device.sua, the same spec says the structured one should be treated as more accurate, because the plain string may be frozen or reduced.

How do ad pods work?

An ad pod is an ad break, like the one in a TV-style stream. The implementation guide describes three shapes:

  • Structured: the seller fixes the number of slots, their positions and their durations.
  • Dynamic: only the total duration and a maximum number of ads are fixed.
  • Hybrid: a mix of the two.

Impressions that share a podid belong to the same break, and poddur gives the fillable time of a dynamic pod, according to the 2.6 spec. The guide adds that buyers should return slotinpod only for the dynamic part of a pod, because impid already names the slot in a structured one. For price, it says buyers should look for mincpmpersec when it is present and fall back to bidfloor when it is not.

What changed for out-of-home screens?

Release 2.6-202211, dated November 17, 2022, added a DOOH object and a Qty object. The spec says a request with a DOOH object must not also carry a site or app object.

The Qty object exists because one screen play can reach many people. The seller sends a multiplier, and the spec’s own example is an opportunity worth 14.2 impressions. The DOOH implementation notes say fractional values such as 0.32 per play are common, and warn that buy-side and sell-side systems can truncate decimals differently, which creates discrepancies.

What are the 2.6-YYYYMM releases?

Since 2.6-202211, the repository’s versioning policy raises the version number only for breaking changes, so a future 2.7 would count as a distinct version. Non-breaking improvements, such as new fields, objects and enum values, ship as 2.6-YYYYMM. The policy says the spec is updated approximately once a month when such changes exist.

The releases list shows a looser rhythm. It has nine tags from 2.6-202210 to 2.6-202606, with gaps of several months, and more than a year between 2.6-202505 (May 20, 2025) and 2.6-202606 (June 11, 2026).

The newest tag, 2.6-202606, added realtime and firstbroadcast to the Content object so sellers can signal programming liveness. It also added two macros, ${AUCTION_DISCOUNT_PCT} and ${AUCTION_DISCOUNT_CPM}.

Because the version string stays at 2.6 through all of these releases, a bidder cannot learn from it which newer fields a seller sends. It has to check for each field. The Tech Lab’s standards page now sends readers to the GitHub release notes for version history, so the releases list is the place to look.

How does Vectravia handle this?

Omni Buy plans CTV, online video, display, native, audio, DOOH and in-app buying from one budget. CTV bids use OpenRTB 2.6 ad pods (structured, dynamic and hybrid) and read the ssai signal. DOOH bids use the OpenRTB DOOH object and the Qty impression multiplier.