• by Ray Schultz , March 23, 2025

IAB Tech Lab, which sets digital advertising technical standards, has launched what it calls an open-source, server-side ad management framework, working with Equativ.

The new tool, Trusted Server, shifts advertising functions from a browser to a publisher-operated infrastructure, ensuring more resilient programmatic buying, IAB says. 

"Enough is enough,” says Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab. “The digital media industry has been playing defense for too long — watching browsers dictate the rules while publishers lose revenue." 

But Katsur claims that “Trusted Server flips the script. We're giving power back to the publishers to run their own advertising middle layer, ensuring granular data control and security.”

IAB charges that browsers such as Chrome and Safari are stripping away key signals like third-party cookies and IP addresses in the name of privacy. 

This reduces potential monetization, it contends. 

"It's not just Chrome and Safari — these restrictions are widespread across browsers,” Katsur adds. “The W3C is also considering widespread changes to browser standards that could further limit publisher visibility and control of their audience data. If this trend continues, publishers risk losing their ability to optimize ad revenue and stay competitive.”

How would the new approach work?

According to IAB, the new features include service-side ad requests, prebid server integration, edge cloud processing, server-side ad stitching and faster web pages.  

"The current way digital advertising runs is bogging down websites with too much third-party JavaScript and network calls, resulting in sluggish sites and a frustrating consumer experience,” Katsur argues. “Moving as much as possible to the server side will lower page weight and eliminate myriad third party network calls, leading to improved page load times."