AWS launches dedicated network for real-time ad bidding workloads

Amazon Web Services announced AWS RTB Fabric on October 23, 2025, a managed service designed specifically for real-time bidding advertising workloads. The service helps advertising technology companies connect with supply and demand partners to run high-volume, latency-sensitive RTB workloads with consistent single-digit millisecond performance and up to 80% lower networking costs compared to standard networking costs.

AWS RTB Fabric provides a dedicated, high-performance network environment for RTB workloads and partner integrations without requiring colocated, on-premises infrastructure or upfront commitments. The service also includes modules, a capability that helps customers bring their own and partner applications securely into the compute environment used for real-time bidding. Modules support containerized applications and foundation models that can enhance transaction efficiency and bidding effectiveness.

At launch, AWS RTB Fabric includes modules for optimizing traffic management, improving bid efficiency, and increasing bid response rates, all running inline within the service for consistent low-latency execution. The service helps AdTech companies seamlessly connect with their supply and demand partners, such as Amazon Ads, GumGum, MobileFuse, Sovrn, TripleLift, Viant, Yieldmo and more.

Technical infrastructure addresses programmatic constraints

The growth of programmatic advertising has created a need for low-latency, cost-efficient infrastructure to support RTB workloads. AdTech companies process millions of bid requests per second across publishers, supply-side platforms, and demand-side platforms. These workloads are highly sensitive to latency because most RTB auctions must complete within 200–300 milliseconds and require reliable, high-speed exchange of OpenRTB requests and responses among multiple partners.

Many companies have addressed this by deploying infrastructure in colocation data centers near key partners, which reduces latency but adds operational complexity, long provisioning cycles, and high costs. Others have turned to cloud infrastructure to gain elasticity and scale, but they often face complex provisioning, partner-specific connectivity, and long-term commitments to achieve cost efficiency.

The programmatic advertising sector has seen ongoing technical development in real-time bidding infrastructure. These gaps add operational overhead and limit agility. AWS RTB Fabric addresses these challenges by providing a managed private network built for RTB workloads that delivers consistent performance, simplifies partner onboarding, and achieves predictable cost efficiency without the burden of maintaining colocation or custom networking setups.

Four core capabilities for managed RTB operations

AWS RTB Fabric introduces a managed foundation for running RTB workloads at scale. When registering an RTB Fabric gateway, the service automatically generates secure endpoints that can be shared with selected partners. Using the AWS RTB Fabric API, customers can create optimized, private connections to exchange RTB traffic securely across different environments.

External Links are also available to connect with partners who aren't using RTB Fabric, such as those operating on premises or in third-party cloud environments. This approach shortens integration time and simplifies collaboration among AdTech participants.

The service provides a managed, high-performance network layer optimized for OpenRTB communication. It connects AdTech participants such as SSPs, DSPs, and publishers through private, high-speed links that deliver consistent single-digit millisecond latency. The service automatically optimizes routing paths to maintain predictable performance and reduce networking costs, without requiring manual peering or configuration.

AWS RTB Fabric uses a transaction-based pricing model designed to align with programmatic advertising economics. Customers are billed per billion transactions, providing predictable infrastructure costs that align with how advertising exchanges, SSPs, and DSPs operate. This pricing structure differs from traditional cloud networking models that charge based on data transfer volumes.

The service includes configurable modules that help AdTech workloads operate efficiently and reliably. Modules such as Rate Limiter, OpenRTB Filter, and Error Masking help control request volume, validate message formats, and manage response handling directly in the network path. These modules execute inline within the AWS RTB Fabric environment, maintaining network-speed performance without adding application-level latency. All configurations are managed through the AWS RTB Fabric API, so customers can define and update rules programmatically as workloads scale.

Industry context and competitive implications

The launch of AWS RTB Fabric occurs as advertising technology companies increasingly adopt containerized approaches to programmatic transactions. The service addresses infrastructure challenges that have historically limited smaller advertising technology companies from competing effectively in real-time bidding markets.

TripleLift, one of the early adopters, reported specific performance improvements. "With AWS RTB Fabric, we saw, on average a 15-20% reduction in latency, a 30% increase in ad spend, and a 30% increase in win volume over the public web," said Sean Kumar, VP Infrastructure & Security at TripleLift. "More importantly, these gains come alongside an over 80% reduction in networking costs compared to public pricing, and with the trust and resiliency of the AWS network backbone."

The retail media sector has seen increasing adoption of real-time bidding protocols as standardization initiatives from IAB Tech Lab enable programmatic commerce media transactions. AWS RTB Fabric's infrastructure could support this expanding market segment where product catalog integration and inventory management complexities have previously limited RTB adoption.

Amazon's cloud infrastructure already supports various advertising technology services. The company previously launched Amazon Publisher Cloud for programmatic deal planning, and has expanded Amazon Marketing Cloud access for sponsored ads advertisers. AWS RTB Fabric extends this advertising technology portfolio with infrastructure specifically optimized for real-time bidding transactions.

Privacy and security concerns remain significant in programmatic advertising infrastructure. Earlier in 2025, privacy organizations filed complaints about real-time bidding data practices, arguing that RTB systems expose sensitive data during automated advertising auctions. AWS RTB Fabric's private network architecture addresses some of these concerns by limiting data exposure during bid request transmission.

Regional availability and future development

AWS RTB Fabric is available in six AWS Regions: US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Europe (Frankfurt), and Europe (Ireland). This geographic distribution enables AdTech companies to establish low-latency connections with partners across major advertising markets.

The service continually evolves to address the changing needs of the AdTech industry. AWS plans to expand capabilities to support secure integration of advanced applications and AI-driven optimizations in real-time bidding workflows that help customers simplify operations and improve performance.

The timing of this launch aligns with broader industry trends toward automated bidding infrastructure and auction mechanism sophistication. As advertising platforms control larger portions of the digital advertising ecosystem, infrastructure services that reduce operational complexity while maintaining performance standards become increasingly valuable.

For advertising technology companies, AWS RTB Fabric represents a potential alternative to colocation infrastructure investments. The service's transaction-based pricing and zero-commitment model reduce capital expenditure requirements that have traditionally created barriers to entry in programmatic advertising markets. Whether this infrastructure approach gains significant adoption depends on how effectively it addresses the specific latency and cost requirements of individual advertising technology companies operating at different scales.

Why this matters for digital advertising professionals

AWS RTB Fabric's introduction carries several implications for the marketing technology landscape. The service demonstrates how cloud infrastructure providers are developing specialized solutions for advertising workloads rather than requiring advertising companies to adapt general-purpose cloud services.

The 80% cost reduction claim, if realized in practice, could significantly alter the economics of programmatic advertising operations. However, actual cost savings will depend on transaction volumes, geographic distribution requirements, and specific integration patterns that individual companies implement.

The modules capability enabling containerized applications and foundation models within the bidding infrastructure suggests a path toward more sophisticated algorithmic optimization in real-time auctions. This aligns with broader industry trends toward AI-powered advertising automation and machine learning-based bid optimization.

For agencies and advertisers, the service itself operates at the infrastructure layer and does not directly affect campaign management or media buying workflows. However, if advertising technology partners adopt AWS RTB Fabric and realize the promised performance improvements, this could translate to better bid response rates and potentially more competitive auction participation from a broader range of supply-side platforms.

The service's focus on simplifying partner connectivity could accelerate the formation of new programmatic relationships. If integration timelines compress from months to days as suggested, smaller publishers and niche advertising technology companies might more readily establish connections with demand-side platforms and other partners.

Timeline

• October 23, 2025: AWS announces RTB Fabric for real-time bidding workloads across six global regions
• 2024-2025: Industry shifts toward containerized RTB approaches that embed DSP intelligence within SSP infrastructure
• July 2025: Retail media networks embrace RTB for sponsored products following IAB Tech Lab OpenRTB specification updates
• January 2025: FTC complaint filed against Google's RTB data practices, highlighting security concerns in programmatic infrastructure
• September 2024: IAB and IAB Europe release in-store retail media measurement standards

Summary

Who: Amazon Web Services announced AWS RTB Fabric, affecting advertising technology companies including supply-side platforms, demand-side platforms, publishers, and agencies processing real-time bidding transactions. Launch partners include Amazon Ads, GumGum, Kargo, MobileFuse, Sovrn, TripleLift, Viant, and Yieldmo.

What: AWS RTB Fabric is a fully managed service purpose-built for real-time bidding advertising workloads. The service provides a dedicated, high-performance network environment with consistent single-digit millisecond latency, up to 80% cost savings compared to standard cloud networking costs, transaction-based pricing per billion transactions, simplified partner connectivity through automatically generated secure endpoints, and inline modules for traffic management, bid efficiency optimization, and response rate improvement.

When: Amazon Web Services announced AWS RTB Fabric on October 23, 2025, with immediate availability in six AWS Regions.

Where: The service operates in US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Europe (Frankfurt), and Europe (Ireland). These regions cover major programmatic advertising markets in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

Why: The service addresses infrastructure challenges in programmatic advertising where AdTech companies process millions of bid requests per second with strict latency requirements of 200-300 milliseconds for auction completion. Traditional approaches involve either colocation data centers with high operational complexity and costs, or cloud infrastructure with complex provisioning and long-term commitments. AWS RTB Fabric provides managed infrastructure that eliminates these operational burdens while delivering predictable performance and cost efficiency aligned with programmatic advertising economics.