13 Oct 2026 · 4 min read
What is a DealSheet in agentic advertising?
What is a DealSheet in agentic advertising?
A DealSheet is a bilateral deal record held by a neutral marketplace and owned equally by both the buyer and the publisher: once committed, neither party can alter the agreed terms unilaterally, and either party can retrieve and verify the record at any time.
DealSheet: Alkimi's implementation of a bilateral deal record : a committed, immutable record of deal terms held by the marketplace and queryable by both the buying agent and the publishing agent.
Bilateral ownership: A governance model in which both parties to a deal hold the same authoritative record of what was agreed, rather than one party holding the record and the other relying on their representation of it.
Committed deal record: A deal record that has been finalised by both parties through a formal commitment step; prior to commitment, terms are in negotiation; after commitment, the record is immutable.
Marketplace escrow: The role the neutral marketplace plays in holding the committed deal record : it is neither the buyer's record nor the publisher's record, but the canonical shared record that both reference.
Why bilateral deal records matter
Standard programmatic deal IDs point to a record held by one party, typically the SSP or publisher. The buyer receives a deal ID and trusts that the counterparty's record of what was agreed matches their own understanding. When there is a dispute about what was agreed, there is no neutral authority.
A DealSheet changes this. When a buying agent and a publishing agent negotiate and commit to deal terms through Alkimi, the agreed terms are written to a DealSheet held by Alkimi as a neutral marketplace. Both agents reference the same record. Neither party's version supersedes the other's, because there is only one canonical record.
This matters most when something goes wrong. If a publisher delivers inventory outside the agreed targeting parameters, the buyer can retrieve the DealSheet and demonstrate what was committed. If a buyer disputes a charge, the publisher can do the same. The neutral record removes the ambiguity that characterises deal dispute resolution in traditional programmatic.
How a DealSheet is created
A DealSheet is created through a negotiation sequence between a buying agent and a publishing agent. The buying agent sends a deal enquiry specifying the desired inventory parameters, price range, volume, and brand safety constraints. The publishing agent reviews and responds with an offer. The sequence continues until both agents reach agreed terms or one party terminates the negotiation.
Once both agents confirm acceptance, the agreed terms are written to a DealSheet. The marketplace timestamps the commitment, assigns a DealSheet identifier, and makes the record available to both parties. Neither party can modify the committed record; any change to deal terms requires a new negotiation and a new DealSheet.
The creation process is machine-speed when agents are negotiating autonomously: a deal that would take human buyers and publishers days to confirm by email can be negotiated and committed in seconds by agents operating within their mandates.
What the DealSheet contains
A committed DealSheet contains the full agreed deal terms: inventory type and publisher identity, targeting parameters, pricing and pricing model, volume commitment and pacing, brand safety constraints, impression verification method, and dispute resolution provisions.
It also contains the provenance record: the negotiation sequence that led to the committed terms, timestamped and immutable. If a buyer later claims they agreed to different terms, the provenance record shows what was actually negotiated.
The DealSheet is structured in a machine-readable format aligned with AAMP standard fields, so it can be read by any AAMP-compliant buying agent or publisher platform. It is not a proprietary format locked to Alkimi's systems; any agent with the appropriate access credentials can query it.
Frequently asked questions
How is a DealSheet different from a standard deal ID?
A standard deal ID is a reference to a record held by one party. A DealSheet is a bilateral record held by a neutral marketplace and owned equally by both parties. The distinction matters when there is a dispute about what was agreed.
Can a buyer retrieve their DealSheet after a campaign runs?
Yes. The DealSheet is queryable by the buying agent at any time, before, during, and after the campaign. This is the audit capability that bilateral governance provides: the buyer does not need to request data from the publisher to verify what was agreed.
What happens if deal terms need to change after commitment?
A committed DealSheet is immutable. If deal terms need to change, both parties must agree to the changes through a new negotiation sequence, which results in a new DealSheet. The original committed record is retained as part of the deal history.
Further reading
AAMP : IAB Tech Lab Agentic Advertising Management Protocols
Concourse : Agentic Advertising Platform
A2A Protocol : Agent-to-Agent Communication Specification