Online Ads Analytics & Metrics Reference

Overview

The Online Ads: Analytics and Metrics Reference provides online advertising, marketing, analytics, metrics, monetization, and technology terms with definitions and web-based references. Terms are followed by short definitions and formulas (where appropriate) with online references for further study. This is a living document and new terms, definitions, and references will be made to it from time to time.

Finding your term

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Or use the following alphabetical Index.

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1G (1st Generation)

This is the acronym for the first generation of wireless telecommunication technology (cellphones) employing analog radio signals using a technique called Frequency-Division Multiple Access (FDMA). It is a voice-only cellular telephone standard.

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2G (2nd Generation)

2G signifies second-generation wireless digital technology. Fully digital 2G networks replaced analog 1G networks (originated in the 1980s) and were first established on the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) standard.

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3G (3rd Generation)

This is the acronym for third-generation mobile phone technology. 3g-capable telephones and networks will support video calls, high speed WWW access, multimedia sharing, and instant messaging applications. Enhanced network features include TV or live video streaming, online gaming, and GPS-style location services.

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3PAS/Third Party Adserver

A third party ad server helps advertisers track the performance of an ad. Advertisers can track the number of times an ad has been served, the number of clicks on an ad, and all conversions resulting from an ad.

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4G (4th Generation)

The fourth-generation of wireless service designed to deliver speeds four to ten times faster than 3G networks. Examples of underlying technologies used in 4G networks are WiMax (used by Sprint, Nextel and Clearwire and is also the dominant service in Canada) and LTE (Long Term Evolution used by Verizon, Metro PCS and AT&T) and HSPA+ (used by T-Mobile).

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5G (5th Generation)

A future wireless service standard that is expected to emerge between the years 2020 and 2030 (or sooner), 5G networks may have a radio access capability speed of 10Gbit per second, 100 times faster than today's fastest mobile device.

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A

AAS (Average Active Sessions)

Particularly related to web radio, this is the average number of streams of one minute or more that are active within a time period.

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A/B Testing (Split)

This is a test method for different elements in an offer made through an email, banner ad campaign or those elements that drive conversions on a website. This is accomplished by dividing an audience into two groups, giving a unique message to each group, and then measuring the results of each unique message.

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Acquisition

Refers to when a user completes a desired action after an ad is viewed or clicked. This can be either a sign-up, purchase, or some other interaction with the ad. The term "acquisition" is interchangeable with "conversion" or "action".

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Acquisition Strategy

A marketing strategy designed to help companies find new prospects and activate them into customers as well as convert prospects into paying customers.

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Action (Conversion) Rate

A measure of the rate at which an action (activity or click-through) is performed in response to interactions with an ad.

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Active Campaign

The status assigned to a campaign that has been allocated a budget and is currently serving impressions.

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Ad Avails

This is a time period that is available for the insertion of a media segment as in a fifteen second advertising slot. It is also known as inventory that may be specified as number of impressions or as a share of voice.

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Ad Blocking

Software programs that block internet ads while a user is browsing.

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Ad Call

The request for an advertisement sent by a user's browser. The call consists of browser cookie information and other ad tag information such as: publisher ID, location, and referring URL.

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Ad Choices Icon

Also known as the "Advertising Option Icon", this is an icon created by the Digital Advertising Alliance's (DAA) Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising. The purpose of this icon is to disclose those ads that are customized based on their online behavior.

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Ad Cookie

A small piece of data (cookie) sent from a first- or third-party ad server and stored in a user's web browser. HTTP cookies are used as a mechanism for remembering the state of a website or a user's past activity. Advertisers use tracking cookies to compile a long-term records of a user's browsing history.

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Ad Copy

This is the main text of a clickable ad, whether it is a contextual or a pay per click ad, generally the second and third lines of an ad displayed on a search engine results page or any other web page, and situated between the title and display URL.

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Ad Copywriting

This is the use of persuasive or convincing writing about a topic. It uses text to try and market a company, product, or service.

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Ad Effectiveness Research / Testing

This is a pre-testing tool for marketers seeking to understand how their campaigns perform and the effects on their brand metrics.

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Ad Exchange

A ecosystem/platform for automated selling and buying of online advertising inventory. On an ad exchange, the buyers (advertisers) and the suppliers (publishers, and networks) meet and do business on a unified platform or system. An ad exchange allows advertisers and publishers to speak the same language in order to exchange data, set prices, and ultimately serve an ad.

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Ad Integration

The technical process of defining and making available ad slots within a publisher's site or app.

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Ad Network

An ad network serves as an intermediary between advertisers and publishers, and aggregates large amounts of advertising inventory from a publisher's websites.

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Ad Server

The computer or group of computers responsible for the actual serving of creatives to websites, or for making decisions about what ads will serve. An ad server may also track clicks on ads and other data. Major publishers, networks, and advertisers sometimes have their own ad servers.

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Ad Serving

This describes the technology and service that chooses, places, counts, and monitors advertisements. The benefits include better control of creative third-party billing, auto-optimization, daily reporting, and better transparency.

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Ad Tag / Creative Tag

A small piece of code (HTML or JavaScript) that gives the location of the creative. An Ad Tag is similar to a Creative Tag. An HTML tag is placed on a website for the purpose of retrieving an ad from an ad server. The tag calls upon the browser to open an iframe which can then hold content that is returned from some location like:
"http://ad.adserver.com/imp?Z=468×60&s"

Here is an example of an ad tag:

<script type="text/javascript"
  src="http://ad.adserver.net/
  adj/N4617.somdomain.com/B2850779;
  abr=!ie;sz=250x250;ord=[timestamp]?">
</script>

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Ad Units

This is the area/space in an application where you can display one or more ads.

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Ad Verification

This is a service that ensures that ads appear on intended sites and can reach the targeted audience. It guides marketers in the purchase of media and how impressions are valued in the marketplace.

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Ad View

An ad view occurs each time an advertisement is downloaded from an ad server to the viewer's screen.

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Advergaming

This is a blended mix of advertising and entertainment in the form of a free video game used to promote a product or brand.

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Advertiser

An entity that places a promotion on publisher web pages in order to increase the awareness of their product or service or the number of customers.

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Adware

Software that is downloaded to your computer to show advertisements.

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AED (Advertising Elasticity of Demand / Promotional Elasticity of Demand)

This represents those entities that wish to buy ad space and to display advertising creatives.

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Affiliate / Associate

The publisher/salesperson in an affiliate marketing relationship.

The affiliate carries out the advertising or sales of the affiliate marketing relationship, and gives wider distribution to the affiliate merchant's products in return for compensation based on performance.
The affiliate's source of distribution usually comes in the form of Web site traffic or email list subscribers.
Affiliates have traditionally been smaller sites run by individual webmasters and small businesses, but some large companies have integrated affiliate programs into their revenue mix.
Some companies even participate as a merchant of their own program and as an affiliate of other programs.

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Affiliate Arbitrage

Affiliate Arbitrage is a specific affiliate marketing strategy where affiliate marketers bid on keywords from programs such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing or Microsoft Advertising with Bing.

The paid placement ads purchased on a PPC model, link the ads to either their own affiliate marketing web site, or directly to the merchant website.
Some merchants disallow direct linking from a PPC advertisement such as Amazon.com.
To profitably implement affiliate arbitrage, the affiliate marketer must factor in cost per click bid price and conversion rates as compared to the commission or payout to ensure a profitability.

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Affiliate Directory

A categorized listing of affiliate programs.

Affiliate directories are a starting point for finding and comparing various merchant's programs.
Individual networks also provide aggregated information for their programs, but lack the all-in-one overview of directories.
Many of the directories provide simple text listings, but a few offer more advanced search capabilities.

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Affiliate Fraud / Click Fraud

Bogus activity generated by an affiliate in an attempt to generate illegitimate, unearned revenue.

Fraudulent activity by affiliates comes in both automated and non-automated varieties.
- Automated scripts attempt to mimic the activity of legitimate, human visitors.
- Non-automated schemes may involve coordinated efforts by humans actively generating excess clicks or registrations.
After the fact, affiliate fraud can sometimes be spotted by checking activity logs for unusual patterns.

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Affiliate Marketing Program

This is an arrangement in which an online merchant website pays affiliated websites a commission to send them traffic.

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Affiliate Merchant

This is the advertiser in an affiliate marketing relationship.

The affiliate merchant is responsible for implementing:
- a sales tracking system
- providing a selection of linking methods
- attracting affiliates
- monitoring results
- increasing results
- paying affiliates

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Affiliate Network

This is a value-added intermediary providing services, including aggregation, for affiliate merchants and affiliates.

For affiliate merchants, services can include providing tracking technology, reporting tools, payment processing, and access to a large base of affiliates.
For affiliates, services can include providing one-click application to new merchants, reporting tools, and payment aggregation.

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Affiliate Program (Two-tier)

An affiliate program structure whereby affiliates earn commissions on their conversions as well as conversions of webmasters they refer to the program.

In a two-tier affiliate program, or a multi-tier program (two or more levels), the first tier of commission is the same as in a regular affiliate program.
The only difference is the additional tier(s), whereby marketers also earn a commission on sales generated by people they referred to the program.
Sometimes compensation will be written in shorthand as tier1/tier2, for example 10%/5%.

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Agency / Ad Agency

A service entity that acts as an independent consultant to the advertiser and handles the overall marketing and branding strategies, campaign creation, and sales promotions for its client.

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Agency Trading Desk

A team of agency professionals who coordinate the execution and monitoring of ad campaigns across various exchanges.

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Aggregator

This is the concept of centralizing the collection of different types of information into one place.

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AMP (Audience Management Platform)

A company that focuses on helping publishers to group their audience into segments. Segments are groups of website visitiors such as: parents with children aged 0-5 or adults 18-24 who attend college.

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Analytics (Ads)

Ad analytics measures the interactions with your advertisements and marketing campaigns run on other web sites and online properties (other than your web site) and which ads/properties are performing best.

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Android

The mobile (cellular phone) operation system (OS) owned by Google which can also be used in tablets, netbooks and televisions.

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Animated GIF Ad / Cinemagraph

This is a graphic in the GIF89a (.gif) file format that creates the effect of animation by rotating through a series of static images.

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APM (Actions per Mille/Thousand)

The number of actions or "conversions" that occur per thousand visitors. Each campaign may define actions differently.

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App Store SEO

Also known as app store search engine optimization. Accomplished by formatting text in an app store page to achieve a favorable ranking.

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Arbitrage (Ad)

Arbitrage occurs when a site buys search ads and then sends the unsuspecting searcher to another page full of ads. The arbitrager is paid when searchers click on yet another ad and then the arbitrager pockets the difference between what they paid per click and what they get paid per click.

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ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)

This is a common measurement used by telecommunications operators. Calculated by dividing total revenue by total active users.

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Astroturfing

The process of creating fake grassroots ad and marketing campaigns.

Astroturfing is often used specifically regarding review sites like Google Places, Yelp, Judy’s Book, etc.
These are fake reviews that can be positive reviews for your own company or slander against your competitors.

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ATF (Above the Fold)

The part of a web page or email that is viewable when rendered in a browser (without vertically scrolling). Placing an ad in an ATF position is considered more likely to be seen and thus have better performance metrics than those place BTF (Below the Fold).

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ATL (Above The Line)

A type of advertising through media such as television, cinema, radio, print, and out-of-home to promote brands or convey a specific offer.

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Atlas

An ad management tool and ad server owned by Facebook as of February 2013 (previously owned & operated by Microsoft).

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Attribution

The measurement of the value of each user interaction that contributes to a conversion within a campaign, allowing marketers to accurately measure its success. The simplest attribution model is "last seen", which gives credit to the most recent ad seen by a user.

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Attribution Analysis

Attribution analysis is a key component of ad analytics – as it tells you what worked and what didn’t in trying to attract new customers. With attribution metrics one can optimize campaigns, creative, and placements to drive maximum return on ad spend (ROAS).

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Auctions

An ad exchange is a marketplace (auction) allowing advertisers and publishers to buy and sell online advertising inventory across a variety of ad networks. It operates in an auction-style system of "bids" for ad space.

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Audience Composition

The age and gender demographics of an online ad audience.

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Audience Duplication

The percent of unique visitors to an ad network that can be reached by another ad network.

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Audio Ads

Similar to radio ads, audio ads usually last fifteen seconds and may be synced to webpage banners.

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Audit

The report by an auditing company verifying a website's ad delivery for an ad campaign.

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Auto Bidding

This is the automatic setting of the maximum bid for an advertiser's keywords. A bid on a given keyword is automatically changed by one cent (up or down, to the maximum as set by the bidder) if the nearest competitor changes their bid.

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Automatic Optimization

A search engine marketing term for the identification of ads with the highest click-through rate (CTR) over a certain period of time. These ads are then optimized and served more often than the other ads in a group.

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Avails

Avails represent the unsold inventory of ad time and/or ad space.

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Pricing Advertising: Learning the code - Avails

Average Brand Interaction Time

The average time (in seconds) users interacted with an ad.

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Average Rank

The average rank assigned to a campaign for winning an auction.

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Average Viewable Time

The average amount of time an ad is visible to users. Ad viewable time is measured by the:

Number of visible impressions
Visibility rate
Average visibility time
Percentage of the banner visible (calculated in increments of ten)
Indeterminable impressions

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B

B2B (Business to Business)

Describes commerce transactions between businesses (i.e., a software manufacturer and a mobile supplier).

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B2C (Business to Consumer)

Describes transactions between a business and a consumer (i.e., a mobile supplier and a shopper).

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Backfill

Also known as "remnant" inventory, this is inventory that is not pre-sold and can also refer to an ad network filling unsold inventory for another ad network.

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Banner Activity Rate

The percentage of banner ads recording activity.

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Banner Ad

A basic image or flash display ad that is embedded into a web page, rather than a popup or interstitial ad.

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Banner Clicks

The number of clicks originating from a banner ad.

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Banner CTR (Click Through Rate)

The percentage of banner ad impressions clicked.

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Behavioral Data

Data that provides insight into the genre of websites often visited or the types of terms often searched by a specific user. This data is used to target ads.

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Bidding Strategy

The calculation strategy used to deliver a bid in an ad auction. Two common strategies include:

Bidding a flat CPM (Cost Per Mille) or
Bidding a variable price based on past click through or conversion rates.

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Blanket

A campaign type where a wide range of data attributes on a user are purchased.

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Brand

The image, reputation, and product line of a company.

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Brand Stacking

This is multiple page one listings from a single domain.

Prior to 2010, a site would be fortunate if it had three first page results for branded searches.
Since Google tweaked its algorithm to include Brand Stacking, that number has risen to as many as eight of the top search rankings.

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Broad Match

A term used in paid search campaigns, meaning to accept a search match containing keywords in any order.

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BTL (Below The Line)

BTL marketing is an immediate or delayed incentive to purchase, expressed in cash or in kind and having a short duration.

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Bulk Submission

A process used by advertisers providing PPC search engines with a large amount of keywords in one batch.

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Bumper Ad

A bumper ad is used to introduce other content. This is often a video ad making a specific request for action (click another ad) or that makes reference to a video clip.

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Buzz Index

A scoring method based on the measurement of the percentage of users who search for a specific term or phrase during a specified period of time.

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Buzz Marketing

Buzz marketing is the use of viral and word of mouth practices to distribute branding and advertising materials.

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C

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

This is the cost associated with acquiring a new customer.

Formula:

CAC =
total acquisition expenses
------(divided by)--------
total new customers

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Cache / Caching

HTTP caching saves or "caches" resources by a browser or a proxy. When a resource is cached, a browser or proxy can refer to the locally cached copy instead of downloading it again.

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Cache Busting

Website technique to reduce the caching process thus forcing proxey servers to fetch new content or ads for every request.

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Call to Action

Action words in an ad such as "click" and "download" that lead to a recordable event that can be tracked for analytic purposes.

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Campaign

A program of advertisements that usually includes:

A start date
An end date
A budget
Frequency restrictions
An inventory bid price
Targeting based on user or inventory data

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Campaign Integration

A technique to keep customers thinking about your brand across all mediums, i.e., online, radio, television, etc.

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Carrier

Also know as a cellular phone "service provider" offering wireless services, i.e., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.

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Centrographic Targeting

A marketing method concentrated on the events or features of a certain geographic area.

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CDN (Content Delivery Network)

A network of servers that quickly delivers static content in the form of creative images or flash files.

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CGM (Consumer Generated Media)

Brand messages generated by word-of-mouth, blogs, chat rooms, viral marketing, shared videos, shared photos, etc.

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Channel Planning

A media buying method that discovers the best websites, media types, approaches, etc. for online ad campaigns.

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Channels

The organization of a website's content by categories, topics, etc.

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Churn Rate (Predictive Churn Modeling)

Churn Rate is a measure of customer attrition, defined as the number of customers who cease being customers over a specified time period divided by the average total number of customers over that same time period.

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Click

Clicks (on a web page) can be activated by a computer keyboard key, mouse, or pointing device to navigate through content or interact with an ad.

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Click Fraud

Clicks that are falsely generated to create a debits on a search engine listing or CPC text ad.

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Click Log

A server-side log of predefined information gathered when a user clicks on an ad.

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Click to Call

A mobile phone option to automatically call an advertiser from a jump page.

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Click-and-Mortar / Brick-and-Click

A retailer that has an online and off-line presence.

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Clickstream

The record of a user's path while navigating within a website or across websites.

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Clickstream Analysis

An investigative technique used by advertisers and publishers to understand and predict how consumers respond to advertising over time at an individual level.

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Click-Through

Clicking an ad unit and being redirected to another webpage. The click action is recorded by the ad server which counts the total number of clicks and calculates the Click-Through-Rate ( CTR).

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Cloaking

A search marketing method used to return a web page to search spiders different to the one the user requested via a search engine and is viewing.

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Closed-Loop Marketing

An inbound, automatic collection/tracking marketing method that registers user patterns in advertising.

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Co-Branding

Refers to affiliate marketing where two or more companies can join together and include their own logo/branding on pages they direct to their users.

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Collaborative / Social Information Filtering

Information filtering based on a collaboration between multiple sources of data.

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Commission / Referral Fee / Bounty

Income received by an affiliate for generating a click-through to a site that ultimately results in a lead or sale on that site.

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Companion Ads

Text, display or graphics that support a brand in a video ad.

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Completes

A metric that measures if an online video is played to completion by a site visitor.

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Content Farm

A media enterprise that generates content algorithmically, designed be narrow in focus and broad in reach in order to maximize ad potential.

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Content Integration / Advertorials / Infomercials

The integration of ads within an editorial context, also known as "advertorials", or "infomercials".

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Content Marketing

In marketing this refers to activities leading to the creation and sharing of relevant, valuable, and important content to engage current or potential customers.

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Content Targeting

This is content that is based on the persona of a community, targeted specifically to their demographics and affinities.

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Contextual Advertising / Targeting

A form of targeted advertising that uses web page content as a guide for the corresponding display ad content.

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Conversion

Refers to when a user completes a desired action after an ad is viewed or clicked. This can be either a sign-up, purchase, or some other interaction with the ad. The term is interchangeable with "acquisition" or "action".

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Conversion Attribution

This is the mechanism through which an advertiser allocates the bounty it is ready to pay for a single conversion (purchase, sign up, etc.) across those online events that made that final conversion possible.

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Conversion Funnel

This describes the path a consumer takes from the initial viewing of an ad (broad end of the funnel) to completing a desired action (narrow end of the funnel). For example:

1,000 users see an ad.
300 click it.
150 visit a site.
50 purchase.

The various stages of the funnel are use to measure the effectiveness of an ad campaign. Additionally, funnel events do not need to be linear.

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Conversion Pixel (Web Beacon)

A pixel that is enabled at the time of desired action (conversion) by the user. Pixels are placed on key site pages such as:

A landing page
A sign up page
A check-out page

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Conversion Rate

A tool used to evaluate the percentage of visitors who took a desired action in ad, search, email, etc., campaigns.

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Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking shows how many views or clicks result in an actual purchase, sign-up/registration, lead, viewing of a key page, or some other valuable actions.

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Cookie Matching

A technique used to append data by linking a user ID to another user ID. These user ID associations are then stored in a match table.

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Cookies

Data that a web server issues and places in a HTTP Header response to a client request.

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Co-Registration

An ad program implemented on a website to collect user information and then share it with advertisers.

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Cost Plus

This is media cost plus an additional flat payment per thousand impressions.

Cost plus is an industry standard business model and pricing methodology which adds aggregated transaction fees to the original price a publisher sells its ad inventory.
Where there is often a complex and long supply chain involving many intermediaries, the cost plus model can making procuring media expensive and can even lead to a situation where the transaction cost is larger than the actual price charged for the ad inventory bought.
It is estimated that in many cases the transaction costs for programmatic media buying are around 60%.

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CPA (Cost Per Acquisition / Action)

An advertising cost model based on a visitor taking some specifically defined action in response to an ad. In this case, an "acquisition" can be a sale, completed registration form, etc.

Formula:

CPA =
ad campaign cost
--(divided by)--
[number of impressions x CTR x CR]

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CPC (Cost Per Click / Price Per Click)

An Internet advertising cost model in which the advertiser pays the publisher when an ad is clicked.

Formula:

CPC =
Cost to an Advertiser
----(divided by)-----
The number of clicks
Note: Cost = impressions (multiplied by) CTR (multiplied by) CPC

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CPC (Cost Per Conversion)

Cost Per Conversion is the total cost of generating traffic divided by the total number of conversions.

Formula:

CPC =
Total Advertising Cost
-----(divided by)-----
The # of Conversions

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CPCV (Cost Per Completed View)

An advertising model where the advertiser pays for each mobile video view that a consumer has completed from start to finish.

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CPE (Cost Per Engagement) / CPI (Cost Per Interaction)

An advertising cost model based on a visitor taking some specifically defined action in response to an ad. In this case, an "action" can be:

Viewing a video.
Expanding an ad.
Completing a transaction.
Downloading content.

With Cost Per Engagement, the advertiser does not have to pay for the impressions their ad receives, all impressions are free. The advertiser only has to be an ad server or a website owner when a user engages with their ad.

Formula:
CPE = Cost / Amount of ad engagements

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CPI (Cost Per Inquiry)

An advertising cost model based the number of leads collected from a lead form after an ad is viewed. Also known as Cost Per Lead (CPL).

Formula:

CPI =
Total promotional cost
---- (divided by)-----
The # of inquiries generated

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CPL (Cost Per Lead)

An advertising cost model based the number of leads collected from a lead form after an ad is viewed. Also known as Cost Per Inquiry (CPI) and CPA (cost per action).

Formula:

CPL =
Total promotional cost
-----(divided by)-----
The # of leads generated

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CPM (Cost Per Mille / Thousand)

An advertising cost model based on ad impressions:

The advertiser pays for every 1000 impressions served.
The total price paid in a CPM deal is calculated by multiplying the CPM rate by the number of CPM units.

For example, one million impressions at $10.00 CPM equal a $10,000.00 total price.

Formula:

CPM =
Cost of 1 Unit of a Media Program
-----------(divided by)----------
Size of Media Program's Audience x 1,000

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CPT (Cost Per Transaction)

Fees paid to a website for each transaction, normally calculated as a percentage (2% through 10%) of a total sale.

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CPV (Cost Per View)

A monetary amount that an advertiser pays for each viewing of their video ad.

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Creative

The graphical concept, design and artwork of an advertisement that can come in various formats such as:

Flash
GIF
HTML
JavaScript
JPEG

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Creative Tag (aka Ad Tag)

A small piece of code that gives the location of the creative. A creative tag is similar to an Ad Tag.

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CRM (Customer Relationship Management/Database)

A technology used to organize and manage a comapny's interactions with current and prospective customers. The information maintained CRM databases can map individuals to defined attributes or segments.

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CRM Retargeting

CRM Retargeting (a.k.a. Data Onboarding) allows marketers to target online display ads toward existing customers and prospects by matching the email or postal addresses of these customers with a large network of anonymous online browsers. Additionally, marketers can target those users who do not actively engage with email or a marketer's website.

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CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)

This is a method to increase website leads and sales without spending money on attracting more visitors by reducing your visitor "bounce rate". Some test methods enable one to monitor which headlines, images and content help one convert more visitors into customers.

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Cross-Platform Advertising

Advertising on multiple devices to create multiple touch-points for marketers to engage selected target audiences.

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CSV (Comma Separated Values)

A common file format used in data onboarding. In a CSV file, each piece of data is separated by a comma ( , ).

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CTR (Click-Through Rate)

The ratio of clicks to ad impressions. This is the most commonly used metric to determine the success of an ad campaign.

Formula:

CTR =
# of times an ad is clicked
-------(divided by)--------
# of times an ad is displayed x 100

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CVR (Conversion Rate via installs - "click-through conversion")

The measurement of the success of a paid inclusion campaign. A conversion rate is measured by the number of potential visitors performing the desired action, whether the action is buying a product, filling out a form, or some other goal of the web page.

Formula:

CVR =
# of installs
-(divided by)-
# of clicks

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D

DAA (Digital Advertising Alliance)

A premier online advertising association made up of various other industry organizations that are dedicated to self-regulation.

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Daisy Chain

Daisy chaining is the linking of several ad tags, usually from several different exchanges, ad servers, or ad networks. Sometimes no creative can be found to fill the ad slot on a webpage, so a second tag is passed back and the webpage seeks a creative from a second system.

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DART / DoubleClick For Publishers

An ad management tool and server created by DoubleClick and operated by Google. It is now known as DoubleClick For Publishers. Also see Atlas.

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Data Onboarding

Data onboarding allows you to take your CRM data online, meaning you can target your own customers through dynamic video and display advertisements using the information you already know about them. This practice allows marketers to enhance campaign performance, retrieve deeper analytics, and effectively measure offline attribution.

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Data Providers

Businesses that provide behavioral and contextual data about users so that advertisers can better target ads to those users.

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DAU (Daily Active Users)

DAU measures how many unique users visit a site daily (a.k.a. "stickiness").

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Daughter Window Ad

A separate window related to a displayed banner ad, usually appearing after the banner renders or after it has been clicked.

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Day Parting / Targeting

Refers to serving ads at different times of the day and days of the week, or even changing bids or copy / creative at different times.

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DCG (Discounted Cumulative Gain)

A measure of the effectiveness of app search engine algorithms used in data retrieval. DCG employs a graded relevance scale of apps in a search engine result set, then measures the usefulness (or gain) of an app based on its position in that result list.

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DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimization)

A combination of dynamic ad creatives and automatic optimization processes. This allows advertisers to serve a tailored creative for each impression in real time.

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dCPM (Dynamic CPM)

A dynamic pricing model for advertisers using ad exchanges.

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Decisioning

The process by which an ad server, ad platform, or exchange chooses to whom it serves an ad. This decision can be an auction-based, relationship based, or based on some other system.

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Deduplication

The removal of duplicate entries or events in a data set. Duplicate entries or events can occur if a user clicks twice on the same ad.

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Default Creative

When a campaign is set to inactive and one of your affiliates is still displaying it, any end users who click on that creative will see your default creative instead of the inactive creative.

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Default Tag

A tag placed in the event that no impression can be found for an ad opportunity. The presence of a default tag can initiate another round of decisioning in another ad serving system.

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Demand

Demand represents those entities that wish to buy ad space and to display advertising creatives.

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Demographics

Externally measurable characteristics of potential buyers such as age, gender, race, education, and income level.

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Desktop Advertising

Software that serves ads to a user's computer via a client-side desktop application.

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Digital Audio

This is advertising-supported streaming of audio programming to consumers via diverse audio devices and services.

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Digital Creative

An advertising creative in digital format, i.e., Flash, GIFs, HTML, MPEG video, etc.

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Digital Currency

Digital currency is electronic money that acts as alternative currency. It is a form of digital cash bought from a particular company in order to pay for goods and services on the internet.

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Direct Media Buy

Pre-brokered agreements between an advertiser and publisher to deliver a certain amount of specific inventory for a preset cost. Placements are required for direct media buys.

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Direct Response

A marketing campaign that measures consumer interaction, such as filling in a lead form or purchasing a product.

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Discovery

The combination of machine learning, user experience, and interaction design to create a new way to discover, consume, and share media. It can use social network aggregation and apply algorithms to filter the content that aligns with the interests of a specific reader.

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Display Advertising

Display ads, sometimes referred to as banners, come in standardized ad sizes, and can include text, logos, pictures, or more recently, rich media.

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DMA (Designated Market Area / Demographic Metropolitan Area)

Also known as a Demographic Metropolitan Area, a DMA is a geographic area that makes up a cohesive television market.

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DMA OBA Compliance

Guidelines created by the Direct Marketing Association regarding online behavioral advertising.

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DMP (Data Management Platform)

Also called an Audience Management Platform, the DMP provides the infrastructure to process billions of first-, second-, and third-party data events per day with analytics using de-duplication and integration of data with other platforms.

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DNT (Do Not Track)

Do Not Track is a technology and policy proposal that enables users to opt out of tracking by websites they do not visit, including analytics services, advertising networks and social platforms. At present few of these third parties offer a reliable tracking opt out, and tools for blocking them are neither user-friendly nor comprehensive. Much like the popular Do Not Call registry, Do Not Track provides users with a single, simple, persistent choice to opt out of third-party web tracking.

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DR (Direct Response)

A term applied to marketing or advertising that is designed to solicit a direct response, which is specific and quantifiable. In online display advertising, this can be clicking on an ad, making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, etc.

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DSP (Demand Side Platform)

A company that helps advertisers manage multiple ad and data exchange accounts for media buying purposes.

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Dual-screening (Multi-monitor)

The two screens in question are usually a connected device and the TV. Consumers often view TV and use the connected device to comment on what they're viewing.

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Dwell Time

The time that a user spends on a website, from the time they arrive on the website until the time they leave the website.

This is referred to by some Internet marketers as time on site.
Dwell time is a key engagement metric and perofrmance indicator for many marketers.
The higher the dwell time, the better as it shows that a websites users are actively engaged in the content.
Dwell time should be viewed as a directional Internet marketing metric as opposed to absolute one.

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Dynamic Ad Placement

A process that dynamically inserts an ad into a web page in response to a user's request, rather than a static or hard-coded ad placed in a page.

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Dynamic Creative

A non-static creative that can change based on audience segmentation or user-specific browsing history.

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Dynamic Pricing

The purchase price for an ad impression being determined via a real-time auction rather than a predetermined rate.

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E

Earned Media

A media category reflecting free publicity that a company receives via customers talking or sharing aspects of the company or its brand through social networks and platforms.

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eCPC (effective Cost Per Click)

The effective cost of each click, calculated by dividing total spend by the total number of clicks.

Formula:
eCPC = total earnings / total # of clicks

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eCPI (effective Cost Per Install)

The action of dividing cost by both paid and organic installs.

Formula:

eCPI =
Cost of user acquisition funding
----------(divided by)----------
# of users acquired (including organics)

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eCPM (effective Cost Per Mille / Thousand)

A useful reporting metric for measuring revenue generated across various marketing channels, eCPM is calculated by dividing total spend by the total number of impressions in thousands. For example, if a publisher earns $200 from 40,000 impressions, the eCPM calculation would be ($200/40,000) x 1000 giving an eCPM of $5.00. The eCPM tells a publisher what they would have received if they sold the advertising inventory on a CPM basis (instead of a CPA, CPC, or CPT basis).

Formula:

eCPM =
Total spend
-(divided by)-
Total # of impressions x 1000

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Ego (Trophy) Keyword

Keywords that must be owned and produce top SEO ranking regardless of cost or return on investment (ROI).

They may be your company name, your name, or a very vague and broad subject related to your industry.
Occasionally these terms matter enough that you absolutely need to own them and you really need to have some sort of presence for them.

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Endemic Advertising

Placement of an ad where it represents a natural fit with surrounding editorial content or the demographics of users of the content.

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Enhanced Campaigns (Google AdWords)

A technique using a series of bid multipliers where the bid for a particular keyword can be adjusted by time of day, geographic location, and device. It also eliminates the ability to target desktops, mobiles and tablets in separate campaigns, with desktops and tablets now being lumped together, e.g., it is no longer possible to specifically target tablets.

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Engagement Metrics

The measurement of the impact of ads via "customer engagement". For example: clicks, mouseovers, video ad completion, and how long a visitor spends on a web site are typical engagement metrics.

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Engagement Rate

The percentage of an audience that consumes a particular piece of editorial content.

The advertising profit contribution of media is defined by the advertising revenue produced from page views minus the costs to create the content and sell the advertising.
Digital media uses audience size and engagement rate to define salable inventory of page views.
Engagement rate informs the publisher about the priorities for profits.
- With a low engagement rate, a publisher needs to improve profits through audience development.
- With a high engagement rate, a publisher needs to improve profits through more editorial.

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>EVP (Earnings Per Visitor)

A breakdown of how much income a website or Internet company makes on average, based on the number of clicks or visitors it receives.

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Exchange

See Ad Exchange.

Exclusive

Ad programs giving one advertiser all ad units on a page, sections of a page or the entire website thus excluding other competitive advertisers.

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Exit Popup

See Exit Transfer.

Exit Transfer

Occurs when a browser renders another window or ad when a user exits a page.

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F

Filmstrip

The IAB standard ad unit (300 x 3000 pixels) viewable through an ad slot (300 x 600 pixels) with five segments (300 x 600 pixels each).

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First Party Cookies

Cookies that are used for login, user experience, and remarketing purposes. These cookies also refer to the domain of the website that a user is currently viewing and are left on the user's computer.

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First Touch

Also known as First Interaction, is an attribution model in which 100% of credit for a conversion is given to the first impression a user saw. This is used less frequently than "Last Seen".

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Fixed Bidding

In Pay Per Click (PPC) search engines, a method an advertiser uses to set the exact amount they are willing to pay for a keyword.

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Flat Rate Pricing

Uses a fixed rate model for media instead of a CPC or CPM model.

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Flight (Dates)

The start date and end date of an ad campaign. The lifetime of an ad campaign can also be indefinite.

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Floating Ad

An ad in a separate window or animation sequence that floats above the web page.

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Flog

A "Fake Blog" is termed as a "Flog". Used by advertisers and ad agencies to impersonate a fan page that promotes/recommends a specific advertiser.

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Freemium

A business practice offering basic services for free while charging premiums for special or advanced features.

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Frequency

How often an ad is shown in a during a specified period of time. Advertisers must be careful to avoid overexposure by showing ads too frequently.

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Frequency capping

A limit placed on an ad that determines how many times it can be shown to a user.

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Funnel

See Conversion Funnel.

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G

Gap Surfing

A technique used to ensure that a bid meets and maintains a desired target rank.

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Gateway Page / Doorway Page / Bridge Page

An optimized, non-information bearing web page ("Click here to enter") created for keyword targeting, hoping to improve a site's search engine ranking in response to keyword searches.

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Geo-fencing

A technology that allows an advertiser to:

Select a geographic point using latitude and longitude information.
Create a virtual "fence" around that point of a given radius.

For example, an advertiser can pinpoint a bank branch, then deliver a specific ad to anyone who comes within a 200 meter radius. Ads delivered through geo-fencing typically yield higher conversions and better ROI for advertisers.

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Geo-Targeting / Geographic Targeting

An active response to Geo-Location, this is based on a users location, or a location used as a means of finding specific audiences for an ad campaign.

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GIF89a (Animated GIF)

A GIF animation tool used to create sequences of images (allowing transparent background colors) simulating animation.

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Google Dance

The periodic updating of the Google Search engine index servers.

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GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)

Expanded GSM (Global System for Mobile) communication allowing the transmission of data packets.

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Gross Impression

This is the number of exposures (total) to an online ad or message.

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Gross Rates

Ad agencies bill their clients for purchased media via this method.

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GRP (Gross Rating Points)

A way of determining the sum of ratings for a specific media item or schedule.

Formula:

Gross Rating Points (GRPs) =
Reach (multiplied by) Frequency.
This is expressed as a percentage (%).

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GSI (Graphical Search Inventory)

Graphic (not text) search ads served through contextual ad networks (like Google Adsense) that are synchronized to user-entered keywords or phrases.

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Guaranteed Premium Inventory

Inventory that is pre-sold by an in-house sales team. Also see Premium Inventory.

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H

Half-Page Ad

This is the standard ad unit as defined by the IAB, 300 x 600 pixels. A larger size is also sometimes used, 336 x 850 pixels.

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Hashtag ( # )

A method used to group/tag all Twitter tweets related to a specific topic.

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Hero Ads (Microsoft)

Search ad techniques that render banner ads above a brand’s organic listing and sitelinks.

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Hidden Text / Invisible Text

A search engine marketing spam technique filling web pages with keywords whose text/font-color is the same as the background-color of the page.

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HiveMind

A connected target audience is a HiveMind that has constellated around a particular product or service.

HiveMind audiences stay connected in many ways.
- They read blogs.
- They use RSS feeds to stay in contact with minimal effort.
- They join social networks to affirm their bonds.
- They pass along information about themselves and about others.
- They share who they are and what they are about.
Marketing to a HiveMind isn't something that can be done fromthe outside.
- You can't blast them with ads, spam them with emails, fill their mailboxes with junkmail, or interrupt their TV programs with commercials. It just doesn't work.
- You have to engage them, and that means understanding their collective consciousness, their HiveMind.

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Hot Spot

Used in rich-media advertising to create links to other media or to measure interaction with media. It is normally an interactive button or toggle on a web page that is invisible to the user.

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HTML Banner

A rich media ad format defined by the IAB that allows interaction with an ad unit.

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Hybrid Campaign

An ad campaign pricing model focusing on multiple criteria as in measuring both CPM and CPC.

It is also considered a combination of two or more online marketing payment models.

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Hyper Local

A targeting type serving ads based on a user's location via their mobile device with GPS.

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I

IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau)

A premier industry association that educates members of the advertising community about interactive advertising and is dedicated to the proliferation of the interactive advertising marketplace.

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iAd

Apple's ad platform that allows the embedding of ads into iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad applications.

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iframe

A HTML element/tag that opens a separate browser window of a specified size (usually smaller) within the primary browser window viewed by the user. The purpose is to control the size of content and prevent an ad from dominating the screen.

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Impressions

A measure of the number of times an ad is displayed, without regard to if the ad is ever clicked.

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In-App Payments

Also referred to as the 'Freemium' model, it is one of the dominant monetization models in the mobile app industry. It allows web content to initiate a payment for a digital good and receive a confirmation from a payment provider of the purchase.

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In-banner Video Ads

Video ads that are played in standard banner placements.

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Insertion Order (IO)

This is a legal contract detailing ad campaign specifications, including payment conditions, etc. between respective parties.

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In-stream Video

Video ads that are played in video players on web pages.

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Interaction Rate

This is the percentage of interacted ad impressions.

Formula:

Interaction Rate =
Total Interactions
---(divided by)---
Total Impressions x 1000

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Interactions

A measurement of the number of ad impressions that resulted in a user interaction (mouseover or click-thru).

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Interactive Agency

This is an ad agency providing web development, online advertising/marketing, and e-Commerce, e-Business solutions.

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Interruption Marketing / Outbound Marketing

The promotion of a product, service, etc. through continuous (annoying) advertising, sales attempts, and public relations.

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Interstitial Ad

An intrusive, full-page ad unit delivered on top of a web page's content without a user's request.

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In-Text Video Ads

Pop-up ad units activated when a user passes or mouses over a text hyperlink.

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Introstitial Ad

An intrusive, full-page ad unit delivered without a user's request while they are in the process of navigating to another page.

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Inventory

The available space on a web page for ads to be served. Inventory is sold by publishers.

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IO (Insertion Order)

See Insertion Order (IO)

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J

Jump Page / Landing Page

A destination page for users who clicked on a link in an ad, carrying further information relative to the ad link.

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K

KPI (Key Performance Indicators)

Refers to and identifies the primary and secondary goals of a marketing campaign and is based on specific consumer actions, i.e., CTR, etc.

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KPI (Key Performance Initiators)

A set of metrics used to measure the performance of an organization or a particular campaign.

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Keywords

Keywords are terms placed in a search query to discover related web pages, allowing advertisers to bid on them as part of their marketing strategy.

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Keyword Density / Keyword Weight

Refers to the number of times a keyword appears on a web page as a percentage of the total number of words on that page. The industry recommended keyword density level should be 5% or less.

Formula:

Keyword Density =
# of repeats of the keyword
-------(divided by)--------
Total number of words on the page (multiplied by) 100

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Keyword Proximity

Indicates how close two keywords are to each other on a web page.

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Keyword Rank / Keyword Search

Keyword Rank is the position or placement of a keyword in a search result.

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L

Landing Page / Jump Page

The page on which a user "lands" after clicking an ad or link.

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Large Rectangle (IAB)

The IAB definition for a standard ad unit size of 336 x 280 pixels.

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Last Click

A type of attribution model that pays 100% of credit for a conversion to the last impression that was clicked by the user.

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Last Seen

A type of attribution model that pays 100% of credit for a conversion to the last impression that was seen by the user.

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Last Touch (conversion attribution model)

Using a last touch attribution model, 100 percent of the credit for a conversion goes to the last view or click before a conversion. For example:

A re-targeted display ad would get 100 percent of the credit even though the customer interacted with the brand a number of times before converting.
Advertisers learn exactly which types of views and clicks directly preceded a conversion.
Only one touch point is tracked so data collection requirements are low.

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Latency

Latency is the time it takes for one data packet to traverse a network connection with low latency being preferred over high latency.

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Lead Generation

The process of generating leads for products and/or services and activated when a user completes and then submits a form to provide more data about a product or service.

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Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process of cultivating leads that are not yet ready to buy.

Successful lead nurturing anticipates the needs of the buyer based on who they are (using profile characteristics like title, role, industry, and so on) and where they are in the buying process.
Lead nurturing keeps prospects engaged by providing the most relevant content (such as white papers and webinars) for their situation.

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Lead Scoring

The predictive ranking of the value of one lead versus another to the organization.

Common sources of data for Lead Scoring include explicit information such as:
- Demographics
- BANT criteria (Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline)
combined with implicit or behavioral observations.

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Leaderboard

An IAB standard ad unit equivalent to 728 x 90 pixels.

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Lift

The percentage increase in performance that can be credited to advertising.

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Linear Video Ad

An ad (video) that runs before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll) or end (post-roll) of a video program that a user selected.

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Link Farming

An attempt by web marketers to artificially increase their page rank/popularity by building inbound links and exchanging reciprocal links.

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Location-Based Service(s)

These services rely on, use, or incorporate the location of a device to provide or enhance a service.

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Long Tail

Refers to publishers either in niche markets, with undesirable audiences, or few users whose ad inventory is difficult to monetize.

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Long Tail Keywords

Search queries using more than two to three words when being defined by a user.

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Look-alike Targeting

Audience targeting that trys to identify a given audience with an existing customer profile and with users who exhibit similar characteristics as your customers.

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Lookback Window (Latency Window)

Usually a 14-day or 30-day window of time that is referenced with collecting data used to evaluate conversions or create bids.

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M

Make Good

Provides an additional level of service when a publisher cannot timely serve the number of ad impressions as agreed with an advertiser.

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Managed Publisher

An independent publisher that is managed by an ad network or SSP (Supply Side Platform).

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Marketer

An advertiser that manages its own digital advertising strategy. Usually a larger entity and also referred to as a direct marketer.

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MAU (Monthly Active Users)

The number of unique individuals who interacted with your Page or its stories in the last 30 days.

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Media Analytics

An evaluation of how well an ad campaign is delivering its objectives.

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Media Plan

A process used to determine, select and plan the needed media vehicles and strategies for an online marketing campaign.

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Mediated Buying

This involves two way buyer/seller electronic communication in a computer mediated environment in which the buyer controls the kind and amount of information received from the seller.

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Medium Rectangle (IAB)

IAB's standard for an online ad measuring 300 x 250 pixels.

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Meme

A unit of cultural information, i.e., a popular song/tune, catchy phrase, fashions, etc. that spread virally and quickly evolve within cultures.

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Metadata

Data that describes other data.

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Metrics

These are measures of performance (CTR, etc.) and/or characteristics of a medium (site traffic, etc.).

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Micro Ads

Inexpensive paid advertisements (for example, those that appear on the edge of a search engine results page), where the relevancy of the ads to keywords makes a difference and not high tech graphics.

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Micro Conversions

Commitments made by visitors to a website, with those commitments just falling short of becoming a paying customer.

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Micro / Mini Sites

This is a child website with one to three pages functioning as a low-level entity within an existing main website.

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Mid-roll Video Ad

This is an online video commercial that appears during an online video and is some ten to fifteen seconds in length.

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Minimum Bid

The least amount of money an online advertiser bids to keep a keyword or phrase active in a PPC (Pay Per Click) ad campaign.

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MMA (Mobile Marketing Association)

A premier industry association dedicated to the proliferation of mobile marketing and its associated technology.

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MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)

A text message with multimedia content (video, images, ringtones, etc.).

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Mobile DSP (Demand-Side Platform)

A platform that enables mobile advertisers to manage all ad exchange and data exchange through a single interface.

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Mouseover Ad / Hover Ad

Passing a mouse over an item/graphic which changes it to show that the item/graphic has a link to further information.

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Mousetrapping

Hidden attempts to keep a visitor on a website, for example by not making the [Back] button available or by making it continuously load the same page.

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MRAID ad (Mobile Rich Media As Interface Definitions - IAB)

MRAID is an industry standard API for rich media ads running in mobile application written by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

MRAID defines a common API (Application Programming Interface) for mobile rich media ads that will run in mobile apps.
It provides banner ads with a standard way to expand/collapse banners and handle other situations that are not possible in a mobile application environment.

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MSP (Marketing Service Provider)

Companies that provide marketing services, both online and offline, and can include direct mail, email, social media, mobile, web, and display advertising.

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MTA (Multi-touch attribution)

An attribution model that attempts to assign value to every observed touch point between the user and marketer before a conversion occurs. Touch points might include viewing online content, using an application, or any other desired action.

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Multivariate Testing

A technique used to increase conversion rates, allowing the simultaneous analysis of multiple variables to isolate each variable's individual effect.

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N

NAI (Network Advertising Initiative)

A self-regulatory, online advertising industry association focused on consumer education about online behavioral advertising (OBA).

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>Native Ads

Ads that are built into an advertising platform producing a tighter user experience with the ad content.

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Negative Keyword Matching

A technique that ensures your ad does not show for any search that includes specified keywords in the search query.

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NFC (Near Field Communication)

A set of standards for smartphones and other mobile devices that allows them to communicate over short distances (typically less than 4cm or 1-3/4") with powered/unpowered RFID (radio frequency identification) tags or other systems. Uses for NFC include contact-free transactions (a "virtual wallet"), simplified app installation, etc.

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Net Rates

Publishers and media owners are paid net rates for their advertising inventory.

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Network

See Ad Network

New Visitor

Metric that records a first-time visitor to a website.

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Niche Website

A website hosting specific and narrow (as opposed to broad) content with high-quality audiences that appeal to advertisers who can charge a higher CPM for those viewers.

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Non-Linear Video Ads

Video ads running parallel to a video ad as it plays.

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O

O&O (Owned and Operated Publisher)

A publisher that acts as a subsidiary and in which case the parent company receives 100% of the profit. This is opposed to a managed publisher that operates independently.

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OBA (Online Behavioral Advertising)

Advertising targeted toward users based on their browsing history. Also see DMA OBA Compliance.

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oCVR (Optimized Conversion View-through Rate)

An oCVR view-through conversion occurs when an ad view leads directly to a valuable user action such as a purchase, sign-up, registration, lead, or view of a key page. oCVR measures the effectiveness or rate of unique impressions.

Formula:

oCVR =
# of impressions
--(divided by)--
# of clicks

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On Deck / Off Deck

Mobile marketing's use of a device's built-in software and features, and also to software external to a device.

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Open Rate

In an email marketing campaign, this is the actual number of emails opened verses the total number of emails sent.

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Opt In Email

A process where a user agrees to receive emails from a specific website or list.

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Opt Out

The ability of a user to refuse interest and behavioral advertising via an opt-out cookie.

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Optimization

A marketing strategy that targets ad inventory that will most likely provide a positive ROI for your campaigns.

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Organic Install / Listing

An install done as a result of non-paid advertising.

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Over Delivery

Occurs when a website delivers more ad impressions than was guaranteed in an IO (Insertion Order).

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Overlay Ads

Small, graphic ads positioned over a video's content.

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P

Package / Universal Ad Packaging

The assembly of multiple, different ad units into one ad campaign that meets an advertiser's objectives.

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Page Impression

Filtered responses recorded at the content level by a web server to a page request from a user's browser.

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Page Tag

JavaScript embedded in web pages that enables web analytics software to record/count page views.

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Paid Inclusion

A fee-based listing offered by search engines and directories to advertisers that guarantees a listing (not a page ranking) in their databases.

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Paid Listing

Sold by ad search engines to advertisers via paid placement or paid inclusion programs.

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Paid Media

Specifically designed digital media that may be purchased to generate leads, mobile and video ads, social network ads, etc.

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Paid Placement / Sponsored Links

Used by advertisers to pay for a link to be inserted (fixed at the top or bottom) in a search results page (SERP).

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Paid Search Results

The results or ad listings of a search query that usually appear above (or below if requested by the advertiser) and to the right of organic search results.

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Payment Threshold

The minimum accumulated commission an affiliate must earn to trigger payment from an affiliate program.

Payment thresholds involve two factors:
- Minimum payment: $25, $50, $100, etc.
- Time interval: monthly, quarterly, etc.
At the specified time interval, accumulated commissions for each affiliate are compared to the minimum payment level.
- If an affiliate fails to meet the minimum payment level, the amount is rolled over to the next period.
- This continues until the accumulated commission is greater than the minimum payment level.

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Performance-based Advertising

Campaigns whose objectives are an immediate or identifiable measured action, e.g., counted clicks, completion of an order, completed inquiry, etc.

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Phrase Match

A keyword matching technique displaying an ad if a user's search query includes an exact phrase match regardless if the query includes other words.

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PII (Personally Identifiable Information)

Information that can be used to identify a user such as: an individual’s name, mailing address, phone number, or e-mail address. Typically, this information is excluded from data stored in a user cookie to anonymize digital marketing practices.

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Pixel

A piece of code that tracks user data and is delivered to a web page by a third party server. The third party server then records the IP address, URL, and time stamp. Also see Conversion Pixel and Segment Pixel.

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Platform

A device or technology stack that software runs on. For example, the following can all be considered platforms:

The web
Android
Chrome browser
ChromeOS
iOS - iPhone and iPad
Laptops
Windows 8

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Polite Banner Load

A technique enabling an ad to serve/load large-file ads in the background (which are not part of the intial download) with the intention to maximize ad performance.

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Popunder

A secondary browser window that places an ad directly behind the initial browser window.

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Popup

A secondary browser window that places an ad directly in front of the initial browser window.

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Portrait Ad Unit (IAB)

An interactive IAB ad unit of 300 x 1050 pixels that can be expanded into three modules.

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Position / Placement (PPC)

Refers to PPC search marketing regarding how and where to place PPC ads for optimal business results.

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Position / Placement Preference (PPC)

In PPC search marketing this is a setting that specifies the desired position of PPC ads.

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Post Click Tracking

The tracking and recording of what a user does after clicking an ad unit.

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Post Impression Tracking

Refers to tracking when a user views an ad without clicking it, then later goes to the website and commits an action.

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Post-Roll Video Ad

Refers to a video ad being automatically activated and played at the end of a video selected by a user.

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PPC (Pay Per Call)

An ad model having the advertiser pay for every call generated from a search ad as opposed to paying for the click (Pay Per Click).

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PPC (Pay Per Click / Cost Per Click)

An Internet advertising cost model in which the advertiser pays the publisher when an ad is clicked. Also see CPC .

Formulas:

CTR with the pay-per-click formula:

CTR =
# of Clicks
-(divided by)-
# of Impressions
-(multiplied by)-
100%

Conversion Rate (lead rate) with the pay-per-click formula:

Conversion Rate (%) =
# of Leads
-(divided by)-
# of Clicks
-(multiplied by)-
100%

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PPL (Pay Per Lead) / PPS (Pay Per Sale)

Agreements effecting payment only being made if the applied marketing produces a lead or sale.

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PPM (Pay Per Mille / Thousand or CPM - Cost Per Mille / Thousand)

An Internet advertising cost model in which the advertiser pays the publisher when an ad appears on the publisher's website.

Formula:

PPM =
Cost of 1 Unit of a Media Program
-----------(divided by)----------
Size of Media Program's Audience
----------(multiplied by)--------
1,000

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PPS (Pay Per Sale)

Online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely on qualifying sales.

In a pay per sale agreement, the advertiser only pays for sales generated by the destination site based on an agreed upon commission rate.
If possible, many publishers avoid sales-based agreements, preferring to stick to the CPM model.
However, some publishers, facing weak ad sales, have little choice but to accept sales-based agreements to utilize remnant space.

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Pre-Roll Video Ad

A short video ad hard-coded to precede other video content selected by a user.

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Predictive (Behavorial) Targeting

A technique where user information is collected about demographic characteristics and actions they demonstrate on websites. It tracks consumer interest in specific products and forms groups of users who are categorized by their lifestyle.

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Premium (Guaranteed) Inventory

Used interchangeably with "Guaranteed Inventory". This often refers to presold inventory that is more desirable (i.e., ad space on a home page). Also see Remnant Inventory.

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Programmatic Buying

Buying ad space in a RTB (Real-Time Bidding) exchange or other automated system.

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Publisher

This is a website that creates content for consumption and also a term for a seller of ad inventory.

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Psychographic / Behavorial Targeting

A technique used to segment a target market into groups based on lifestyles, attitudes, expectations and activities.

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Pushdown (IAB)

An ad unit of the IAB measuring 970 x 90 pixels, expandable to 970 x 415 pixels.

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Q

QDF (Query Deserves Freshness - Google)

A Google algorithm to determine the rank of new search queries.

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QR Code (Quick Response Code)

Enables mobile phones to read symbols gathered from print material.

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Quality Score / Ad Rank (Google)

A search engine ranking technique that evaluates the relevance and usefulness of an online business to someone searching for your products and services. This affects the cost and rank of Pay Per Click (PPC) ads.

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Quartile Reporting (Video Ad Playback)

Measures the effectiveness of video ad playback by quartile percentage (25%, 50%, 75% or 100%) of the video being played by a user.

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Query String

A mechanism for passing data to a web application within a URL (the query string follows a "?"). For example:
https://www.mybook.com/photos?query_string=19

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R

Rank (Ad)

How an ad's performance and standing compares to other ads via its CTR (Click Through Rate).

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Rate Card

A down-loadable document that lists the prices of ad products and services.

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Reach / Unduplicated Audience

The number of unique visitors that visited a website over the course of the reporting period, expressed as a percent of the universe for the demographic category. It is also called unduplicated audience.

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Recency Capping

See Frequency Capping.

Rectangle Ad (IAB)

IAB recommended rectangular banner sizes such as Rectangle: 180 x 150 pixels and Medium Rectangle: 300 x 250 pixels.

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Redirect (Ad serving or targeting)

The process of one server assigning an ad-serving function to another server.

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Relative Standing

A statistics metric used to show how individual data values compare to the rest of a group instead of depending on straight absolute values.

Relative standing statistics can make it quicker for analysts to put together large groups of numbers.
It makes it easier for executives to comprehend and use these resultant numbers for making decisions.

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Relevance

Measures the accuracy and usefulness of the results of a web search.

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Remarketing

See Retargeting.

Remarketing Pixel

A segment pixel that fires when a user visits your site or performs some desired action. You can later target those users as likely (or unlikely) to sign-up, buy, click, or otherwise convert.

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Remnant Inventory

Inventory that is not sold by an in-house sales team and is usually sold after "premium" inventory. Remnant inventory is also often sold using Real-Time Bidding.

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Rep Firms (Site Representation Firms)

Rep firms, as opposed to ad networks, represent fewer sites and are an outsourced extension of a site's internal sales efforts.

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Replays (Video)

A measure of how many times a request to play a video ad has been made by an online user.

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Reserve Creative

See Default Creative.

Reserve Price

The lowest price for which an impression is sold.

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Retargeting / Remarketing

Retargeting is a form of online advertising that targets users based on previous online actions (specifically those users whose action did not result in a conversion).

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Return Days

The number of days an affiliate can earn commission on a conversion (sale or lead) by a referred visitor.

If an affiliate program offers 45 return days, commissions are earned for conversions completed any time within 45 days of the initial click-through on the affiliate link.
If an affiliate program offers zero return days, commissions will only be earned for conversions completed on the initial visit following a click-through.
Once the visitor leaves the destination site, the commission opportunity is lost, even if the visitor returns in a few minutes to complete a transaction.
Affiliate programs vary as to which affiliate gets credit for a sale when a visitor has followed more than one affiliate links prior to the sale;
- Some programs favor the first affiliate
- Other programs favor the last affiliate.

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Revshare / Revenue Sharing / Cost Per Sale

The sharing of income/revenues from a campaign between the participating partners.

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RFI / RFP (Request for Information / Request for Proposal)

A solicitation made, often through a bidding process, by an agency or company interested in procurement of a commodity or service, to potential suppliers to submit business proposals.

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Rich Media

Advertisements that exhibit dynamic motion that occurs over time or in direct response to a user interaction. For example, a streaming video newscast or a stock "ticker" that automatically updates.

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Right Rail

The mapping of ad positions to the right side or far-right column of a web page.

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Rising Stars

A set of mobile and display ad units defined by the IAB Rising Stars competition. See examples at the IAB website .

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Roadblock Ads

Gives an advertiser the ability to own 100% of page views on an ad network, blog, website or other online property for a specified period of time. Often used for important announcements and product or service launches.

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ROAS (Return On Advertising Spend)

A metric used to measure the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns. This formula measures how much gross revenue is realized for every $1.00 spent on advertising.

Formula:
ROAS = Dollars Sold / Dollars Spend

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ROC (Run of Channel)

The scheduling of an online ad buying campaign where a banner, image, or media ad is run across categories or channels on a website or ad network.

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ROE (Run of Exchange)

Entails the targeting of all impressions available on an ad exchange.

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ROI (Return on Investment)

A way of measuring marketing returns. ROI makes it easy to assess which types of marketing expenditures are most productive. To measure ROI:

Assess the dollars spent on a campaign or promotion.
Assess incremental sales.
Look at margins on those sales.
Divide the incremental contribution by the cost of the program.

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ROI Tracking Reports (Return on Investment Tracking)

The measurement of the marketing return on investment or ROI. Among other methods, this is accomplished by:

Creating an ROI Flash Report
Tracing Campaign ROI Calculations

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RON (Run of Network / Run of Newsletter)

The scheduling of an online ad buying campaign where a banner, image, or media ad is placed on a wide variety of websites in a network without the ability to choose the specific site. The advertiser usually forgoes premium placement in exchange for lower cost and a broader reach.

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ROS (Run of Site)

The scheduling of an online ad buying campaign where a banner, image, or media ad is placed anywhere within website. These programs are less costly than those that allow for specific placement.

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Rotation

A technique that may use an ad rotator program, rotating ads that appear in the same spot with users seeing different ads when they return to a previously viewed page.

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RPM (Revenue Per Mille ["1000"] impressions)

This represents the estimated earnings you would accrue for every 1000 impressions you receive.

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RPS (Revenue Per Search)

RPS (Revenue Per Search) is primarily a function of the click-through rate (CTR) on ads placed alongside search results, as well as the price paid by advertisers for every user click (CPC).

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RTB (Real-Time Bidding)

A relatively new method of buying and selling ad inventory where multiple bidding systems or exchanges make calls to each other in real time.

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RTI (Real-Time Inventory)

Inventory that is sold through a real time auction (while a website loads).

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RTM (Real-Time Marketing)

Refers to "just-in-time" marketing practices and decisions that determine customer approach.

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S

Search (Organic / Natural)

Search results that appear based on their relevance to the search query terms used and not the corresponding advertisements.

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Search Retargeting

The use of a site visitor’s search history as a basis for the ads that the visitor will see.

Search retargeting lets advertisers reach out to untapped markets by using a visitor’s search history to predict his or her interests.
It is one way to expand the messaging opportunities in niche markets.
Search retargeting has the potential to add a degree of search-like value to less valuable non-search inventory.

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SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

The page returned to a user by a search engine that contains the most relevant web page results of a search query.

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SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

A type of paid advertising that delivers ad impressions based on keywords submitted through a search engine.

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SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

The practice of improving a web site's rank on the search engine results page for a specific keyword or keywords.

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Search Funnel (Google AdWords)

A set of reports that show exactly what customers who arrived via a paid search ad saw or clicked before they made a purchase.

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Second Price Auction / Vickrey Auction

Also known as a "Vickrey auction", this refers to an auction in which the highest bidder actually pays a price equal to the second highest bid.

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Segment

A category assigned to members of a target audience based on the data points such as browsing or purchase history, gender, or location.

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Segment Data

See User Data.

Segment Pixel

A pixel that defines users of a specific segment.

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Semantic Targeting

See Contextual Targeting.

Session

The establishment of a series of requests between a user's browser (client) and a server (via HTTP or HTTPS) in which information is queried/requested by the user and then responded to with data by the server.

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Session Cookie (Analytics)

Used by websites to keep track of and analyze a user's actions during a search session.

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Short Code

In mobile marketing, a special 4-6 digit phone number that is used to deliver and receive text messages and mobile content belonging to a mobile campaign.

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Showrooming

Occurs when a person visits a brick and mortar store to examine goods and then purchases them online and away from the store.

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SIC (Standard Industrial Classification)

Government established codes (NAICS) used to target businesses for B2B marketing purposes.

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Sidekick

A standard IAB ad unit that can be 300 x 350, 300 x 600 or 970 x 250 pixels and can expand to 970 x 550 pixels.

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Site Targeting

Refers to contextual ad campaigns where an advertiser chooses specific sites where they want their ads to be served.

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Skin Ads / Margin Ads

Skin ads appear in whitespace surrounding the content on both sides of a viewport or webpage, while margin ads appear in only one side.

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Skyscraper Ad

An online, vertical ad that exceeds the 120 × 240 pixels vertical banner size and remains visible as a user scrolls down through a web page.

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Slider (IAB ad unit size)

An IAB ad unit size standard of 970 x 90 pixels, capable of expanding to 970 x 550 pixels.

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SMM (Social Media Marketing)

The emerging business function that uses social channels and networks to engage customers and prospective clients to support the following goals:

Increase online reach, exposure and discovery of company, brand, products and services.
Bolster online visibility within search results and within social networks.
Drive targeted traffic to websites.
Generate contacts, leads and ultimately sales, while maximizing marketing ROI.
Optimize customer acquisition and retention.
Provide a channel to receive market insights.

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Smooth Delivery (of ad impressions)

The attempt to deliver an equal amount of ad impressions daily over the course of a campaign.

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SMS (Short Message / Mobile Service)

Text messages sent from and to mobile devices.

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Sniffer

Software that determines which advertisements to show by tracking a consumer’s online activities based on data and practices accumulated by their browser.

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Social Media Advertising / Marketing

Advertising and marketing practices that target audiences via social networking sites, e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, G+, etc.

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Social Search

A search method that determines the relevance of search results based on the interactions and/or contributions of users.

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SOP (Standards of Procedure)

A definitive outline of all steps needed to complete a process or procedure.

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SOV (Share Of Voice)

This is the determination of the percentage of advertising for one brand in a particular product category as compared to other brands in the same category.

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Specifications (Advertising)

Compliance data for advertisers enabling them to run their ads on websites.

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Splash Page / Jump Page

A brand page that opens before the home page of a website.

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Sponsored Links

A section of a web page dedicated to the links and promotions of the advertisers on the website.

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Sponsorship (Advertising)

A payment made by an advertiser to attach its name to a popular web space thus reinforcing its brand.

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Spotlight Tag

These are transparent GIF (image) files embedded in a website to help manage and track the effectiveness of online advertising.

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SSP (Sales / Supply Side Platform)

An SSP is a technology platform that enables publishers to manage their ad impression inventory and maximize revenue from digital media.

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Static Ad

An ad unit that is fixed in place on a web page and does not rotate through the website.

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Sticky Marketing

Refers to the amount of time viewers spend at a site over a given period of time.

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Streaming Media

Streaming media enables quick access to crucial audio and video content without waiting for files to download and can be used to complement existing content.

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Superstitial^™

A Unicast proprietary standard for online advertising that features animation and interactivity.

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Supply

The amount of inventory or ad serving space available on webpages.

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Surround Sessions

This is a series of ads that follow a user through his or her visit, showing a succession of ads with a linear story line as the user clicks through pages.

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Synchronized Ads / Synced Ads

These are ads synchronized to live television spots on second screen devices like tablets, laptops and smartphones.

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Syndicated Research

Studies that decide the population, queries, intervals, etc., where multiple clients purchase and share the results and costs.

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T

Tag

A piece of HTML markup that is placed on a web page by a publisher and instructs a browser to request content from an ad server.

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Tag Container

A container that displays code for all tags stored in it and is used to help advertisers and media buyers manage multiple pixel tags. It works by injecting tags into a browser via JavaScript or via an invisible frame.

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Tag Management

The systematic replacement of all third party tags on the website by a single JavaScript tag on every page. This single tag is often referred to as a:

Container tag, or a
Universal tag, or a
Master tag

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Targeted Network

Ad networks that focus on specific targeting technologies such as behavioral or contextual that have been built into an ad server. Targeted networks specialize in using consumer clickstream data to enhance the value of the inventory they purchase.

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Targeting

An ad serving strategy based on audience segment and optimal timing, placement, and frequency.

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Taxonomy

A hierarchical classification scheme with a controlled vocabulary of terms that accurately identifies content.

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Tear Sheet

A screen shot showing a web page loaded with a digital ad.

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Technographic Targeting

This is a data collection technique related to the computer equipment and software environment (browser, browser version, bandwidth, operating system, etc.) of a user.

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Tenant Relationship

An online relationship established between an affiliate marketer and a high-traffic/volume website guranteeing the affiliate to be the sole provider of certain products.

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Terms and Conditions (of Insertion Orders)

Generally speaking, terms and conditions that govern any contract between an ad agency / ad advertiser and the ad publisher. A copy of the IAB Terms & Conditions signed by a publisher and kept on file. Each insertion order issued should refer to these IAB T's and C's and the IO should indicate that those 4As/IAB Terms and Conditions take precedence unless otherwise indicated.

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Text Ads

Online ads devoid of images delivered in the form of text or emails.

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Third Party Audit

An audited accounting of an ad campaign's execution with the auditor's findings considered as final.

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Third-party Ad Servers

These are independent, outsourced companies specializing in the managing, maintaining, serving, tracking, and analyzing of the results of online ad campaigns.

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Third-party Cookies

Cookies set with domains different from the one shown on the address bar.

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Timed Ads

Managed by a central system controller that prepares a list of ads to be played compiled from an "ad played" database (maintained at the system controller).

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Total Clicks

The number of clicks resulting from an ad impression.

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Total Conversion Opportunities

The number of times users interacted with an ad.

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Total CTR (Click Through Rate)

The percentage of impressions clicked.

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Tracking ID

Third-party match code for the placement of an ad.

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Traffic (Page View)

A website's monthly report of page views as recorded in its log files.

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Transition Ad (Interstitial Ad / Splash Page Ad)

When rendered, a transition ad covers all page content which is not again visible until the transition ad is closed.

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Trending Topics

Topics presented to a user that are most mentioned at that moment and are continuously updated.

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TTL (Through The Line advertising)

Used in advertising in video games, it involves the use of URL hyperlinks within the game designed to induce the player to visit a web page which then contains BTL advertisements.

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U

UGC (User Generated Content)

Website content that is generated by a user and not a publisher.

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UDID (Unique Device Identifiers)

Used by publishers and developers use to track apps and target advertising on mobile analytics systems. Consists of a unique series of 40 numbers and letters that are assigned to each device. There is no opt-out mechanism.

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Underdelivery (of Impressions)

The delivery of less than the agreed number of impressions, conversions, etc., than was contracted for a specific period of time.

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Unduplicated Audience (Cume / Reach / TURF)

The total of unique visitors (measured only by their first visit, regardless of how many times they returned) over a specified period of time. Sometimes know as "TURF" (Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency).

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Unique Banner Clicks

The number of unique users that clicked an ad.

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Unique Interactions

The number of unique users that interacted with an ad.

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UUID (Universally Unique Identifier)

An identifier standard that is made up of a 16-octet (128-bit) number. In its canonical form, a UUID is represented by 32 hexadecimal digits, displayed in five groups separated by hyphens, in the form 8-4-4-4-12 for a total of 36 characters (32 alphanumeric characters and four hyphens). For example:
"550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000"

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Uniques

Uniques are the number of individual people being counted when totaling number of page views, ad views, or a variety of other web metrics. Uniques count individual people and NOT multiple actions taken by the same person.

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Universal Ad Package (IAB)

A standardized ad package as prescribed by the IAB.

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URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)

Via HTTP(S), a URI identifies the name of a resource on the Internet.

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URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

Via HTTP(S), a URL identifies the location of a resource on the Internet.

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URN (Uniform Resource Name)

Deprecated in 2005 in favor of the URI, URNs allowed the mapping of multiple namespaces into a single URN namespace.

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User

The target customer of an advertiser.

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User Agent

Software that acts on behalf of a user, normally a web browser.

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User Data

Information about users that makes them more valuable to advertisers. Data can include age, gender, location, intent to purchase, demographics, psychographics, wealth, past purchases, and more. Please note that user data is generally associated with a UUID rather than any personally identifiable information.

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V

VAST (Video Ad Serving Template - IAB)

An ad serving protocol that provides a uniform way for video content to be transferred from ad servers to video players on web pages.

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Vendor

A company with a specific product or service such as creating or delivering rich media, maintaining a CDN, or providing third-party data.

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Verification (of Impressions)

Verification of ad impressions ensures every impression's quality and compliance and that it is displayed as intended.

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Vertical Advertisers

Advertisers as classified by industry (automobile, furniture, retail, etc.).

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Vickrey Auction

A sealed bid auction where bidders cannot see the values of competing bids. The winning (highest) bidder pays the second lowest bid amount.

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Video Ad Units

Digital video resources built into ad units to render as rich media ads.

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Video Starts

A count of the number of times a video is started.

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View-through (View-based) Conversions

Metrics that are measured from cookies set by a banner on a browser where a user did not click on the banner. If the user returns to the website again via a search, etc., the view-through metric reports any conversion by the person as a view-based conversion.

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Viewable Impressions (Raw)

The number of raw impressions where at least 50% of the ad was visible for at least 1 sec.

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Viewable Impressions (Validated)

The number of validated impressions where at least 50% of the ad was visible for at least 1 sec. This metric is only tracked on impressions when the vendor is 100% certain the impression is visible.

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Viewable Rate (Raw)

The percentage of visible impressions.

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Viewable Rate (Validated)

The percentage of visible validated impressions.

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Viral marketing

Ads that are sent via "sharing" links in e-mail, blogs, websites, etc. that point to a service or product with the hope that the sharing activity produces a "viral" marketing effect.

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Virtual Currency

Virtual currency (or in-game currency depending on the environment) is used to purchase virtual goods within a variety of online communities and only exists in electronic format. Bitcoin is a good example of a virtual currency.

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Visual Search Ads (Google)

Search ad techniques that render banner ads above a brand’s organic listing and site links.

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VLog / VLogging (Video Blog)

The combination of ""Video" and "Blog" into one word, meaning a web blog containing videos.

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VPAID (Video Player Ad-Serving Interface Definition - IAB)

An interface created to support interactive rich media video formats. See the Interactive Advertising Bureau's data at VPAID documentation.

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VPV (Value Per Visitor)

This is used to calculate the amount that you can spend to acquire a visitor to your site.

Formula:

VPV =
Profits
-(divided by)-
Visitors (during a fixed period of time)

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VTR (View-Through Rate)

This measures the number of post-impression responses or view-throughs from display media impressions viewed during and following an online advertising campaign. Such post-exposure behavior can be expressed in site visits, on-site events, conversions occurring at one or more Web sites, or potentially offline.

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W - Z

WAU (Weekly Active Users)

The number of unique individuals who interacted with your Page or its stories in the last 7 days.

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WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)

This is a (secure) specification allowing the instant access of information via handheld wireless devices, etc.

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Web Analytics

An analysis of customer data and segment audiences that can predict the success of campaigns and maximization of ad spend.

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Yield Management

A systematic effort to maximize a publisher's revenue and the number of impressions using tools such as price floors.

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