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Glossaries

Ad blocking

Also known as: ad blockers, ad-blocking software

Software that stops ads from being shown to a user on websites. The most common ways to block ads are with browser plugins, such as Ghostery and Adblock Plus, and by browsing the internet in “private” or “incognito” mode.

Ad call

Also known as: ad request

A request sent from an ad slot on a web page or app to an AdTech platform (Ad exchange and Ad server) for the purpose of serving an ad to the user.

Ad calls usually contain information from the user’s browser (e.g. Cookies) and ad information such as publisher ID, ad size, location, referring URL and other specifications and data needed for ad serving and reporting.

Ad exchange

An ad exchange is a dynamic technological platform that facilitates the buying and selling process of available impressions between advertisers, who place their bids via DSPs, and publishers, who sell their inventory via supply-side platforms (SSPs) or directly with the ad exchange.

Ad exchanges are often compared to stock exchanges, as the buying and selling process of media is akin to the process of buying and selling stocks via a stock exchange.

Ad network

An ad network is a technology platform that serves as a broker between a group of publishers and a group of advertisers.

Traditionally, Ad network would collect unsold ad inventory from multiple Publishers and offer this pool of Impressions to advertisers at a much lower price than a publisher’s direct sales. This kind of inventory is often referred to as non-premium, or Remnant inventory.

Today, many Ad networks offer both Remnant inventory and Premium inventory for all different types of media and channels.

Ad pod

A sequenced group of ads added to a single video-ad placement.

Ad server

A technological platform responsible for making decisions about what ads to show on a website, serving them, and collecting and reporting data (impressions, clicks, etc).

Ad servers were one of the first pieces of advertising technology introduced to the online advertising industry and are still used extensively by advertisers and publishers.

A publisher’s ad server (first-party ad server) is tasked with filling the ad slots on a website by matching ads from direct campaigns, real-time bidding (RTB) auctions, and other media-buying processes.

Ad slot

An ad slot is the actual space on a website where ads appear.

To load an ad on a webpage, the ad slot contains an ad tag that communicates with the ad server and decides which creatives are shown.

The publisher places ad slots in certain parts of a webpage where they’d like to display ads.

Ad space

Ad space refers to the space that an ad takes inside the ad slot.

Ad space and ad slot are often seen as synonyms, but they are not.

To illustrate it, think about a billboard. The grounded metal construction and the frame would be the ad slot and the white section inside the frame where the ads are placed would be the ad space.

Ad tag

A piece of code inserted into an ad slot in order to display an ad.

There are different types of ad tags, including HTML or IMG, JavaScript, iframe, and SafeFrame ad tags for display and mobile, as well as VAST (video ad-serving template) and VPAID (video player ad interface definition) ad tags for video.

The goal of an ad tag is to request certain information and carry out processes when the web page or mobile app loads.

Ad targeting

The practice of displaying ads to online users based on data known about the user and website or app.

There are many different types of Ad targeting, including Behavioral targeting, Contextual targeting, Retargeting, location (geographical) targeting and demographic targeting.

Ad trafficking

Ad trafficking is the name given to the process of setting up, monitoring, and optimizing the campaigns in ad servers and/or other AdTech platforms. Ad trafficking is often carried out by ad operations (AdOps) teams.

Ad unit

Also known as: ad placement

A single unit of ad space on a publisher’s website or app.

Ad verification

Also known as: verification services

An umbrella term for processes that allow advertisers to check if their ads are displayed in the right context, on the right websites, and in the right area of a website, as well as if they are seen by the right audiences.

Ad verification is typically used by advertisers to verify that the designated attributes of a served ad match their specified terms laid out in the ad-campaign settings (site, geographical, or content parameters, for example).

AdChoices

A self-regulatory program managed by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA).

The aim of AdChoices is to give online users control over how advertising companies collect and use their data for online behavioral advertising (OBA). When a user clicks on the “i” icon, they can learn more about how their data is being collected and used, and can opt out of behavioral targeting.

Learn more about AdChoices and the icon on the DAA website.

AdOps

Advertising operations (AdOps) is a department within a company that sets up, monitors and optimizes advertising campaigns.

AdOps work on both the advertiser and publisher side and use advertising technology (AdTech) platforms to manage campaigns.

Ads.cert

Also known as: authorized digital sellers

An IAB-led initiative designed to reduce certain types of ad fraud and arbitrage.

It’s an upgrade to another IAB project – ads.txt – which also aims to reduce fraud and improve transparency in the programmatic ad-buying process.

Ads.cert introduces cryptographically signed bid requests, authenticates a publisher’s inventory and allows buyers to track the path of inventory to make certain they’re only purchasing from authorized sellers.

Ads.txt

A file added to a publisher’s site by its administrators acting like a whitelist of partners (approved supply-side platforms and ad exchanges) that are allowed to sell the publisher’s inventory.

AdTech platform

Also known as: advertising-technology platform, technology provider, AdTech vendor

Software used to automate the buying, selling and measurement of online advertising.

The most common examples include Demand-side platform (DSP)s, Ad servers, Ad networks, Ad exchanges, Supply-side platform (SSP)s and Data-management platform (DMP)s.

AdTech

Also known as: advertising technology, ad technology

The technologies and processes used for managing, delivering, targeting and measuring digital advertising.

Advertiser

Also known as: brand advertiser

A person or company interested in displaying ads to consumers on websites, apps, TV, radio, podcasts, etc.

Advertising agency

Also known as: ad agency, digital agency, creative agency

A company that provides services associated with creating, planning, and managing advertising campaigns, but may also handle other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients.

Advertising agencies are generally independent and external companies working for their clients, which can include businesses, international corporations, non-profit organizations, and other agencies.

Analytics suite

A set of fully integrated applications for the collection, measurement, analysis, visualisation, and sharing of analytics data.

The Analytics Suite is designed to help users of all levels get easy access to the data they need in order to efficiently collaborate, draw immediate value from data, and make smarter business decisions.

Piwik PRO Analytics Suite consists of the following modules:

All the products are integrated into one stack. Examples of connections between modules:

Application programming interface (API)

A set of instructions used to access certain features and data from other systems (e.g. software, applications, and tools).

In the context of AdTech, APIs can be used to integrate one AdTech platform with another, pull data from one system and display it on a user interface, and build new applications.

Attribution

Also known as: conversion attribution

A way to link a specific advertisement to a Conversion or acquisition.

The most common attribution model is last view/last click. As AdTech advances, other models of attribution are also being used.

Audience segment

Also known as: user segment, segment

A list of user profiles consisting of individual internet users grouped together based on similarities they share, such as the websites they visit or the actions they take (e.g. making a purchase or completing a form), or personally identifiable data such as gender or geographical region.

For example, “Android users between the ages of 20-35 who live in New York.”

These segments are used during Real-time bidding (RTB) media buys to display ads to users who meet the criteria.

Banner ad

Also known as: display ad

The term banner ad is often used as a broad definition of an image or media-rich display ad shown to users on websites.

Beacon

Also known as: in-store beacon

A bluetooth-based device that communicates with mobile phones and tablets. Beacons can send in-store promotions to users, for one example.

When placed within a brick-and-mortar retail store, a beacon can facilitate online-offline Attribution and Ad targeting.

Behavioral data

Information collected about the actions of online users – for example, their past searches, browsing history, amount of time spent on a website, ads they clicked on and other information about their interactions with the website.

Behavioral targeting

Also known as: online behavioral advertising (OBA)

A form of ad targeting that allows advertisers to display ads to users based on behavioral data known about them.

Bid request

A request sent from a supply-side platform (SSP) or ad exchange to a bidder (part of a DSP).

The request contains various pieces of information about the context of the ad (page content, URL, etc.) and the user (e.g. cookie data).

Based on the data in the bid request, the bidder can match it against the advertiser’s campaign criteria and decide whether or not to bid on the impression.

Bidder

A component of a Demand-side platform (DSP) that analyzes bid requests and places bids in Real-time bidding (RTB). It follows a specific set of rules used during the bidding process.

Bidding strategy

The strategy used to determine how the DSP’s bidder should place bids in an RTB auction.

Examples of bidding strategies include fixed price and dynamic price.

Blacklist

A list of publishers or websites that an advertiser doesn’t want to buy ad space on.

Campaign

A set of ideas or common theme to market a specific brand or product.

In an online advertising sense, however, a campaign also refers to the buying strategy (e.g. targeting, placement, and cost) for purchasing inventory.

Click-through rate (CTR)

The percentage of ad impressions that were clicked on.

CTR = number of clicks ÷ number of impressions.

This is a very important number to know as it offers a good idea of the performance of an ad.

For example, if there is a high CTR, that generally means that the ad is compelling and attractive to that particular audience.

If the CTR is low, the advertiser may need to improve the offer, copy, and visual elements of the ad.

Click

A metric that is counted every time someone clicks on an ad, even if the person doesn’t reach the website (such as when it’s temporarily unavailable).

Cloud

Also known as: cloud-based software, software-as-a-service (SaaS)

A group of connected servers accessed remotely.

If an AdTech platform is cloud-based or offered as SaaS, it means the software is hosted on cloud infrastructure rather than on the vendor’s or user’s computer or infrastructure.

Consent-management platform (CMP)

Consent management is a process which allows websites to meet the regulatory requirements regarding consent collection. With a consent-management platform (CMP) in place, websites have the technical capability to inform visitors about the types of data they’ll collect and ask for their consent for specific data-processing purposes.

Content-delivery network (CDN)

A globally distributed network of proxy servers deployed in multiple data centers for the purpose of serving content to end users with minimum latency and a fast loading time.

In AdTech, creatives are often hosted in CDNs to ensure they are shown to users as soon as possible.

Contextual data

Information on the contents of a web page, such as URL, keywords, categories and tags.

Contextual targeting

Targeting that allows advertisers to display relevant ads based on the website’s content rather than using the data about the visitor. Contextual targeting was widely used before the advent of the internet in magazine and newspaper ads.

Conversion pixel

A pixel placed on a web page used to track various conversions, such as downloads, ad clicks and purchases.

Conversion rate (CVR)

The percentage of clicks that resulted in a conversion.

CVR = number of conversions ÷ number of clicks.

Conversion

Also known as: acquisition, action

An action performed by a user in response to an ad or message displayed to them.

Examples include signing up for a service, filling in a form, making a purchase, or downloading a file, software, etc.

See cost per acquisition/action (CPA) for information on the payment model.

Cookie syncing

Also known as: cookie matching, cookie mapping, ID syncing, ID matching, user-ID mapping

The process of sharing a user identifier stored in a Cookie between platforms in order to exchange information about the user. The main goal of Cookie syncing is to improve Ad targeting.

Cookie

Also known as: web cookie, HTML cookie

A small text file saved by a browser and stored on a user’s device that contains pieces of information about the user.

Cookies are one of the most important parts of online advertising. They allow Publishers, advertisers, and AdTech companies to identify users across different websites, target them with specific ads, and report on and measure campaigns.

Cost per action (CPA) / effective cost per action (eCPA)

Also known as: cost per acquisition

The pricing model of advertising campaigns in which an advertiser pays per conversion (e.g. file download or form registration). CPA = total cost of campaign ÷ number of conversions.

This covers a range of other options depending on the goal of the ad, including cost per download (CPD) and cost per install (CPI).

One of the main advantages of the CPA model is that advertisers only pay for the results, essentially removing any false results found in other pricing models, such as fake views with the CPM model (see cost per mille).

Cost per click (CPC) / effective cost per click (eCPC)

The price an advertiser is charged for each click the ad receives. CPC = total cost of campaign ÷ number of clicks.

CPC rates minimize the risk for advertisers since they only pay when someone actually clicks on their ad – but rates can go quite high, up to as much as $20 per click or more, especially when targeting high-demand audiences or popular phrases on Google.

Cost per completed view (CPCV)

If an ad includes a video or animation, the advertiser could choose to pay via the CPCV model, but only if a user watches it to the end.

One area of concern with both CPM and CPCV models is ensuring that users, rather than bots, actually viewed an ad (viewable impression).

Cost per mille (CPM) / effective cost per mille (eCPM)

The price an advertiser pays for 1,000 impressions. Mille means “thousand” in Latin.

Because the actual cost per single impression is very, very small (sometimes as little as $.0015), the rate advertisers pay is calculated in cost per thousand.

CPM = total cost of campaign ÷ total number of impressions x 1,000.

eCPM is used to show what the CPM would have been if the advertiser purchased impressions instead of clicks or conversions.

Cost per mille viewable impressions (vCPM)

vCPM or CPVM goes one step further than Cost per mille (CPM) / effective cost per mille (eCPM) in that the advertiser only pays for every 1,000 viewable impressions – i.e. those that were actually seen by the user.

Creative tag

A piece of code indicating where the creative should be placed.

Creative

The actual graphical advertisement the user is exposed to. Common formats are GIF, JPEG and HTML5 (earlier Flash), and also MOV, FLV, MP4 (video).

A creative may include sound, video, animation, and/or traditional text.

The size and form, both of which are regulated by Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) standards, as well as the type of action it promotes (clicking, downloading, filling in information, etc.) influence the cost and the success of a campaign.

Customer-data platform (CDP)

A customer data platform (CDP) is a piece of marketing technology that collects and organizes data from a range of online and offline sources.

With a CDP, marketers can view detailed analytics reports, create user profiles, audiences, segments, and single customer views, as well as improve advertising and marketing campaigns by exporting the data to other systems.

Daisy chain

Also known as: waterfalling, the publisher’s waterfall

A media-buying process where a publisher’s ad server loads ad-network, SSP and ad-exchange tags one by one.

A daisy chain can also refer to the situation where data or information is passed on from one AdTech platform to others – for example, when a user’s consent status is passed onto many different platforms.

Data broker

Also known as: data provider, data supplier

A business that collects user data from a range of sources and sells it to online advertising companies, such as Data-management platform (DMP)s and Demand-side platform (DSP)s.

Data brokers collect the data directly (e.g. via tags on a web page) and purchase it from companies, like credit card companies, for example.

Advertisers then use this data to improve targeting during online media buys.

Data-management platform (DMP)

A specialized platform that collects and integrates first-, second- and third-party data from various sources in order to make them actionable and usable for advertisers.

A DMP is used by both advertisers and publishers to create Audience segment, which can then be used for Ad targeting and content personalization, among other things.

Data onboarding

Also known as: first-party data onboarding

The process of taking offline customer information and integrating it with online customer data.

By integrating offline and online data, advertisers are able to create complete audience segments and use them for ad targeting.

Decisioning

The process within certain AdTech platforms (Ad servers, Supply-side platform (SSP)s, Demand-side platform (DSP)s and Ad exchanges) whereby the platform decides which ad to serve based on the advertiser’s campaign criteria (targeting, placement, bidding strategy, etc).

Deduplication

The removal of duplicate data entries from databases and audience segments in AdTech platforms.

Duplication occurs when advertisers run campaigns on multiple AdTech platforms, resulting in the creation of different cookies and device IDs of the same user.

Demand-side platform (DSP)

Also known as: Demand-side platform, DSP.

An AdTech platform that enables agencies and advertisers to buy inventory from Supply-side platform (SSP)s and Ad exchanges.

DSPs are typically used to purchase inventory on an impression-by-impression basis during Real-time bidding (RTB) auctions.

Demographic data

Data about a user, such as their age, gender, income and job title.

This data is often collected by brands directly and sometimes sold to Data brokers.

Advertisers use this data for ad targeting by adding it to Audience segments.

Deterministic matching

The process of identifying the same user across different devices via a unique and persistent identifier, such as an email address.

Thanks to deterministic matching, advertisers, AdTech platforms and Publishers are able to identify users across different devices, browsers, and channels, allowing them to improve Ad targeting, analytics and Attribution.

Applications like Facebook, Google Apps and Twitter can deterministically match users on different devices (smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc.) as they require them to sign in with an email address to access their services across different devices.

Device fingerprinting

Also known as: canvas fingerprinting, browser fingerprinting, machine fingerprinting

A process used to identify a device or browser based on its specific and unique configuration.

Unlike web cookies that are stored client-side (on a user’s device), device fingerprints need to be stored server-side (in a database).

Device fingerprints are used for analytics, ad targeting and Attribution.

Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA)

An industry association responsible for self-regulation. The DAA consists of many online advertising companies.

Display advertising

The image and text-based advertisements users see across the internet on web pages in both desktop and mobile browsers.

It is the earliest form of online advertising and still very popular among advertisers.

Other forms of online advertising include search, video, mobile (ads in apps) and native.

Dynamic creative

A type of advertisement in which the content, design and layout change based on data known about the context of the web page and behavior of the user.

Dynamic pricing

The cost of an impression during real-time bidding (RTB) auctions, which can change depending on data known about a particular user.

The opposite of dynamic pricing is fixed pricing, which refers to the fixed cost of ad inventory.

Fill rate

How much of a Publisher‘s available inventory is sold, displayed as a percentage.

Fill rate = ad impressions generated in the ad space ÷ total inventory available on that ad space.

Fill rate

How much of a Publisher‘s available inventory is sold, displayed as a percentage.

Fill rate = ad impressions generated in the ad space ÷ total inventory available on that ad space.

First-price auctions

In the first-price auction model (also known as an English auction) the bidders pay exactly what they bid. It’s a model used in art auctions.

For example: Bidder A bids $4.00, Bidder B bids $4.50 and Bidder C bids $4.20.

Bidder B wins and pays $4.50. The first-price auction requires the winner to pay the full price they bid.

Floor optimizations

Various tactics implemented by publishers to maximize their yield via various adjustments of auction mechanics with soft and hard floors.

Frequency capping

Frequency capping involves limiting the number of times the same ad is shown to one visitor (e.g. 3 Impressions per visitor per 24 hours).

Advertisers implement frequency capping to avoid wasting their budget, improve the campaign’s reach and prevent frustrating the user by showing them the same ad over and over in a short timeframe.

General Data-Protection Regulation (GDPR)

A regulation – also known as Regulation (EU) 2016/679 in official contexts – spearheaded by the three legislative European Union institutions: the European Parliament, European Commission, and Council of the European Union.

It replaced the Data-Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC) when it came into force on May 25, 2018.

The goal of the GDPR is to return control to data subjects (citizens) in the union over their data and make the regulatory environment simpler for international business.

Hard-floor price

Also known as: hard price floor

The minimum price a Publisher will accept for impressions.

Bids that are below this minimum price are simply discarded. This means Publishers will not take any bids below the Hard-floor price.

Header bidding (HB)

A process used by publishers to collect multiple bids from demand sources (e.g. Demand-side platform (DSP)s and Ad networks via Supply-side platform (SSP)s and Ad exchanges) simultaneously.

Publishers add a header-bidding tag (a wrapper) in between the tag of their website, hence the name header bidding.

The whole aim of header bidding is to collect the highest bid before the Publisher‘s Ad server is called.

This allows advertisers to compete with a Publisher‘s premium and direct deals, which not only allows advertisers to buy Premium inventory, but also enables Publishers to get the highest Cost per mille (CPM) / effective cost per mille (eCPM) possible.

Impression

Also known as: ad view

An ad view is counted every time a creative (ad) is served to a user. The impression is considered one of the basic campaign performance indicators.

Impressions are counted and reported by ad servers which use tracking tags (pixels) for measurement purposes. If a user refreshes the page and sees the exact same ad, then another new impression would be counted.

In pricing models, 1000 impressions are marked as CPM, cost per mille; the word mille is Latin for one thousand. The reason for using CPM instead of individual impressions is that the price per impression is very small compared to clicks or conversions, e.g. $0.002.

Insertion Order (IO)

An insertion order (IO) is a document (often a contract) that outlines the terms of the campaign, including the campaign’s start and end dates, placement, ad format, size, pricing model (e.g. CPM or CPC), as well as:

Intelligent tracking prevention (ITP)

A privacy feature of Webkit, an open-source web-browser engine that powers Apple’s Safari web browser, introduced in the release of Safari 11 and iOS 11.

ITP changes the way Safari handles First-party cookies, specifically by blocking First-party cookies used for tracking, Retargeting and attribution.

Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB)

An advertising business organization that develops industry standards, conducts research and provides legal support for the online advertising industry.

Inventory

Ad inventory is a term that refers to all available ad space on a site. Sometimes, inventory and ad space are used interchangeably.

Inventory can be categorized as premium, remnant, and long-tail.

Premium inventory: This category contains the most-valuable ad inventory, typically from recognizable publishers, high-traffic pages, and highly visible areas of a webpage.

Remnant inventory: This category contains the inventory that wasn’t sold directly to advertisers through direct deals and other primary inventory-monetization channels. Remnant inventory is typically sold for less than the publisher’s standard price.

Landing page

The page on which a user lands, or is directed to after clicking an ad.

For example, if a user clicks an ad, they may be directed to examplesite.com, or to examplesite.com/signupnow or some other Landing page chosen by the advertiser.

Look-alike modeling

Finding groups of people (audiences) who look and act like the best, most profitable customers of a brand or advertiser.

For example, if the best audience of an online store is people whose average purchase is over $100, who buy cosmetics and perfumes, and who make a purchase at least twice a month, Look-alike modeling would allow the store to find more people like that.

MadTech

A portmanteau of the words marketing, advertising and technology coined by David Raab to describe the current trend in the development of technology platforms: the hybridization of AdTech and MarTech.

MadTech aims to provide the most complete view of a customer across all channels. It is all about data, connectedness and a seamless use of a number of technologies and data sources including big data, internet of things (IoT) and machine learning.

Manual media-buying

The process whereby an advertiser purchases ad space directly from a Publisher, without the use of AdTech platforms (Ad servers, Demand-side platform (DSP)s, and Supply-side platform (SSP)s).

This was how ads were purchased in the early days of online advertising.

The opposite of manual media-buying is Programmatic media-buying, which includes many different types of methods, such as Real-time bidding (RTB), programmatic direct and private marketplaces (PMP).

Even though many large Publishers and advertisers still buy and sell ads via their sales teams, many of them use programmatic platforms such as Ad servers to automate the delivery and reporting process.

MarTech

Also known as: marketing technology

The technologies and processes used for creating, managing and measuring all digital marketing activities.

MRAID (mobile rich media ad interface definitions)

An official application-programming interface (API) that’s used to display rich-media ads in mobile apps.

Rich-media creators use MRAID’s standardized set of commands, which are designed to work with HTML5 and JavaScript (JS), to execute a range of functions, such as expanding the ad, resizing it and gaining access to some mobile-device functionality.

As mobile devices run on different operating systems, and apps are built using different languages, MRAID eliminates the need to create different rich media ads for all the different mobile devices and apps.

Native advertising

A form of online-media advertising where an ad is made to match the look and feel of the rest of the content on a website.

It is designed to blend in with the rest of the site’s content so it follows the natural form and function of the user experience.

OpenRTB

An open-source protocol developed in conjunction with a consortium of demand- and Supply-side platform (SSP)s, adopted by Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).

OpenRTB is a standard of communication between buyers and sellers of Real-time bidding (RTB) advertising, allowing AdTech platform (Demand-side platform (DSP)s, Supply-side platform (SSP)s, and Ad exchanges) to speak the same language when conducting online media transactions.

OTT advertising

Any device or service used to stream digital content to a TV or similar device.

The group of devices commonly classified as OTT include streaming boxes, HDMI sticks like Chromecast or Roku, Smart TVs, game consoles and DVR set-top boxes.

OTT advertising is much like advertising on TV, but delivered through streaming media on OTT platforms.