Glossary

A comparative test in which an audience is divided (usually in half) and two alternative solutions or features are tested on each subset. It is used to compare the performance of two solutions or features.

The top half of a page or portion of a website that is visible in a browser refers to the first half of a page before any scrolling occurs. This is generally considered premium ad space that a large number of users are likely to see.

The gain or increase in new visitors to a given website.

A business that manages advertisement design, creation, and development. Typically, Ad agencies will work with media agencies to strategically place advertisements where they are most likely to be seen by the targeted audience.

A service that facilitates the interaction between publishers, advertisers, and demand-side platforms, as well as conducting auctions among bidders per impression.

Specifications for advertising creative regarding what the ad will contain (text, audio, or graphical content), the size of the ad, and the device used to view the creative. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has defined standard ad formats. There are also native formats custom to a site.

The amount and types of ad space a website can offer advertisers; It is typically defined by size, format, location, and available impressions.

Connects advertisers with publishers by matching the supply of ad inventory with the demand for ad placement.

An estimate of the number or percent of people who remember an advertisement within a given period of time after seeing it.

If you wonder how relevant ads appear on a page, the answer is an ad server takes care of this. Ad servers are an essential technology in digital advertising. They manage ad placement and delivery, enabling advertisers and publishers to enhance their ad strategies effectively.

Services such as YouTube or Hulu that offer their content for free or reduced subscription fees.

Any tool, software, or service that is used to help advertisers manage and analyze their digital ad campaigns.

The tool or platform that validates the execution of a campaign, ensuring that advertisements are displayed on the appropriate websites and reach the desired audience.

A brand, business, or group that purchases ad space online in order to sell products or services to a certain target audience.

A collection of endpoints and utilities that empower developers to construct tailored workflows and applications capable of interfacing with specific functionalities and data sets.

Marketing attribution involves the process through which marketers attribute credit for the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns. It assesses the various marketing touchpoints that a consumer interacts with on their journey to a desired outcome, such as making a purchase. The primary objective of attribution is to ascertain the channels and messages that had the most significant influence on the decision to perform the desired action, such as clicking on an ad or completing a conversion.

Referred to as an Audience Segment, it comprises a group of identifiers that possess similar attribute characteristics. Marketers leverage audiences as a strategy to engage with individuals who are more likely to yield positive outcomes for their business, allowing them to allocate their media budgets more effectively.

A unit of measure that includes the total number of people with an opportunity to view (aka traffic) and interact with a media’s unit’s spot length.

The total number of people or machines that receive ad messages.

The percentage of the target audience reached by a campaign.

An ad campaign that works with the goal of boosting brand visibility and recognition by educating potential customers about a brand.

A digital creative positioned on a digital property owned by a media entity, such as a publisher's webpage. Typically, a standard display banner is of a fixed size (e.g., 300x250 pixels) and commonly comprises a blend of images and text.

A starting price for an impression before applying the bid factors.

a Profile based on past behaviour, usually as recent as the last 30-90 days.

Audience segments categorized by their past behaviors, often focusing on recent online activities or offline purchases and visits. For instance, an automotive advertiser might target individuals who have visited an automotive review site within the past 30 days.

Online Behavioral Targeting (OBA) or Interest-based Advertising creates a profile based on a consumer's past behavior, such as their engagement with content (including ad clicks) related to a specific brand or the number of pages visited on a particular topic.

An offer made in an auction to pay per impression. Can also refer to the final price or number of offers from an advertiser.

involves automatically adjusting the bid amount that a marketer places on a specific impression based on various inputs that determine the value of that impression to the marketer.

List of websites where the advertiser does not want their ads to appear.

Streaming services provided by traditional TV broadcasters.

DSPs, Agencies and advertisers and data management platforms that purchase ad space online.

Any method employed by advertisers to get consumers to respond promptly.

A strategy for acquiring ad inventory based on goals or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) involving a predetermined budget allocated for a specific duration.

Inventories of keywords and phrases associated with the content of webpages and apps.

The platform through which advertisements are delivered, encompassing various formats such as video ads, display ads, mobile ads, audio ads, and others.

The point where a user interacts with an ad by clicking it.

Ad fraud involving a party using a bot to repeatedly click an ad in order to generate money for a publisher that is paid per click.

Targeting specific audience segments comprising users who have interacted with creatives by clicking on them

When a user clicks an ad and then goes through the defined conversion action, such as purchasing a product.

A metric calculated by dividing the number of clicks on an ad by the number of times the ad was displayed, indicating the frequency with which users who view an ad click on it.

The percentage of ads served in a given campaign that are viewed in their entirety.

An internet-connected television or device through which users can stream TV programming.

In the cookieless age, consent is king. Understand how Consent Management Platforms ensure transparency and simplify data privacy.

A method of delivering relevant ads by matching identified keywords with the content of a website or an app, where the ads can potentially be placed.

The defined (per campaign, for example) desired action a user takes after seeing a given ad.

The percentage of users who interact with an ad and successfully complete an action, calculated by dividing the total number of conversions by the number of visitors to a website or media channel.

A tiny file stored by websites on a web user's computer to store data related to the user's browsing history.

Describes data collection and audience-targeting methods that do not rely on third-party cookies.

A pricing model where an advertiser compensates a publisher based on the number of times users complete a specific action.

A pricing model in which an advertiser remunerates publishers based on the number of times users click on an ad.

The visual or audio advertisement displayed to users to attract attention, convey a message, or convert a visitor. Creatives may include text, images, video, audio, and animated elements.

Discover how Connected TV (CTV) advertising boosts targeting, engagement, and ROI. Explore its benefits, strategies, and how it transforms digital marketing.

Read our article to find out how customer data platforms help marketers build accurate customer profiles and deliver personalized user experiences.

A data alliance is a blank-label audience data provider that charges a percentage of ad media spend. Learn how it works in programmatic advertising.

Discover what a data management platform is and how it works for digital advertising. Learn the differences between data management platforms and demand-side platforms.

Boost ad performance by reaching audiences at the right time. Explore how dayparting helps optimize campaigns through data and strategic scheduling.

Learn how demand-side platforms (DSPs) help advertisers automate media buying, improve targeting accuracy, and optimize campaigns across digital channels.

Learn the basics of digital advertising campaigns. Discover key strategies, formats, and tips for better results.

Learn how digital out‑of‑home advertising works, including its formats, benefits, and measurement methods. Discover how it fits into modern omnichannel strategies.

Direct response marketing drives immediate customer actions. Discover key strategies, benefits, and real-world campaign examples that convert.

Display advertising helps brands reach targeted audiences across the web. Learn about its key formats, campaign strategies, and measurable results.

Understand dynamic budget allocation to control your ad spending, automate your capital flow, react to real-time data, and outpace the competition

Explore how dynamic creative powers personalize advertising by adapting messages and visuals in real time. Learn how it boosts engagement and campaign performance.

A technique that tailors advertising by generating multiple versions of an ad based on audience, context, browsing data, ad engagement, or historical performance.

Uncover what eCPM is and why it is different from other revenue models. Understand why it can be low and how to increase it.

Learn what is effective ad frequency, and how to calculate the optimal ad frequency for your campaign.

Discover how first-party data in advertising drives personalization, boosts campaign performance, and prepares for a cookieless future.

The fold in a webpage affects the visibility of advertisements, user engagement, and ad performance. Learn how to use the fold to maximize ad impact.

FAST TV is reshaping streaming, offering free ad-supported channels, curated content, and measurable engagement for advertisers. Explore more in this glossary page.

Frequency capping plays an essential role in optimizing ad performance. Find out how it helps control impressions and reduce wasted ad spending.

Learn how to set effective ad frequency goals in programmatic advertising to drive stronger results and create a better user experience.

The frequency refers to the number of times the audience is exposed to content, advertising, or a specific ad within a defined time frame. It typically represents the average exposure when combined with cumulative reach estimates. However, it can also be reported based on specific exposure levels when assessed in the context of discrete reach estimates using frequency distribution analyses.

Explore the key concepts in full-funnel marketing and understand strategies across the entire customer journey, from awareness to conversion.

Turn fragmented data into actionable insight. See how identity and data resolution connect users across devices to improve targeting and measurement.

The EU GDPR standardizes data privacy laws across Europe, safeguarding the privacy of EU citizens. It applies to all companies that collect or process personal data on individuals in the EU, even if they are not established in the EU.

Learn what general invalid traffic (GIVT) in advertising is, including common causes, detection methods, and impacts on campaign performance.

Learn what Gross Rating Point (GRP) means in advertising, how it’s calculated, and why it’s key for measuring campaign reach and audience exposure.

Learn how geo-targeting in advertising helps brands reach audiences by location, optimize ad spend, and deliver more relevant, localized campaigns.

Key insights on how header bidding empowers publishers to increase ad revenue, boost competition, and improve yield management across demand sources.

If you are struggling with fragmented audiences, a household graph can help. Read on to learn what it is and how it works for audience targeting.

Predictive clearing uses AI to optimize bids, slash CPMs, and maximize ROAS in first-price auctions. Discover how it works and boost win rates.

Find out what impressions are in advertising, how they’re measured, why they matter, and how to use impression data to evaluate campaign reach.

Visibility is everything. In-view rate measures true ad exposure to ensure your budget isn't wasted. Learn how it works and why it matters on this page.

Your ads may be reaching the same user twice without knowing. Incremental reach shows how campaigns add new audiences beyond overlap. Learn how it works.

Inferred brand intent uses behavioral signals to predict purchase interest, helping you to know who’s ready to buy. Learn how it works.

A tool that enhances behavioral audience targeting by offering pre-built audience categories, such as business and finance, computers and technology, education, and others. This allows AI to identify related segments most relevant to the audience based on lookalike modeling and include them in an audience.

Learn how to stand out with interstitial ads. Find out how full-screen ads capture attention, drive engagement, and boost campaign performance.

Invalid traffic can waste ad budgets. Learn how to detect fraudulent clicks, protect campaigns, and ensure genuine engagement.

Master the impression multiplier and essential DOOH metrics in our glossary page. Define your ad impact and scale up today.

Key performance indicators transform complex campaign data into a strategic roadmap. Master your metrics and drive success with our comprehensive expert guide.

Last touch assigns 100% conversion value to the final touchpoint in a customer journey. Learn how it works and its role in marketing analytics.

Linear TV is not a relic, but a powerful tool. Explore this guide and understand how to include it in your marketing mix.

Lookalike modeling helps you scale with surgical precision by mirroring your top fans. Read this guide to find your next customer without the guesswork.

Stop guessing your ad spend. Explore how lookalike targeting finds hew high-intent prospects and scale with confidence.

Master the marketing funnel from TOFU to BOFU. This glossary defines key terms and strategies to help you optimize the customer journey and drive ROI. .

Learn how to use eye-tracking data to calculate the perfect frame size for maximum visibility at any distance. Read our expert guide today.

A strategic ad placement can boost your ROI. Learn how expert media planning targets the right channels and timing for your campaign in our glossary guide.

Choosing the right media unit is essential for ad performance. Learn how to select the perfect size and format for your container for maximum campaign impact.

Understand message duration in DOOH advertising. Learn why timing is everything for digital screens and how to optimize your ad’s visibility for maximum impact.

Discover how mobile advertising works, from real-time bidding to location-based triggers. Explore its benefits and strategies.

Learn how over-the-top advertising on mobile devices drives engagement, bypasses traditional cable, and scales your brand reach.

A multi-channel video programming distributor delivers multiple television channels to consumers in exchange for a subscription fee. Learn more on this page.

Discover how multi-touch attribution tracks every interaction in the customer journey. Learn to move beyond last-click models and optimize your marketing ROI

Native advertising blends a brand into content to have higher trust and ROI. Discover how it works, what its types are, and its benefits

Understand behavioral analysis with observation in market research. Learn to calculate visit likelihood and optimize retail paths with real-time data.

Omnichannel strategies unify your customer experiences. Learn how integrating digital and physical channels boosts loyalty and drives seamless sales.

A programmatic advertising marketplace that allows buyers to purchase publishers' inventory through real-time bidding technology. It is open to any user of a supply-side or demand-side platform to conduct media transactions on an impression-by-impression basis.

Track media exposure accurately with Opportunity to See (OTS). Learn to isolate potential reach, reduce ad spend waste, and optimize DOOH campaigns

Discover how real-time advertising optimization maximizes ROI, slashes CPAs, and cuts manual friction using advanced AI-native execution.

Outstream video ads monetize premium editorial spaces without disrupting the user experience and drive viewability outside traditional video players

Learn what personally identifiable information (PII) is, the differences between sensitive and non-sensitive data, and how to keep it secure

Discover how pre-bid targeting in programmatic advertising filters for viewability, brand safety, and fraud before you bid to maximize campaign ROI

Discover how preferred deals give advertisers first-look access to premium programmatic inventory at a fixed price without the auction chaos.

Discover what premium ad inventory is, why it beats the open web, and how programmatic channels use it to drive high-impact campaign ROI

Connected TV (CTV) inventory sources that resemble the appearance and functionality of digital cable or satellite TV providers. CTV ads through premium distributors enable advertisers to utilize users' registration data for improved targeting of large, scalable audiences. Some premium distributors develop and own proprietary content.

Refers to the main area of advertising displayed on the screen. The primary ad unit is usually categorized as either full-screen or partial-screen

The aspect ratio of a Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) ad unit, commonly described as either "landscape" or "portrait."

An auction that necessitates an invitation (via a deal ID) for access. It permits advertisers to bid on ad space in real-time with a select group of other advertisers who have been invited to bid on that publisher's ad space.

The automated process of buying and selling ad inventory using software. It assists advertisers in enhancing performance through data-driven decisions and saves time by centralizing the buying experience in a single platform. Here, advertisers can customize the target audience, channels, publishers, geographies, and more with just a few clicks.

Digital audio inventory that is available for programmatic purchase.

Targeting customers in real-time based on their current location using GPS and mobile network triangulation to determine a user's location and proximity to a reference point. This enables users entering a defined geographic area, such as a mall or a retail store, to receive push notifications on their smartphones.

Targeting audiences based on personality, interests, attitudes, or mindsets (e.g., financial optimists, environmentally-conscious consumers). This targeting is often derived from offline surveys and stated preferences.

A company, website, or entity that owns and offers digital content, generating revenue by selling ad inventory to agencies and advertisers.

The process by which media owners utilize their data and content to generate revenue through advertising.

Purchase intent is an indicator of the likelihood that a consumer will purchase a product or service.

A metric that signifies the number of requests a server receives per second. It gauges the traffic capacity of an ad server, ad exchange, demand-side platform, or supply-side platform.

The total number of unique users who are exposed to an ad. Reach can be a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) or goal for a campaign when aiming to maximize the percentage of a target audience exposed to an ad. Cost per mille (CPM) is typically lower since frequency capping determines how often a user should be targeted.

The process of buying and selling ad impressions in an ad exchange. In RTB, auctions are automated and take place within milliseconds. During this time, ad exchanges invite advertisers to bid on an impression through demand-side platforms, and the winning bid has its ad served.

The extent to which advertising messaging influences the consumer's perspective and/or drives purchase decisions or the desired brand impact.

A method of purchasing advertising space that utilizes data gathered from retailers, including loyalty shopper data and purchase history. Advertisers can use this data to target consumers.

An advertising buying technology developed by retail brands to monetize their consumer shopping data. It also allows them to sell advertising space on their digital channels, such as websites and apps.

Targeting ads at users who have previously interacted with a website or an app. This strategy is designed to re-engage users who have shown interest in a website or app, with the aim of retaining existing customers and converting potential new customers.

Customer retention is a marketing goal aimed at engaging current or previous customers, often by encouraging continued use of an organization's products or services.

The ratio of total revenue to total ad spend. This metric is used to measure campaign effectiveness, indicating how much revenue advertisers generate for each dollar spent on advertising based on how the marketer values different conversions.

The ratio of total revenue to total spend or money invested.

Describes advertisements that incorporate multimedia features such as embedded videos and interactive elements.

Data collected directly from a partner that owns it. It refers to a partner's first-party data that an advertiser gets permission to use. This is distinct from third-party data, which involves intermediaries that collect information from various sources and aggregate them for purchase from a data marketplace.

A type of auction where the winning bidder pays an amount equal to the second-highest bid plus one cent. For example, if the highest bid is $5.00 and the second-highest bid is $4.50, the winner pays $4.51 in a second-price auction.

When a client provides us with their first-party data, we use seeds to create lookalike audiences. This process helps expand reach to users with similar online behaviors as the seed audience.

A group of users targeted as an audience because they share a defining characteristic, such as gender, region, or an action they've taken online. It's also known as an "audience segment."

Describes companies in the advertising industry that sell ad space online. This includes publishers and supply-side platforms.

The amount of money a client spends on advertising efforts in our platform.

A DOOH term - Advertising displays that typically provide a public amenity, positioned at close proximity to pedestrians for eye-level viewing or at a curbside within view of vehicular traffic.

A monetization model where users pay a certain fee upfront to gain access to content.

A technology company that enables publishers to manage and automate the selling of their ad inventory, allowing them to generate the maximum revenue per ad impression.

User data collected by a single company on various platforms but not owned by that company. This data is sold to other companies, advertisers, or brands. It includes data on users who tend to frequent sites, and an advertiser might pay to use that data for a campaign.

Refers to the number or volume of visitors to a website or specific webpage.

Are your media metrics telling the full story? See how reach, attention, and outcomes define real impact, and make smarter media decisions.

An open-source ID framework that publishers, advertisers, and digital advertising platforms can use to establish the identity of a user across the open internet, while also offering users transparency and privacy controls.

When a person visits a site or app, the individual is counted once, regardless of how many times or pages the person visits, thus providing a better understanding of the number of people visiting.

A tracking tag containing JavaScript that manages multiple processes with just one pixel added to an entire website. Dynamic and capable of capturing every website visitor regardless of the page they're on, universal pixels also enable the segmentation of all website visitors based on the different pages they visit.

Content created and published by consumers rather than brands. This type of content is typically less regulated and can include reviews, social media posts, videos, and blog comments.

A token linked to a technical identifier, such as a cookie or device ID, specific to a particular browser or device.

An Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard that defines a common protocol for communication between ad servers and video players. VAST enables video players to display video ads from ad servers and allows ad servers to use a single ad response format across multiple publishers and video players.

An Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard that enables a video ad unit and a video player to communicate, allowing for interactive and trackable video ads. It allows ad servers to collect metrics like viewability, completion rate, and click-through rate.

A conversion that occurs when a user views an ad (without clicking on it) and later completes a desired action on the advertiser's site.

A metric that measures the likelihood that an ad has been seen by a user. Ad viewability is determined by factors such as the placement of the ad on a webpage and whether it is within the visible part of the screen without scrolling. Viewability is usually expressed as a percentage, calculated by dividing the number of viewed impressions by the total number of impressions served.

The cost for a thousand impressions that are actually viewable to users, calculated by dividing the total cost by the number of viewable impressions.

refers to when a consumer who has seen an advertisement visits the desired pages or stores to obtain more information.

Refers to an organization that keeps its technology, information, and user data to itself with no intention of sharing it. It is a closed ecosystem operated by people within the ecosystem, without involvement from outside organizations. This term is often used to describe companies like Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

A shopping behavior where consumers research products online to decide which ones to buy, but then go to a physical store to make the actual purchase.

User engagement drives ad success. Learn how interactions in digital advertising measure engagement, boost ROI, and optimize campaigns effectively.

Discover how Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) impacts profitability, retention, and marketing efficiency. Learn key strategies to measure and increase CLV.

Learn how to unify your digital and physical stores to boost loyalty, streamline inventory, and meet modern shopper demands

Discover how HTML powers modern digital advertising, from interactive creatives and tracking to seamless ad delivery across devices and platforms. Learn more.

The count of impressions won through auctions.

A metric that measures the percentage of bids that result in a successful win of an ad impression. It is calculated by dividing the total number of impressions won by the total number of bids placed.

Refers to the amount of revenue generated from advertising efforts. It is a measure of the effectiveness and success of an advertising campaign, indicating how well the ads performed in terms of generating revenue.

A pricing strategy used to adjust the price of a product in response to market factors such as demand or competition. In programmatic advertising, yield management is used to optimize revenue by adjusting the cost of impressions based on the number of advertisers bidding for those impressions.