Glossary

A

Above the fold (ATF)

Refers to the top half of a page or portion of a website that is visible in a browser when a page first loads, before any scrolling occurs. Generally, a premium space where a large number of users will see the content and ads.

Accelerated mobile pages (AMP)

An open-source project created to improve the performance of web pages for mobile devices. Google and Twitter spearheaded the project. The technology behind AMP enables lightweight pages that load more quickly for smartphone and tablet users. Monetization is more complicated on AMP pages to implement and monetize.

Accompanying content

An offshoot from what has been historically called in-stream, accompanying content is a new official format named by the IAB. This type of content can be videos served before, after, or between text or graphics and may appear as in-feed or in-article. While the video may not be the initial focus of a user’s visit, accompanying content can serve as added value to audiences.

Ad exchange

An ad exchange is a digital marketplace where publishers can sell their ad inventory and advertisers can buy it programmatically through real-time bidding (RTB).

Ad fraud

Ad fraud is the practice of serving ads that are not seen by real users, or that are seen by users who are not in the intended audience, with the intention of generating illegitimate ad revenue.

Ad inventory

The amount and types of ad space that a website can offer to advertisers for purchase; typically defined by size, format, location, and available impressions.

Ad network

The company that connects advertisers with publishers by matching supply of ad inventory with demands for ad placement.

Ad pod

An individual ad pod is a group of ads expected to play back-to-back in one commercial ad break similar to how consumers experience commercial ad breaks in broadcast television. An ad pod can be of varying lengths and can be inserted at any point in a stream of content (pre, mid, or post).

Ad request/Ad call

A request that is made by a user’s device to an ad server, asking it to deliver an advertisement. This occurs when a user visits a webpage or uses an app that contains available inventory, or ad space. The request typically includes information about the user, device, and context, allowing the ad server to select and serve a relevant ad.

Ad server

An ad server is a technology platform that stores, manages, and delivers digital ads to websites, mobile apps, and other digital platforms. Ad servers also track and report on ad performance metrics.

Ad tag

An ad tag is a piece of HTML or JavaScript code that is placed on a web page or in an app to display an ad. The ad tag communicates with the ad server to request and display the ad.

Ad tech

Ad tech, short for advertising technology, refers to the tools, software, and platforms used for planning, buying, and optimizing digital advertising campaigns.

Ad unit

An ad unit is a specific size or format of advertising space on a website, mobile app, or other digital platform. Common ad units include banners, interstitials, and native ads.

Ad viewability

A measurement (percentage) often used in online advertising. An ad is considered viewable when at least 50% of the ad is viewable to the user for at least 2 seconds (MRC definition). It is calculated by dividing the number of viewable ads by the number of total impressions.

Ads.txt

A method for publishers to confirm who (if anyone) is authorized to sell digital advertising slots on their behalf. It’s designed to counter scammers fraudulently selling slots they don’t really have access to. Not publishing an ads.txt file can cause problems in getting revenue through some major programmatic channels.

Advertiser

A company, group, or brand that buys ad space online in order to sell products or services to a target audience.

AI-powered

Tools and systems that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate tasks.

Allow list

The allow list (sometimes known as “white list”) is a list of specific approved domains that an advertiser or publisher has authorized for displaying ads.

Aspect ratio

The ratio of width to height for the frame of a video. The specific dimensions vary by platform, device, and placement. The preferred aspect ratio is 16:9 (formatted for HD screens). For vertical video, the recommended aspect ratio is 9:16 (most phones), 3:4 (iPad), and 10:16 & 2:3 (other phones/tablets).

Attribution

Attribution is the process of determining which marketing channels or touch points contributed to a desired outcome, such as a conversion or a sale.

Auction

An online marketplace where advertisers place real-time bids to buy publishers' ad inventory.

Audience segments

Segmentation is commonly used in both advertising and marketing strategies by dividing a large audience into smaller groups based on commonalities such as interests, demographics, or behavior.

Audience targeting

Audience targeting is the practice of delivering ads to specific groups of people based on their demographics, interests, or behavior.

Automatic content recognition (ACR)

An opt-in identification technology embedded in a device that allows content to be recognized by video, audio, or watermark cues and matched back to a database for verification.

Available impressions

The ad opportunities that are open to bid on.

Average click-through-rate (Avg. CTR)

The click through rate is the average number of clicks divided by item loads (particularly relevant for items with call-to-action buttons).

B

Bandwidth

The range of signal frequencies that a piece of audio or video equipment can encode or decode.Video uses higher frequency than audio, thus requires a wider bandwidth.

Base bid

The starting price that a marketer pays for an impression before applying bid factors.

Behavioral targeting

The practice of using browsing history to determine which ads would be relevant to individual users, and which ads to present them with on a particular website.

Bid

The offer made in an auction to pay for an impression. Can also refer to the final price or number of offers an advertiser makes.

Bid response

The signal a demand-side platform (DSP) sends to a supply-side platform (SSP) in response to a bid request. In a bid response, the DSP indicates a bid price and, potentially, creative specifications.

Blocklist

A list of websites that an advertiser does not want its ads to appear on.

Brand awareness

How familiar customers are with a brand.

Brand lift

A way for advertisers to understand if their advertising is resulting in awareness, consideration, or purchase of their product or service. This is done by comparing a control group (not exposed to the ad) and an exposed group (exposed to an ad), and measuring the difference between the two.

Bid request

A bid request is a request sent from a publisher's ad server to an ad exchange or demand-side platform (DSP) to solicit bids for available ad inventory.

Brand safety

Brand safety refers to measures taken to ensure that ads are not displayed alongside inappropriate or harmful content, such as hate speech or adult content.

Buy-side

Advertisers, agencies, demand-side platforms, and data management platforms that purchase ad space online.

C

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

The California Consumer Privacy Act is a state statute intended to enhance privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of the state of California in the United States.

Call to action (CTA)

Any technique advertisers use to encourage consumers to respond promptly. For example, “Book a demo” or “Learn more.”

Campaign

A strategy for purchasing ad inventory driven by goals, or KPIs, that covers a set budget for a set period of time.

Click-through rate (CTR)

A measure of the number of clicks an ad receives divided by the number of times it is shown, expressed as a percentage.

Client-side ad insertion (CSAI)

Client-side ad insertion (often referred to as “ad stitching”) is the process of stitching video content and ads together on the browser level.

Commitment

A non-guarantee agreement between advertisers and publishers in which advertisers agree to spend a certain amount of money during a campaign flight.

Completion rate

The percentage of ads served in an ad campaign that are viewed, played, or heard in their entirety.

Connected TV (CTV)

Refers to devices that are connected to the internet and allow viewers to stream videos and music, and browse the web.

Consent management platform (CMP)

A tool that supports transparency and openness by enabling publishers to present website visitors with opt-in and opt-out information so that visitors can see how and why their data is collected.

Container

A video container is a format that defines how the video's metadata is stored along with the video and audio data. It does not define the coding or compression of the data. For example, MP4 can be a container for H.264 files.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A service offering networked servers that transparently deliver content (especially large media content) to end users. A few prominent CDNs are Akamai, Cloudflare, Fastly, and Limelight.

Content management systems (CMS)

A software application that allows users to create, manage, and publish digital content. CMSs can be used for websites, apps, social media and other channels. They also serve as a centralized database for content storage.

Content signals

Attributes, or metadata, applicable to all online video and audio content used to forecast, target, exclude, or optimize toward certain types of inventory.

Content targeting

Content targeting is a process used to display different content to different visitors based on information known about that visitor.

Contextual categories

Categories that enable marketers to deliver relevant ads by matching identified keywords with the content of a website or an app, where an ad can potentially be placed.

Contextual targeting

A strategy that delivers relevant ads by matching them to identified keywords within the content of a website or an app, where an ad can potentially be placed.

Conversion

A conversion occurs when a user completes a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, in response to an ad or marketing message.

Conversion rate

The percentage of users that engage with an ad and complete an action, which is calculated by dividing the total number of conversions by the number of visitors to a website or media channel.

Cookie mapping

The process of syncing third-party cookies and sharing user IDs from one system to another.

Cookieless

Describes data collection options and audience-targeting methods that don't rely on third-party cookies which are going away, per Google and after many delays, sometime in 2025.

Discover more:  Rebaking the Cookie - A guide to privacy-safe online video advertising

Content marketplace

A video library of premium video content that EX.CO offers to help publishers extend their own pools of video. The content marketplace includes thousands of daily videos from top names across 25+ different verticals.

Cost per acquisition (CPA)

A pricing model in which an advertiser pays a publisher based on the number of times users perform a specific action.

Cost per click (CPC)

A pricing model where an advertiser pays publishers based on the number of times users click on an ad.

Cost per completed view (CPCV)

The price an advertiser pays every time a video ad runs through to completion. Rather than paying for all impressions, some of which may have been stopped before completion, an advertiser only pays for ads that finished (CPCV = Cost ÷ Completed Views).

Cost per engagement (CPE)

A pricing model where advertisers pay publishers each time a user engages with an ad.

Cost per landing (CPL)

A pricing model where advertisers pay publishers for each individual visit to the advertiser's website.

Cost per mille (CPM)

A pricing model where advertisers pay publishers for every thousand ad impressions served.

Cost per point (CPP)

A measure of cost-efficiency, typically for television advertising, that equals one rating point or 1 percent of the population in any geographically defined market.

Cost per view (CPV)

A pricing model where advertisers pay every time users play or interact with a video ad.

CPM $

The price earned from demand per 1000 impressions served. (Impressions x CPM = Revenue)

Creative

The actual advertisement served to users to draw attention, communicate a message, or convert a visitor. Creatives can consist of text, images, video, audio, and animated elements.

Cross-device

A scenario in which users move and are converted through two or more devices.

Cross-device targeting

Enables advertisers to scale high-value audiences across devices and environments, working in tandem with frequency capping to limit the number of times a user sees an ad across their devices.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a strategy and technology for managing a company's interactions with current and potential customers.

CTA button

Call-to-action button.

CTR impressions

The number of times that a user clicks on the CTA button on an ad, out of the times an ad was played (positive interaction).

Cue points

Invisible markers inserted at specific points in a video that can be used to trigger external events, such as a mid-roll ad request or a closed caption.

D

Data management platform (DMP)

A data management platform (DMP) is a technology platform that collects, organizes, and analyzes data from various sources to create detailed audience profiles for targeting ads.

Dayparting

A strategy that enables advertisers to schedule and display ads for specific times of day or days of the week to reach audiences more effectively.

Decisioning

The process between ad tech platforms, demand-side platforms (DSPs), and ad exchanges whereby the platform decides which ad to serve based on the advertiser’s campaign criteria.

Demand fill rate

The number of impressions received out of the requests sent to a demand partner (impressions/requests = Demand Fill Rate).

Demand-side platform (DSP)

A demand-side platform (DSP) is a technology platform used by advertisers and agencies to purchase ad inventory in real time from multiple ad exchanges through a single interface.

Demographic data

Information about a person's age range and/or gender.

Demographic targeting

Targeting audiences based on a set of potential customers who are likely to be within a particular age range, gender, parental status, or household income.

Deterministic data

Data that is known to be true when linking to an individual and used to identify them across apps, websites, channels, and devices.

Device ID

A unique string of numbers and letters that identifies an individual smartphone or tablet that can be retrieved by an app.

DFP

DFP (DoubleClick for Publishers) has been sunsetted and is now called Google Ad Manager, or GAM for short.

Digital advertising campaign

A type of marketing plan, or campaign, that is facilitated via online channels like mobile, websites, streaming, and more.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC)

The act of selling products directly to people without the use of third-party intermediaries or brick-and-mortar stores.

Direct demand

Direct demand refers to the process of advertisers or brands purchasing ad inventory directly from publishers or media outlets, rather than through intermediaries like ad networks or programmatic platforms. This approach often involves negotiating terms such as pricing, placement, and audience targeting directly with the publisher, which can lead to more tailored and premium ad placements.

Direct demand is typically associated with higher quality and more strategic ad buys, as it gives advertisers greater control over where and how their ads are displayed. It also allows publishers to maximize revenue by selling their ad space at potentially higher rates than they might achieve through automated or programmatic channels.

Direct publisher

A direct relationship with a publisher in which a tech provider (i.e. EX.CO) has code on the page. A supply-side executive is typically focused on forging relationships with Publishers.

Display advertising

Advertising in which ads are served in standard, reserved spaces on webpages, generally at the top, middle, side, or bottom.

Domain restriction

A basic form of content security that prevents a player from functioning except on specified domains.

Dwell time

The average duration that a user spends on a page where a video player has loaded.

Dynamic creative

This type of creative is where the content of the ad can be automatically customized or tailored in real-time to match the viewer's specific characteristics, behaviors, or context.

Dynamic creative optimization (DCO)

Dynamic creative optimization (DCO) is a technology that allows advertisers to create and deliver personalized ads based on individual user data and behavior.

E

eCPM

eCPM = (Total earnings / impressions) x 1,000

Measures how much revenue is generated for every 1,000 impressions that are served, and is calculated by dividing a campaign's revenue by the total number of impressions and multiplying that value by 1,000.

European Unified ID (EUID)

Built for advertisers in Europe and specific to regional regulations, EUID uses data to identify and reach consumers with relevant advertising across channels and devices.

F

Fill rate

Also known as demand fill rate, this is the number of impressions received out of the requests sent to a demand partner (impressions/requests= Demand Fill Rate).

First-party data, or 1P data

Data owned and collected on a company's website that a company, brand, or advertiser manages, which includes user behaviors, actions, or interests demonstrated through websites, subscriptions, or social media, including cross-platform data from mobile web or apps or data from the customer relationship management. First-party data is extremely valuable because it comes directly from the customers.

First-price auction

An auction in which the winning bidder pays the bid amount regardless of how much higher it is than the second-highest bid.

Fixed price

Also known as fixed rate, the fixed price refers to an advertising deal in which the total price paid by the advertiser is “locked in” prior to running their ads through a publisher’s ad space.

Flight

Refers to the length of an ad campaign from a set start date to a set end date.

Floor optimization

A subset of yield optimization practices that publishers follow to maximize the amount of revenue they’re able to generate from selling their ad inventory.

Specifically, floor optimization refers to making use of both “soft” and “hard” price floors for certain units of ad inventory, based on data that’s gathered about the performance of certain ad units. By making adjustments to floor prices, publishers are able to find the best balance between maximizing their fill rate while getting the best possible price for their ad inventory.

Floor price

Also known as “floor CPM” (cost per mille), the floor price refers to a minimum price that a publisher is willing to accept for each of their available ad impressions.

Forecasting

A tool that uses historical data to estimate potential media spend or impressions and potential reach or frequency for an ad group configuration.

Frame Rate

The number of frames per second at which a video clip is displayed.

Frequency capping

Frequency capping is the practice of limiting the number of times a specific ad is shown to the same user within a given time period. For example, a company may set an ad frequency cap of three impressions per day for a particular ad.

G

GAM tag

Google Ad Manager (GAM) is a powerful ad server and ad management platform run by Google. It helps publishers organize their ad stacks and sell their advertising inventory more efficiently.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

A European privacy and security law that regulates how organizations target or collect data related to residents of the European Union.

Geo breakdown

Where in the world the traffic we get from a publisher is coming from.

Geo-filtering

Putting geographic restrictions on videos, often for reasons of rights ownership.

Geotargeting

Geotargeting is the practice of delivering ads to users based on their geographic location, such as their country, region, or city.

Gross rating point (GRP)

A metric that is used to determine how many people within an advertiser's target audience saw an ad. The GRP can be calculated by multiplying reach (expressed as a percentage) by the average frequency multiplied by 100.

Gross Revenue

The total amount of money a company receives from all business operations in a given period of time, before deducting any expenses. It's calculated by adding up all income from identified sources over a defined period.

Guaranteed deal

An agreement between a buyer and seller that's made in advance. The buyer and seller negotiate a price and terms for a specific amount of inventory that's reserved for the buyer. The buyer agrees to pay a fixed price for the guaranteed impressions.

H

Header Bidding

Header bidding is a technique used by publishers to offer their ad inventory to multiple ad exchanges simultaneously before making calls to their ad servers, enabling them to maximize their revenue.

I

IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions.

Impression

An impression is a single instance of an ad being displayed on a web page, mobile app, or other digital platform.

In-app ad

An ad served within a mobile application, rather than on a webpage or mobile browser.

In-banner video ad

A video ad that is displayed within the banner space on a webpage.

In-stream video ad

A video ad that is played directly before, during, or after the video content that a user has requested. According to the IAB’s new definitions, these are videos that do not autoplay and start with sound on as default. This type of content is delivered within a player.

In-view rate

Measures the percentage of people who interact with an ad out of those who were exposed to it. For instance, if an ad reaches 5,000 viewers and receives 250 clicks, the view rate would be 5%.

Insertion order (IO)

A formal written agreement between an advertiser and a publisher to run an ad campaign. It includes specifications like the campaign name, flight dates, ad sizes, websites receiving the order, total cost, cost per mille, discounts to be applied, reporting requirements, and possible penalties or stipulations relative to failure to deliver the impressions.

Interest targeting

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

Interstitial ad

Immersive, full-screen advertisements that overlay the interface of the app or website they appear in. Positioned at natural pauses or transitions, such as between activities or game levels, they provide complete coverage, distinguishing them from other ad formats such as pop-ups, native ads, and banners.

Invalid traffic (IVT)

Any online activity that doesn't come from authentic human sources and involves false clicks or impressions that exaggerate the cost or earnings of online ad efforts. Examples may include accidental clicks, fraudulent clicks, and automated traffic. IVT can artificially inflate costs for advertisers or earnings for publishers.

Inventory

Inventory refers to the total amount of ad space available for sale on a website, mobile app, or other digital platform.

Inventory quality

The overall value and health of the advertising space on a publisher's digital platforms, like websites and apps, determined by factors affecting its appeal to advertisers.

J

JavaScript

JavaScript is a programming language utilized to incorporate interactive elements on websites, enhancing user engagement and functionality directly within web browsers. JavaScript is so popular that it's the most used programming language in the world, used as a client-side programming language by 97.0% of all websites.

K

Key performance indicator (KPI)

A metric that measures the success of an ad campaign by driving performance and delivering results based on primary, secondary, and tertiary KPIs that align with a campaign's high-level objectives.

Key-value pairs

A key-value pair (KVP) is a data type that consists of two related data elements: a key and a value. The key is a constant that defines the data set, while the value is a variable that belongs to the set. For example, a key might be "gender" and the value might be "male". Another example would be a car as the key, and the car's color, model, or brand as the values.

Keyword blocking

A tactic that prevents certain keywords from appearing in ad placements, URLs, or other content. For example, an advertiser may block the keyword “fire” so it will not appear alongside any articles about fires.

Keyword targeting

Keyword targeting is the practice of delivering ads to users based on the keywords or phrases they use in search queries or in the content they consume. For example, targeting “flight deals” may ensure your ads are visible when users are searching for the best flight deals on search engines or on travel websites.

L

Large Language Model (LLM)

A type of machine learning that can recognize and generate text, and perform other natural language processing (NLP) tasks.

Live streaming video

A protocol for streaming video of an event as it happens, by pushing captured and encoded streams directly as opposed to distributing encoded files for streaming as for VOD (video on demand).

Lookalike modeling

A technique that identifies an audience of potential new users based on the known characteristics and behaviors of an audience of existing users. Advertisers can select a specific group of users and have an algorithm compare them to the general population to generate a secondary audience that shares statistically significant characteristics with the original group.

Loop/looping

The process of repeating a video segment continuously, either for a set number of times or indefinitely.

M

Marketing funnel

A model used to describe the path that a customer takes toward the purchase of goods or services from awareness into action, or conversions. Targeting parts of the funnel would have funnel-specific goals, or KPIs.

Marketplace quality

The desirable aspects of inventory, typically used in conversations about ad fraud.

Max bid

The maximum amount an advertiser is willing to bid, including bid factors.

Media planning

The process advertisers go through selecting optimal media strategies to reach their desired audiences that involves the best combination of media channels, mobile, connected TV, etc., to achieve campaign objectives.

Metadata

Metadata refers to the descriptions, tags, genre, and other related information that you provide in the definition of a video.

Mid-roll

Video ads that play in the middle of video or TV content.

Mobile advertising

Ads placed on mobile devices on the web and in-app.

Monetization

The process of generating revenue by integrating advertisements into digital content.

MRSS feed

Media RSS (MRSS) is an extension of RSS that allows users to syndicate multimedia files, such as images, audio, and video, in RSS feeds.

N

Native advertising

Native advertising is a type of paid advertising where the ad content is designed to blend in seamlessly with the platform or media in which it appears. Unlike traditional display ads or banner ads that are clearly separate from the editorial content, native ads match the look, feel, and function of the surrounding content, making them less intrusive and more engaging for the audience.

Negative interaction rate

Negative interactions may include closing the video player, not hitting play when a user is expected to, or muting the audio on a video. This total number is divided by the total number of player loads.

No content/standalone

The IAB Tech Lab defines "no content/standalone" as video ads that play without any streaming video content, and are not the focus of a page. These ads are also known as outstream video, and are similar to ads between page loads or in gaming apps. They can appear in in-article, in-banner, in-feed, or floating placements, and can be slideshows or native placements.

O

Omnichannel

Advertising that incorporates all available channels (including mobile, display, native, video, audio, and TV) into a unified strategy and ensures ads are delivered seamlessly and consistently to consumers across channels, devices, and platforms.

Online video (OLV)

Refers to video content that is distributed and viewed over the internet. This can include a wide range of formats, such as short clips, full-length movies, TV shows, live streams, webinars, tutorials, and more. Online videos can be accessed through various platforms and devices, including websites, social media channels, video-sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo, streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, and mobile apps.

Online video platform (OVP)

A digital service that hosts, serves, and streams video content online.

Open auction (programmatic)

Publisher/media owner opens their ad inventory (placements on their page where you can serve a video or banner ad) on their website to allow buyers (advertisers) to run advertisements on their site through the open marketplace. This means the bidding is open to all buyers and is conducted in real-time against multiple other buyers simultaneously in a programmatic environment (SSP/DSP/Server). The highest bidder wins and pays this price for serving the ad.

Open exchange

A programmatic ad buying and selling marketplace that enables buyers to buy publishers’ inventory through real-time bidding technology and where any user of a supply-side or demand-side platform (SSP/ DSP) can conduct media transactions on an impression-by-impression basis.

Open internet

A competitive, privacy-conscious, transparent, and open marketplace of ideas, content, and commerce that is powered by relevant advertising.

Optimization

Optimization is the process of adjusting and improving ad campaigns to achieve better performance, such as higher click-through rates or lower costs.

Outstream video ad

Historically, these are known as video ads shown independently from other video content. These ads load and play once a user has scrolled through a visible portion of the website’s content, such as between paragraphs of a written article. Oustream continues to be missing from the IAB’s guidelines but there are 2 new formats that used to fall within this category: Interstitial and No content/ standalone.

Over-the-top (OTT)

Content that is streamed over the internet to a connected device (primarily connected TV, as well as other devices) without the need for set top boxes or converters.

P

Page visit

A visit is defined as a series of page requests from the same uniquely identified visitor with a time of no more than 30 minutes between each page request.

Pageviews

The total number of times a specific web page is accessed or viewed by users during a certain period.

Pay-per-click (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a type of online advertising where businesses pay publishers each time a user clicks on their ad. PPC is also known as cost-per-click (CPC).

Personally identifiable information (PII)

Data that can be used to identify an exact individual. Examples of PII are full name, phone number, email address, and home address.

Pixel

A pixel is a small piece of code placed on a website to track user behavior, such as visits, clicks, and conversions.

Player load

Indicates that the video player was loaded on the user's page.

Player publishing code

The code used to embed a video player in a web page.

Player viewability

The time period in % the player was viewable (more than 50% of pixels) to the user out of the total user's duration time on the page.

Playlist

A collection of videos that are grouped together in a particular order for playback.

Post-roll

Video ads that play in-stream directly after the video content that the user has viewed ends.

Prebid/RTB protocols

Prebid is a set of open-source software solutions that help with header bidding, a type of programmatic advertising that allows multiple demand sources to bid on a publisher's ad inventory in a real-time auction, helping publishers secure the highest possible price for their ad inventory.

Real-time bidding (RTB) is the process of buying and selling digital advertising inventory in less than a second. The RTB protocol specifies how to evaluate and bid on each impression, and how to construct a response.

Pre-bid targeting

Targeting that enables advertisers to bid only on traffic that falls within certain parameters. Advertisers can block fraudulent traffic, bid only on ads likely to be in view, or target pages related to relevant contextual categories.

Pre-roll

Video ads that play in-stream directly before the video content that the user has requested begins. Content providers and publishers can provide the option to skip the video, or require users to watch all of it.

Preferred deal

A publisher and the buyer negotiate a fixed price and terms for inventory that the buyer can optionally buy. The buyer has a priority, or "preferred," opportunity to bid at the negotiated price when there's an ad request for the inventory. Preferred deals are non-guaranteed because the inventory negotiated isn't reserved for the buyer—you can reserve it in a guaranteed campaign for a better price. Buyers aren't required to buy the inventory.

Privacy

The act of keeping consumer information anonymized, safe, and unable to be linked to a specific individual, and within consumer control on the internet.

Private marketplace (PMP)

A private advertising environment that enables a curated auction instead of public marketplaces. Advertisers can only access the private marketplace with an invitation (making them more exclusive than preferred deals), and it’s a real-time bidding environment. Typically, high-caliber publishers participate in private marketplaces and offer their ad inventory to the highest bidders among selected advertisers. The buying platform or DSP directly enters the publisher’s inventory, and the rest of the transaction is done manually.

Probabilistic data

Refers to data that uses probability, or a likelihood of something occurring, to link an individual. Made up of individual pieces of data, such as an IP address or operating system, to identify a user across apps, websites, channels, and devices.

Programmatic advertising

Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of ad inventory through an auction-based system, often using real-time bidding (RTB).

Programmatic guaranteed (PG)

Deals where the publisher and the buyer negotiate a price and terms for inventory reserved (guaranteed) for that buyer. Inventory is designated only for that buyer at that price.

Publisher

A company, website, or entity that owns and provides digital content and makes money selling ad inventory to agencies and advertisers.

Publisher direct

Describes the act of purchasing inventory directly from the publisher.

Q

Queries per second (QPS)

A metric that indicates the number of requests that a server is receiving each second. It measures the traffic that an ad server, ad exchange, demand-side platform, or supply-side platform can handle.

R

Reach

Reach is the total number of unique users who are exposed to an ad campaign within a given time period.

Real-time bidding (RTB)

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

Retargeting

Retargeting is the practice of delivering ads to users who have previously visited a website or interacted with an ad, with the goal of re-engaging them and driving conversions.

Return on ad spend (ROAS)

The ratio of total revenue to total ad spend. A measure of campaign effectiveness, it tells advertisers how much revenue they get in return for each dollar they spend on advertising, according to how the marketer defines the value of different conversions.

Return on investment (ROI)

The ratio of total revenue to total spend, or money invested. If the revenue is $40,000 and the total media spend is $10,000, the ROI is 4:1.

Revenue per mille (RPM)

RPM = Revenue/ Player loads x 1,000

Revenue per 1,000 impressions- How much revenue is generated per 1,000 player loads (i.e. two ads can run back to back, and they both will contribute to the RPM).

Revenue per session (RPS)

RPS = Revenue / sessions x 1,000

How much revenue is a publisher generating across all their ad placements (not only video) when a page is loaded. Revenue per session (RPS) is a key metric used in online businesses to measure the average amount of revenue generated per user session on a website or app.

Revenue share

Revenue share is a pricing model in which publishers receive a percentage of the revenue generated by ads displayed on their website or app.

Rich media

Rich media refers to interactive ad formats that allow users to engage with the ad content, such as expandable banners, video ads, and interactive games.

Right rail

The right rail is the right-side column area of the webpage which is often used to display advertising.

RSS feed

RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication, and an RSS feed is an online file that contains details about a website's published content. When a site publishes new content, the feed automatically generates details about it, such as the author, publication date, link, and summary or full text. The information is displayed in reverse chronological order.

S

Second-party data

Data collected directly from the partner that owns it and gives permission to use it. Different from third-party data, which has intermediaries that collect information from several sources and aggregates them to purchase from a data marketplace.

Second-price auction

A type of auction in which the winning bidder pays an amount equal to the second-highest bid plus one cent. For example, a bid of $5.00 over a second-highest bid of $4.50 in a second-price auction means that the winner pays $4.51.

Segment

A group of users targeted as an audience because they share a defining characteristic, such as gender, region, or an action that they’ve taken online. Also called "audience segment."

Sell-side

Describes companies in the advertising industry that sell ad space online, including publishers and supply-side platforms (SSPs).

sellers.json and SupplyChain object

Two initiatives introduced by the IAB, in an attempt to increase transparency in the industry. These enable buyers to verify the entities that are selling the inventory and their part in the supply chain who are either direct sellers or intermediaries in the selected digital advertising opportunity for purchase. Advertisers can get a full transparent look on their campaign journey, where their money is being spent, and make better decisions on how to spread the budgets.

Server-side ad insertion (SSAI)

Server-side ad insertion (often referred to as “ad stitching”) is the process of stitching video content and ads together on the server-side level rather than on the browser-level (Client-side ad insertion).

Spend

The amount of money a client spends on advertising efforts.

Sticky video ad

Also known as an adhesion ad or viewable ad, these are video ads that are anchored to the top or bottom of the screen and follow the user as they scroll.

Streaming video

Refers to video files that have been transmitted from a server to a client in a continuous manner so that users can watch them online without downloading them. The content is sent in compressed form over the internet and displayed to the viewer in real-time. This allows users to pause, rewind, or fast-forward the video, just as they could with a downloaded file, unless the content is being streamed live.

Supply fill rate %

Total impressions served out of player loads (Impressions/Player loads). The supply fill rate can be more than 100% because it's possible to serve more than one impression per player load.

Supply path optimization (SPO)

As a concept, SPO is the idea of reducing the number of steps between publishers and advertisers, in order to reduce unnecessary fees from intermediaries. It can go both ways. Either it can start from the advertiser, who can decide on the best supply sources to bid on, or it can originate with the publisher deciding who will be the best demand partners that are most likely to bid.

Supply-side platform (SSP)

A supply-side platform (SSP) is a technology platform used by publishers to manage and sell their ad inventory programmatically.

T

Tags

Individual keywords or phrases for organizing content.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

A European privacy and security law that regulates how organizations target or collect data related to residents of the European Union.

Third-party cookie

A script that is dropped on a user’s browser by a third-party vendor rather than by the website that the user entered. For example, a cookie placed by an ad platform could use information about a viewer’s activity on one website to decide which video ad they see when visiting another website. Third party cookies can be very effective for delivering relevant ads but can raise privacy concerns, and are therefore being heavily restricted lately.

Third-party data

Third-party data is data collected by companies other than the advertiser or publisher, often used for audience targeting and ad personalization.

Trading desk

A sub-unit within an advertising agency that optimizes the purchase of programmatic ads to offer clients increased value from each impression.

Traffic

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

U

Unified ID 2.0 (UID2)

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.

Universal pixel

A tracking tag that contains JavaScript and enables management of multiple processes with just one pixel added to an entire website. Universal pixels are dynamic and help capture every website visitor no matter what page they're on. They also enable segmenting all website visitors based on the different pages they visit.

URL

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a way to identify a resource and its location on the Internet

User-generated content (UGC)

Content that consumers (rather than brands) create and publish. Content created by users is usually not as regulated.

User targeting

The process of identifying and selecting a specific group of people to receive a marketing message or content. This can help marketers deliver more relevant and effective messages to their audience. Groups are often segmented by geo (country, state, DMA, zip code), gender, age, interest, device(mobile/desktop), OS (IOS/ Android), and connection type (Mobile/Wi-Fi).

V

Variable Bit Rate (VBR)

A method of encoding that adjusts the number of bits used to encode different parts of a video or sound file. This allows the encoder to allocate more bits to more complex parts of the file, and fewer bits to less complex parts. For example, a scene with lots of movement and smoke will require more bits to compress than a scene with little movement.

VAST tag

A VAST tag, or Video Ad Serving Template, is a standardized code that allows publishers and advertisers to serve video ads across multiple platforms and devices. VAST tags can be used to serve various types of video ads, including pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads, interactive ads, and skippable ads. They can also be used to target specific audiences with specific video content on different video players.

Vertical video ads

Ads that are displayed in portrait mode but can be shot in portrait or landscape mode. They typically have a 9:16 aspect ratio rather than a widescreen format of 16:9. These types of ads are mainly displayed in mobile environments and fill the whole screen but can also appear on the right rail of a webpage on desktop.

Video

Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media.

Video completion rate (VCR)

VCR = Total number of complete video views / total number of video plays x 100

The percentage of video ads that are played in their entirety. Used as a performance metric.

Video coverage

The percentage of a domain’s pages or articles that include video content.

Video encoding

The process of converting raw, uncompressed video, or audio data into a compressed digital format. It's used to reduce the size of video files for easier storage, transmission, and playback on various devices.

Video encryption

The process of encoding video in such a way that only authorized parties can view it.

Video on demand (VOD)

A media distribution system that allows users to watch video content on their own terms, without being limited by broadcast schedules or specific devices. Users can access movies, TV shows, and other video content at any time using an interactive system that allows them to select programming from a database. VOD is available on many devices, including televisions, computers, tablets, and smartphones.

Viewability

Viewability is a metric that measures the percentage of ad impressions that are actually seen by users, typically requiring that at least 50% of the ad is in view for at least one second.

Viewable cost per mille (vCPM)

vCPM = Estimated CPM / Total number of impressions that were in view

A metric that gauges the frequency at which users actually see an ad, as opposed to just how often the seller displays it.

VPAID tag

VPAID, or Video Player-Ad Interface Definition, is an ad template that allows video ads to communicate with video players. It's an IAB standard that defines a uniform environment for compliant players to accept any compliant ad from any party. VPAID is similar to VAST (Video Ad Serving Template), but with an extra layer of code that allows for more interactive ads and can report on more advanced metrics. Ad servers generate a VPAID tag and video ad unit on the publisher's side that needs to be VPAID-enabled.

W

Walled garden

Refers to an organization that keeps its technology, information, and user data to itself with no intention of sharing it. A closed ecosystem operated by people within the ecosystem, without involvement from outside organizations. Often used to describe Amazon, Google (including YouTube), Meta (including Facebook and Instagram), and Roku.

Win

The count of impressions won through auctions.

Win rate

A percentage that measures the total number of impressions won divided by the total number of bids.