AdTech Glossary

ACR, or automatic content recognition, is a technology embedded in media devices that are used to identify the type of content played. The two main methods for identifying the content are either audibly or visually.

While streaming services such as Netflix can track the content their users are consuming, ACR allows the tracking to be done across programs and on any device connected to the main device, e.g. a Blu-ray player connected to the smart TV.

The ACR improves the efficiency in advertisement targeting, as information regarding the played content gives useful hints regarding the audience

Ad agencies, also known as advertising agencies, are strategic media buying or full-service creative companies that partner with brand advertisers and marketers to develop, plan, design, produce, and supervise ad campaigns across all platforms.

Ad calls are requests to fill advertising space on a website or mobile app. The user’s browser sends a request to an ad server or an ad exchange to advertise on a web page. Ad calls carry certain information such as publisher ID, browser cookies, size, location, etc., which increases the likelihood that the appropriate ad will be displayed to the correct end user.

Ad exchanges are real-time online marketplaces that allow participants to buy and sell ad spaces and ad impressions in the digital advertisement space. An ad exchange is central to the advertising transaction exchange between publishers and advertisers. Using a financial analogy, ad exchanges are to advertisements what stock exchanges are to stocks.

The type and size of the ad that’s being displayed to the user. The type can include video, banner, native ad and many more.

Ad fraud is an activity that involves deceiving advertisers on the real traffic level of a website and the real interaction level with the displayed ad. There are many ways in which this type of deception can be implemented; e.g. bots could be used to fictitiously elevate website traffic while the bots could also be instructed to interact with the ad by way of a click.

Down the line, a cost is collected against the fictitious impression and/or interaction with the ad.

An ad impression occurs each time an ad is displayed to a user.

An ad network is a third-party service that connects advertisers with websites and apps (publishers) that agree to host ads. Ad networks use real-time bidding to buy and place ads on behalf of their clients, which can include major brands, small businesses, and everyone in between. An ad network gives advertisers access to a wide range of potential placements for their ads. Using a financial analogy, ad networks are to ads what stock brokers are to stocks.

An ad request is a request to a system for displaying an ad. More specifically, an ad request would occur when a browser or application requests an ad from the ad server. An ad request is counted every time a mobile site or app calls the Verve platform to display an ad.

An ad response is a reply provided by an ad server or platform (e.g. Verve) in response to an incoming ad request.

Ad servers host a range of ads that can be displayed on a website or an application. Ad servers analyze the data provided by applications and browsers (e.g. browser cookies, location, publisher ID, etc.) and display the appropriate ad based on the data. In addition to managing ad inventory, ad servers provide valuable information for effective ad targeting, as well as tracking the effectiveness of an ad campaign.

An ad space is an area on a web page or in a mobile app that is available for displaying an advertisement.

ASVOD, or ad-supported streaming video on demand is similar to SVOD (subscription video on demand) but is configured to allow ad-supported streaming.

Ad targeting, also known as targeted advertising, refers to the practice of reaching a particular group of consumers or audience, with specific ad content. It is the process of matching ads with the correct end user, based on the end user’s traits, interests, and preferences. These users are typically segmented into audience categories that display similar characteristics and who are likely to be converted when the appropriate ad is displayed to them. Ad targeting’s ultimate goal is to increase the likelihood of the consumer interacting with the advertisement. Ad targeting plays a central role in advertising, as it can lead to higher returns on investments for advertisers and higher revenues for publishers.

Advertising technology, or ad tech, is an umbrella term that describes the tools and software advertisers use to create, manage, target, and analyze digital ad campaigns. An ad tech company can be any company that operates in the ad tech value chain, most relevant ones include demand-side platforms (DSPs), data management platforms (DMPs), supply-side platforms (SSPs), and ad exchanges, amongst others.

Advanced targeting data (or audience data) is a dataset used to make ad distribution decisions beyond what can be leveraged from age and gender. It may include the use of first-, second-, and third-party audience data for buying and targeting. For example, Verve uses first-party data to effectively serve the correct ad to the consumer. Verve can however, also leverage proprietary technologies such as ATOM or Moments.AI, to perform effective ad targeting.

These technologies do not rely on first-party data, but rather use innovative technologies to make inferences about the audience, which allows effective advertisement in a world which can no longer fully rely on identifiers and cookies.

An individual or company promoting their product or services through a public medium. Advertisers are interested in getting the best returns on investments on every ad dollar spend. In the ad tech ecosystem, they sit at the opposite end of the publisher.

An advertising ID is a unique user ID that helps end users get more personalized advertisements. This unique ID is used to track the end user’s characteristics, traits and preferences, information which can then be forwarded to advertisers and other third parties, helping them perform effective ad targeting.

API, or application programming interface, allows two distinct software to communicate with each other. In the context of advertising, APIs help developers provide useful information to marketers. Without APIs, marketers would receive raw sets of data that are time-consuming to interpret and would be difficult to cross-analyze with other datasets.

Ads.txt, or Authorized Digital Sellers, is a publicly available text file (hosted by publishers) that helps ensure that a publisher’s digital ad inventory is sold only through sellers specified by the publisher. This allows for more transparency in the supply chain and decreases the risk that fraudulent participants end up selling counterfeit inventory. Ads.txt is closely related to Sellers.json and SupplyChain Object, which together have for mission to improve the visibility and transparency over the media sales supply chain.

Ads.txt is an initiative by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an organization that develops industry standards for digital media and marketing.

A piece of software that is downloaded to run on a mobile phone or a tablet computer, typically from an app store or from an internet site.

ARPU, or average revenue per user (sometimes known as average revenue per unit), is calculated as the total revenue divided by the number of subscribers or users. Total revenue includes in-app advertising and in-app purchases.

ARPPU, or average revenue per paying user, is calculated as revenue divided by the number of subscribers or users. In this case, revenue comprises subscription payments, in-app purchases, and payments done for a download.

ARPDAU, or the average revenue per daily active user, is calculated as revenue divided by the number of daily active users. Daily active users are an app metric that shows the number of users that visit the app daily.

ARPDAU is a means of ensuring sustained growth and assessing new monetization methods.

An auction in advertising allows an ad space to be bought and sold in real-time. Consequently, advertisers can bid on ad space in a competitive auction, providing both publishers and advertisers with an efficient way to leverage opportunities.

The audience in advertising refers to the group of people who will be exposed to the ad. Advertisers want to target their ads to users who are likely to be interested in their product or services by understanding their audience. The audience can refer to a specific demographic, like women aged 18-24.

Advertisers use different types of datasets to target their ads to specific audiences; e.g., they may use demographics, interests or location data, amongst many others.

Publishers work with multiple ad partners (ad exchanges or ad networks). Traditionally, ad partners are called sequentially by the publisher who wishes to display ads. Sometimes, the best ad exchanges or ad networks might not have ads to display. In such scenarios, a backfill is set up – if ads from your first ad exchange or ad network are not displayed, then ads from other subsequent ad exchanges or networks will be displayed.

Also known as “display ads,” banner advertisements are a form of graphical ads, typically including a combination of static / animated images, text, and / or video designed to convey a marketing message or to cause the user to take an action. Banner dimensions are typically defined by width and height, represented in pixels.

Behavioral advertising is the process of creating audience segments, by assigning each segment users who display similar browsing behavior and activity. Each segment contains users who are likely to exhibit similar purchasing preferences and thus, the ultimate purpose of behavioral advertising is to show a given ad to the correct end user.

Although behavioral advertising is an effective method, it generally requires (but not always) the tracking of cookies and identifiers to establish an understanding of how users behave. Keeping track of consumer behavior is becoming increasingly challenging as data privacy concerns grow. A recent example of the changes occurring in the privacy landscape is the update Apple brought to IDFA (identifier for advertisers), which gives Apple users the possibility to choose whether applications can track their behavior in third-party applications. In the same update, applications must also prompt users to opt-in (that is, authorize cross-app tracking).

IDFA is used for segmenting users and allows advertisers to perform effective ad targeting. Apple’s update has thus decreased the accuracy of ad targeting but has, importantly, improved the privacy of its end users.

A bid request is a set of information sent by the publisher and comprises lines of code holding details required to help advertisers place a highly relevant and targeted ad. The ad exchange ‘requests’ the DSPs for an ad (ad response) which includes data regarding the user and the app or the page being loaded. Thus, this includes data on the publisher, the ad unit, device data, and user data (e.g. demographic information, location information, etc).

A bid response is the advertiser’s response to a publisher’s bid request. The response includes the price the advertiser is willing to pay for the inventory, as well as information on the ad campaign and the bidder.

The rate of bits processed per unit of time is commonly measured in bits per second (Bps), kilobits per second (Kbps), or megabits per second (Mbps). The bitrate is one of the biggest factors in audio or video quality.

Advertisers use blocklists to prevent their ads from being shown on specific inventory (apps or websites) while publishers can use blocklists to prevent specific advertisers from displaying ads on their platforms. Blocklists and allowlists help protect a brand’s image and reputation.

A bundle ID or bundle identifier uniquely identifies an application in Apple’s ecosystem. No two applications can have the same bundle ID. Apple uses bundles to represent apps, frameworks, plug-ins, and many other specific types of content. Bundles organize their contained resources into well-defined sub-directories, and bundle structures vary depending on the platform and the type of the bundle.

A company that contracts with a demand partner to buy ad space (inventory), such as a trading desk or ad agency.

Caching is the practice of temporarily storing files in a cache on local servers (e.g. your hard drive) for quick retrieval the next time the file is loaded. Cached files allow you to load the file quicker, thereby improving user performance, but also help decrease the burden of additional traffic on the overall network. This is why websites you have already visited tend to open faster.

A CDN, or content distribution network, is a system of geographically dispersed servers used to provide web content to a browser or another client. Files are strategically pulled from a server on the network based on the location of the user, the requesting server, and the delivery server of the CDN to provide the best delivery performance.

Click Through Rate (CTR), is the percentage of ad impressions to the recorded clicks. CTR is a way of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign. For example, if a banner ad was delivered 100 times and one person clicked on it, then the resulting CTR would be 1%.

CTR typically ranges from 0.8 – 1%.

A cost per click (CPC), also known as pay per click (PPC), is a pricing model that determines the cost of an ad campaign based on the number of clicks an advertisement receives. The click will typically direct the consumer to the advertiser’s website. CPC is calculated as

CPC = Advertising cost / Number of clicks

CPD or cost per download is a pricing model in digital advertisement, by which the cost of an ad campaign is based on the number of downloads an advertisement generates. CPD is calculated as:

CPD = Ad campaign cost / Number of downloads

CPI or cost per installation is a pricing model in digital advertisement, by which the cost of an ad campaign is based on the number of installations an advertisement generates. CPI is calculated as

CPI = Ad campaign cost / Number of installation

CPM or cost per mille is the cost of reaching 1,000 ad impressions. CPM is a pricing model where you pay a certain price for 1,000 impressions your ad receives. Advertisers often use this pricing model to create brand awareness or to promote a specific message because it is more exposure-focused than cost-per-click. This key metric is used to compare the cost of digital advertising cross-platform and cross-format. CPM is calculated as

CPM = (Ad campaign cost / Total ad impressions) * 1,000

Conversion rate or CVR is the rate of users who took a predefined action after having clicked on an ad. E.g., the predefined action could have been defined as ‘app-install’, in which case, the CVR would be the percentage of users who installed an application after having clicked on it. CVR is calculated as

CVR = (Number of users who took action / Number of clicks on an ad) * 100

A Connected TV, or CTV, is an umbrella term that refers to any TV set that is connected to the internet and allows the user to stream video content. A common example of a CTV device is a smart TV, but the term also encompasses any TV set that is indirectly connected to the internet, via set-top boxes, TV sticks, or gaming consoles.

The rise of CTV has caused a massive shift in consumer trends, whereby consumers increasingly consume video programs on demand rather than according to a predefined schedule, as it is done with cable subscriptions. This has caused many consumers to cancel their cable subscriptions for the benefit of streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.

Contextual advertising’s purpose is to place an advertisement in the right context, thereby increasing the chances that the ad will be displayed to the correct user or audience. An example of contextual advertising could be audiobook services being advertised on the website of an online bookstore. Contextual advertising is typically run from the DSP (demand-side platform), which -for example- could analyze the imagery and keywords of the displayed content, allowing it to serve an advertisement with a similar or complementary thematic.

Contextual advertising has the same purpose as behavioral advertising, which is to improve the efficiency of ad targeting, only differing in the methodology to achieve this objective. The advantage of contextual advertising is that it does not rely on identifiers and cookies for ad targeting while remaining efficient in that mission. It is therefore well suited in an industry increasingly self-conscious of data privacy issues.

A creative is a digital ad that will be displayed to consumers on websites, apps, or any other digital platform. It is created by an ad designer, in accordance with publisher specifications and guidelines, for the purpose of communicating a marketing message to the publisher’s audience.

A creative may consist of multiple files in various formats, such as standard images, animations, videos, etc., for the purpose of capturing the consumer’s attention and inducing the consumer to an action or a reaction.

Cross-device marketing links together various identifiers associated with a digital consumer, which allows forming a holistic consumer profile of an individual. This enables agencies, media companies, and advertisers to deliver ads to the right consumers at the right time, in the right format and on the right device.

Cross-device attribution allows advertisers to identify devices with their correct owners. Consumers often own several devices (desktop, laptop, pads, mobile, etc) making it increasingly difficult to identify the real number of unique visitors a platform gets. Consumers may start shopping on one platform (e.g. mobile) and end the purchase on another (e.g. desktop). This is why cross-device attribution is important, as it allows linking multiple devices with one single user and improves the effectiveness of ad targeting.

Customer insights / analysis software, also known as customer intelligence software, helps marketing professionals analyze customer data and past behaviors in order to make informed marketing strategies. This software is typically used to segment customers into sub-groups, track customers as they move across segments over time, predict their future behaviors, determine their lifetime value, and access machine-based learning recommendations to improve future marketing efforts.

Daily active users (DAU) are an app metric that shows the number of users that visit an app on a daily basis. It is one of many ways used for measuring the success of an app.

Data management helps marketing professionals identify, understand, and engage with high-value consumers in a more relevant and authentic way.

A company that purchases the ad inventory (e.g. the demand-side platform, agencies, or advertisers).

A device graph (also known as identity management) describes how different devices (i.e., a laptop, smartphone, and TV) relate to each other by mapping all the devices, IDs, and associated data back to one unique user or household.

Device graphs have emerged from the rise of multiple devices’ ownership and the subsequent attribution problem. Device graphs allow advertisers to map and link different devices to a specific consumer, which allows for a clearer picture of the consumer’s tastes and preferences. Attributing the different devices to the correct owner solves multiple problems:

1) Ad targeting efficiency is improved
2) Sales & Marketing can correctly attribute the source of the sale (on which platform did the consumer first see the ad)

The practice of using digital technologies to deliver advertisements to consumers is called digital advertising. It allows advertisers and marketers to reach specific target audiences efficiently and rapidly.

Digital advertising software is an umbrella term that covers data management platforms (DMPs), ad exchanges, supply-side platforms (SSPs), and demand-side platforms (DSPs), amongst others. These four
technologies form the broader backbone of the digital advertising ecosystem. Within this ecosystem, advertisers use DSPs to implement and launch their ad campaigns (buy-side). On the other side of the value chain, publishers use SSPs to sell their inventory or ad space (sell-side).

SSPs and DSPs can be connected through ad exchanges, ad networks, or even directly (rare). DMPs collect, analyze and interpret large amounts of data from the sell-side, information which is then fed to DSPs and allows for efficient ad targeting. With the rise of programmatic, transactions are increasingly automated through a process called real-time bidding (RTB)

Digital media in the advertising industry typically refers to digital advertising assets, such as the ad or creative element. Digital media includes digital video, banner ads, search, social media promotion, mobile banners, mobile video, digital audio, and more. It can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, and preserved on digital devices.

Digital out-of-home, or DOOH, is defined as an advertisement that is displayed in public spaces. As DOOH is displayed dynamically and digitally, it differs from classic out-of-home (OOH) advertisements such as posters.

Display advertising is a type of digital online advertising that is rectangular or square-shaped and can include elements such as text, an image (or several), or a video. The ad is usually actionable through a click which leads the consumer to another webpage that includes further information regarding the brand or the product.

The ad can be static or animated. A banner ad is a typical example of a display advertisement.

A DMP, or a data management platform, is software that collects large amounts of ad-related data from multiple sources (amongst others, the ad server), to provide publishers and marketers with analytics. These data and analytics facilitate the segmentation of audiences into sub-groups that display similar consumer characteristics, traits, and preferences. This allows marketers to target their ads efficiently, while publishers can maximize the monetization of their ad space (inventory).

A DSP, or demand-side platform, is software that allows advertisers and agencies to bid on thousands of digital advertising spaces, in real-time and in an automated fashion. The DSP is a buy-side software and is an essential part of the advertisement technology (AdTech) ecosystem thanks to the rise of real-time buying (RTB) technology, which is the technology behind live auctions of ad inventory.

The effective cost per click is the average revenue per click earned by the publisher. The main difference to CPC is that eCPC is the average of multiple CPCs, and therefore allows one to assess the revenue from the publisher’s perspective. It is calculated as

eCPC = Total revenue / Number of clicks

The effective cost per mille is the average revenue per thousand ad impressions earned by the publisher. The main difference to CPM, is that eCPM is the average of multiple CPMs, and therefore allows one to assess the revenue level from the publisher’s perspective. It is calculated as

eCPM = Total revenue / Number of ad impressions

In advertisement, the engagement rate is a metric that measures the interaction of users with an advertisement. For example, in the context of mobile applications, the engagement rate would track the ratio of users who interacted (e.g. clicked) with the application’s advertisements. It is calculated as

Engagement rate = Number of interactions / Number of active users

Expandable ads are rich media ads that can be enlarged to dimensions beyond the initial dimensions of the placement they fill on the webpage. Some ads will expand automatically when a page is loaded, while other ads will expand when the user interacts with the original ad, by way of a click for example. The advantages of expandable ads are that they typically get a higher degree of attention and interaction from the consumer, thus enhancing the efficiency of the advertisement.

The secondary dimensions of an expanded ad unit. Initial dimensions are fit to the dimensions of the original ad placement. Thereafter, either by auto-play or by user interaction, the ad unit expands to its secondary dimensions.

Fill rate is the ratio of ads served in relation to ad opportunities (e.g. web page impressions). Ad request helps publishers to understand the demand for an ad inventory and how it is utilized. It’s therefore an important key performance indicator (KPI) to consider when monetizing your website or application. Fill rate is calculated as

Fill rate = Ads served / Ad opportunities

For example, if a certain web page is loaded 1,000 times, for which ads were served 900 times, the fill rate would be 90 percent.

First-party data can be defined as primary data regarding a company’s audience, which was collected by and is owned by the company. In the context of advertising, first-party data is valuable data that is used for the purpose of displaying a certain advertisement to the correct consumer. The data can be collected from many sources, such as CRMs, cookies, subscription emails, feedback forms, etc.

First-party data can be categorized as a direct source of data, by which the company directly gets audience data from its customers or users, as opposed to second and third-party data, which use indirect ways of obtaining audience data. Second-party data is typically obtained through partnerships that benefit both partner companies, while third-party data is bought from specialized data providers.

Frequency capping means restricting or capping the number of times (frequency) a specific user is shown a particular ad, during a certain amount of time. For example, an ad has a frequency capping feature as follows: three views / visitor / 24 hours; which means that within 24 hours, the ad can only be displayed to the same user three times.

Once the 24 hours have elapsed, the ad can be shown to the same visitor again three times during a time frame of 24 hours.

Geotargeting is a method for determining the geographically-defined location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location. The location can refer to the visitor’s country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP, or other geo criteria.

A guaranteed buy, also known as “programmatic direct” or “programmatic guaranteed,” is the direct sale of reserved ad inventory between a buyer and seller, with automation replacing the manual insertion order (IO) process. This inventory is sometimes referred to as premium, sold upfront, reserved, guaranteed, first-look, direct-sold, or class-1.

Guaranteed buys allow the publisher to regulate the price of inventory to potential buyers. It also gives buyers the ability to transparently buy more premium inventory on a direct basis from the publisher. Transparency includes price and inventory type. 

House ads or house campaigns are self-promotional ads that a company runs to put unsold inventory to use. Publishers sometimes run their own inventory, mostly for cross-promotional purposes at no cost. House ads are traditionally set to the lowest priority, thus filling inventory otherwise unsold.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau is an advertising business organization that develops industry standards, such as ad formats and app categories, in addition to conducting research.

The International Mobile Equipment Identity is a number, usually unique, to identify mobile phones. It is usually found printed inside the battery compartment of the phone.

The single appearance of an advertisement on a web page or a mobile app. Each time an ad loads onto a user’s screen, the ad server counts that loading as one impression or view.

In-banner video ads are displayed banner ads that have a video embedded in them. The embedded video can be triggered in multiple ways; the user could simply click on the banner, the user could hover over the banner or the video could play automatically without the intervention of the user.

Interstitial ads are ads that cover the entire graphical interface of an application or a website and can be either interactive or static in nature. Therefore, these ads can come in different formats, such as text, video, rich media, or static images.

Interstitial ads are typically placed in transition points when navigating on the web or while using a mobile application. A transition point could be an advertisement pause while playing a mobile game or leaving one webpage for another one. When the interstitial ad pops up, the user has the possibility to watch the ad till the end, close the ad and resume his/her activity, or click on the ad to be redirected to the advertiser’s website.

These ads can also pop up following the user interacting (clicking) on a banner advertisement for example. Down the line, the interstitial ad’s main differentiator from other forms of advertisements is that it covers the whole interface of the app or website.

The insertion order is an agreement between an advertiser and a publisher, and the last step of a so-called direct deal. Once the insertion order is signed, the publisher must display the advertiser’s ads according to certain features and specifications laid out in the insertion order. These features are (but are not limited to), ad format, ad unit dimension, and placement, the number of impressions, starting and ending date of the agreement, etc.

The first page an end user sees after clicking on an ad.

Linear TV refers to traditional television viewing.

Marketing analytics is the process of measuring, managing, and analyzing the performance of overall and individual marketing initiatives. Business metrics such as return on investment (ROI), marketing attribution, and overall marketing effectiveness are used to determine the total effectiveness of a marketing program.

Understanding marketing analytics allows agency teams and advertisers to be more efficient at their jobs and maximize the returns on dollar ad spends.

Media activation refers to the unification of everything that media buyers need, to understand their audience segments in order to execute real-time bidding.

Media buying is the process of purchasing advertising space. Today, media buying is typically completed digitally, which allows agencies or advertisers to make algorithmic purchases of advertising space in real-time using computers. This is the basis of programmatic advertising.

A mediation platform allows app developers to access multiple ad networks simultaneously with one SDK integration, creating an environment in which ad networks must compete to win media inventory. This is advantageous for publishers as it is conducive for driving up CPMs. Verve Group works with all major mediation platforms; IronSource, AppLovin MAX, Google, amongst others.

In the marketing and advertising industry, “mobile” generally refers to the use of techniques and campaigns that specifically target audiences on their mobile devices. Mobile is often viewed as a market sector that allows for greater engagement and connections, forming a bridge connecting the consumer with the advertiser. In 2022, mobile represented roughly half of total media ad spend, worldwide.

Native Advertising refers to the advertising technique which blurs the lines between organic content and paid content, creating a more pleasant experience for the targeted user. In other words, native ads blend in with the content displayed on the website or application, making it seem like part of the main content.

In the context of ad tech, an omnichannel company is one that serves ads on all digital platforms; mobile, desktop, CTV and DOOH.

Open Real-time Bidding (or OpenRTB or oRTB) is a set of open protocols developed to facilitate the automated buying and selling of digital advertising space across multiple websites or applications. It’s now the de facto standard for programmatic buying and selling, allowing buyers and sellers to interact in real-time through RTB auctions. OpenRTB enables buyers to bid for targeted impressions at the desired price while providing sellers with increased control and transparency over the process.

This level of efficiency leads to greater revenue opportunities for both parties, resulting in an improved ROI. With its detailed reporting capabilities such as demographic, psychographic, or behavioral attributes, OpenRTB ensures maximum transparency which is essential in delivering effective campaigns.

As a result, OpenRTB is quickly becoming an industry standard and must-have advertising technology for digital marketers around the world.

Open web refers to everything outside the so-called ‘walled gardens’. Walled gardens refer to corporations that have control over their ecosystem, including applications, content, organic media, paid media, and any gathered data. Examples of walled gardens include Google, Meta, Apple, and Amazon.

In digital advertising, optimization refers to the process of changing the current inventory mix to improve a certain metric. Such metrics could be CTR, CPC, CPA, VfM, Page Load Speed, Conversion Rate (CRO), etc.

The objective of the optimization is to increase a campaign’s potential to meet its desired objective or outcome.

OTT, or over-the-top, is an internet streaming service that delivers content via video or audio. Popular video OTT services are platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime, while well-known audio OTT services are delivered by the likes of Spotify or Audible.

Raw data is source-level data that does not conform to an acceptable standard of parameterization or taxonomy. Raw data is data being generated before any data science is applied (human or machine).

Real-Time Auction is a type of auction that allows advertisers to bid on ad space in real-time. This type of auction is beneficial for both advertisers and publishers because it allows for more transparency and fair prices.

Auction of ad requests in real time, where buyers bid on available ad spaces and the highest-paying bidder wins the auction.

Advertising space that remains unsold and therefore likely to be sold at a discount.

Rich media is a term for interactive ads that use HTML and JavaScript. It includes advanced features like video, audio, or other elements that encourage viewers to interact and engage with the content. Rich media ads offer an engaging way to increase the interaction of an audience with an ad.

RON, or Run of Network, is a type of online ad-buying campaign where the banner, image, media, or text ads can appear on any website within an ad network. Consequently, it is a low-cost strategy for advertisers, whereby lower cost per mille is traded for the effectiveness (or ROI) of the ad campaign.

A software development kit, or SDK, is a piece of code that permits third parties to embed their technologies and services in mobile applications. In the context of programmatic, SDK integrations allow app developers to connect their inventories with ad networks and ad exchanges around the world, in addition to giving developers better tools to manage and monetize their inventories. While APIs work as a one-to-one communication link between an ad platform and its specific ads, SDK offers a full package of tools. Apart from serving ads through the SDK, developers have access to advanced features such as analytics, customization options and remote configuration.

Verve Group is working with all leading mediation and bidding platforms giving publishers various and flexible options. Thus, integration with Verve Hybid SDK allows publishers to access a whole range of global premium demand.

Second-party data is another company’s first-party data that was sold without any middlemen. In the context of advertising, this is insightful data regarding the seller’s audience, which can thus enhance the efficiency of ad targeting.

Search advertising refers to advertisements that appear next to, or in-line with, organic results when a user searches for a product or service. It is the most simple and measurable form of online advertising. Search advertisers sometimes use consumer search data to retarget display advertising.

Sellers.json is a publicly available file (hosted by exchanges and SSPs) that permits ad buyers to learn who are the parties collecting payments among SSPs, resellers and exchanges. Essentially sellers.json is a complementary initiative to ads.txt, as it identifies the exchange’s or SSP’s sellers. Combined, ads.txt and sellers.json give further visibility over the ad sales supply chain and have for mission to fight two common types of frauds, domain spoofing and unauthorized reselling. Sellers.json allow participants in the programmatic ecosystem to track which companies participate in the sales of ad inventory and thus improve the transparency and reliability for advertisers, exchanges and publishers alike.

Sellers.json is an initiative by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an organization that develops industry standards for digital media and marketing.

A served ad is an ad request that results in a positive response from the advertising platform (e.g. ad exchange or network), leading to the delivery of the ad.

Short-form video is video content that has a length less than that of traditional episodic TV programs (i.e. 22 minutes).

A smart TV, sometimes referred to as a connected TV or hybrid TV, is a television set or set-top box with integrated internet connectivity and features that can receive video programs through an open IP method outside of the traditional cable QAM transport. Connected TV is an example of innovative technological convergence between computers, televisions, and set-top boxes. Well-known examples include Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Samsung SmartTV.

A streaming device is any internet-enabled device capable of receiving and displaying IP-distributed long-form content in its native resolution.

The SupplyChain Object allows buyers to gain full visibility over the ad inventory sales supply chain, by allowing buyers to discover which parties are involved in the selling and reselling of ad inventory. Each party involved in a given transaction is represented by a node in the SupplyChain Object.

A node will give two pieces of information; the advertising system identifier (asi) and the seller identifier (sid). Each node is cross checked with information included in the Sellers.json and Ads.txt files, which allows buyers to gain full visibility over the media sales supply chain. Combined, Sellers.json, Ads.txt and SupplyChain Object have the objective to give the confidence and the trust advertisers need in connection with their media purchases.

SupplyChain Object was launched simultaneously with Sellers.json, and is an initiative by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an organization that develops industry standards for digital media and marketing.

A supply side platform, or SSP, is a technology platform with the single mission of enabling publishers to manage their ad impression inventory and to maximize revenue from digital media.

Third-party data is proprietary data collected and/or generated by data brokers who license this data to agencies, advertisers, or publishers. In the context of advertising, this is data regarding the seller’s audience, which is useful to increase the efficiency of ad targeting.

A person using an application and exposed to advertising messages, as determined through registration, user self-identification, or some form of heuristic. A unique user is an unduplicated person using an application and exposed to advertising messages during a reporting period.

User acquisition means gaining new customers for a product or a service. For example, a user interacts with an ad, which leads to an action (conversion); signing up for a membership, downloading a game, or purchasing a product. User acquisition costs are an essential business metric for advertisers as they seek to minimize this cost while maximizing their return on investment (ROI).

Views, also called impressions, are what is counted every time an ad is displayed and is viewable by the user of a website or application.

Viewability measures whether an ad was served in a location where the user had an opportunity to view it. An ad impression is viewable if greater than, or equal to, 50 percent of the ad’s pixels appear in the viewable space of an in-focus browser tab for at least one-second post-ad-render.

The view-through rate (VTR) is a metric that can be used to estimate the success of an advertisement, especially video ads, by indicating how much time users spent viewing the ad. The higher the rate, the more engaging the ad is. The VTR is calculated by dividing the number of completed views of the ad by the number of initial impressions. It is calculated as:

VTR = Complete views / Ad impressions

Video On Demand, or VOD, allows users to watch video content when they choose to, rather than having to watch content at a specific broadcast time.

Volume capping is an ad-serving feature that limits the maximum number of impressions / views per campaign (with or without a time interval); For example, a campaign can end after delivery of 100,000 impressions, or after a daily cap of 10,000 for the rest of the day (i.e. the campaign will restart delivery on a subsequent day unless specified otherwise).

Walled gardens refer to corporations that have control over their ecosystem, including applications, content, organic media, paid media and any gathered data. Examples of walled gardens include Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon.