Ad Glossary

Questex Media Group Glossary of Interactive Advertising Terms

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Abandonment

When a user leaves a shopping cart with something in it prior to completing the transaction.

Abort

When a Web server does not successfully transfer a unit of content or ad to a browser. This is usually caused by a user hitting the stop button or clicking on another link prior to the completion of a download.

Activity Audit

Independent verification of measured activity for a specified time period. Some of the key metrics validated are ad impressions, page impressions, clicks, total visits and unique users. An activity audit results in a report verifying the metrics. Formerly known as a count audit.

Ad/advertisement

A commercial message targeted to an advertiser's customer or prospect.

Ad Audience

The number of unique users exposed to an ad within a specified time period.

Ad Banner

A graphic image or other media object used as an advertisement.

Ad Blocker

Software on a user's browser which prevents advertisements from being displayed.

Ad Campaign Audit

An activity audit for a specific ad campaign.

Ad Centric Measurement

Audience measurement derived from a third-party ad server's own server logs.

Ad Display/Ad delivered

When an ad is successfully displayed on the user's computer screen.

Ad Download

When an ad is downloaded by a server to a user's browser. Ads can be requested, but aborted or abandoned before actually being downloaded to the browser, and hence there would be no opportunity to see the ad by the user.

Address

A unique identifier for a computer or site online, usually a URL for a Web site or marked with an @ for an e-mail address. Literally, it is how one computer finds the location of another computer using the Internet.

Ad Impression

1) an ad which is served to a user's browser. Ads can be requested by the user's browser (referred to as pulled ads) or they can be pushed, such as e-mailed ads;
2) a measurement of responses from an ad delivery system to an ad request from the user's browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and is recorded at a point as late as possible in the process of delivery of the creative material to the user's browser -- therefore closest to the actual opportunity to see by the user. Two methods are used to deliver ad content to the user - a) server-initiated and b) client-initiated. Server-initiated ad counting uses the publisher's Web content server for making requests, formatting and re-directing content. Client-initiated ad counting relies on the user's browser to perform these activities. For organizations that use a server-initiated ad counting method, counting should occur subsequent to the ad response at either the publisher's ad server or the Web content server. For organizations using a client-initiated ad counting method, counting should occur at the publisher's ad server or third-party ad server, subsequent to the ad request, or later, in the process.

Ad Impression ratio

Click-throughs divided by ad impressions.

Ad Insertion

When an ad is inserted in a document and recorded by the ad server.

Ad Materials

The creative artwork, copy, active URLs and active target sites which are due to the seller prior to the initiation of the ad campaign.

Ad Network

An aggregator or broker of advertising inventory for many sites. Ad networks are the sales representatives for the Web sites within the network.

Ad Recall

A measure of advertising effectiveness in which a sample of respondents is exposed to an ad and then at a later point in time is asked if they remember the ad. Ad recall can be on an aided or unaided basis. Aided ad recall is when the respondent is told the name of the brand or category being advertised.

Ad Request

The request for an advertisement as a direct result of a user's action as recorded by the ad server. Ad requests can come directly from the user's browser or from an intermediate Internet resource, such as a Web content server.

Ad Serving

The delivery of ads by a server to an end user's computer on which the ads are then displayed by a browser and/or cached. Ad serving is normally performed either by a Web publisher or by a third-party ad server. Ads can be embedded in the page or served separately.

Ad Space

The location on a page of a site in which an advertisement can be placed. Each space on a site is uniquely identified. Multiple ad spaces can exist on a single page.

Ad Stream

The series of ads displayed by the user during a single visit to a site (also impression stream).

Ad Transfers

The successful display of an advertiser's Web site after the user clicked on an ad. When a user clicks on an advertisement, a click-through is recorded and re-directs or "transfers" the user's browser to an advertiser's Web site. If the user successfully displays the advertiser's Web site, an ad transfer is recorded.

Ad View

When the ad is actually seen by the user. Note this is not measurable today. The best approximation today is provided by ad displays.

Advertiser

The company paying for the advertisement.

Affiliate Marketing

An agreement between two sites in which one site (the affiliate) agrees to feature content or an ad designed to drive traffic to another site. In return, the affiliate receives a percentage of sales or some other form of compensation generated by that traffic.

Affinity Marketing

Selling products or services to customers on the basis of their established buying patterns. The offer can be communicated by e-mail promotions, online or offline advertising.

Alternate Text

A word or phrase that is displayed when a user has image loading disabled in their browser or when a user abandons a page by hitting "stop" in their browser prior to the transfer of all images. Also appears as "balloon text" when a user lets their mouse rest over an image.

Animated GIF

An animation created by combining multiple GIF images in one file. The result is multiple images, displayed sequentially, giving the appearance of movement.

Anonymizer

An intermediary which prevents Web sites from seeing a user's Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Applet

A small, self-contained software application that is most often used by browsers to automatically display animation and/or to perform database queries requested by the user.

Applicable Browser

Any browser an ad will impact, regardless of whether it will play the ad.

Artifacting

Distortion that is introduced into audio or video by the compression algorithm (codec). Compressed images may have stray pixels that were not present in the original image.

Aspect Ratio

The width-to-height ratio of a picture or video frame. TV broadcasts at a 4:3 (1.33:1) aspect ratio; digital TV will be broadcast with a 16:9 (1.78:1) ratio; and most feature films are shot in at least a 1.85:1 ratio. IMUs have an aspect ratio of 6:5 (330x 250; 336 x 280; and 180 x 150).

Audit

Third party validation of log activity and/or measurement process associated with Internet activity/advertising. Activity audits validate measurement counts. Process audits validate internal controls associated with measurement.

Auditor

A third party independent organization that performs audits.

Avatar

A graphical representation of an individual in a game or other virtual world or environment.

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Backbone

High-volume, central, generally "long-haul" portion of a data network.

Bandwidth

The transmission rate of a communications line or system, expressed as kilobits per second (kbps) or megabits per second (Mbps) for digital systems; the amount of data that can be transmitted over communications lines in a given time.

Bandwidth Contention

A bottleneck that occurs when two or more files are simultaneously transmitted over a single data line. Unless the system is able to prioritize among the files, the effect is to slow delivery of each.

Banner

A graphic advertising image displayed on a Web page.

Barter

The exchange of goods and services without the use of cash. The value of the barter is the dollar value of the goods and services being exchanged for advertising.

Beacon

A test version of a product, such as a Web site or software, prior to final release.

Bit Rate

A measure of bandwidth which indicates how fast data is traveling from one place to another on a computer network. Bit rate is usually expressed in kilobits per second (kbps) or megabits per second (Mbps).

Behavioral Targeting

A technique used by online publishers and advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns. Behavioral targeting uses information collected on an individual's web browsing behavior such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made to select which advertisements to be displayed to that individual. Practitioners believe this helps them deliver their online advertisements to the users who are most likely to be influenced by them.

Blog

Generic name for any Website featuring regular posts arranged chronologically, typically inviting public comments from readers. Blog postings are generally short and informal, and blog software is generally free and very easy for individual users, making it a popular tool for online diaries as well as more professional publications.

Bonus Impressions

Additional ad impressions above the commitments outlined in the approved insertion order.

Bot

Software that runs automatically without human intervention. Typically, a bot is endowed with the capability to react to different situations it may encounter. Two common types of bots are agents and spiders. Bots are used by companies like search engines to discover Web sites for indexing. Short for "robot".

Brand Awareness

Research studies can associate ad effectiveness to measure the impact of online advertising on key branding metrics.

Broadband

An Internet connection that delivers a relatively high bit rate - any bit rate at or above 256 Kbps. Cable modems and DSL all offer broadband connections.

Broadband Video Commercials

TV-like advertisements that may appear as in-page video commercials or before, during, and/or after a variety of content in a player environment including but not limited to, streaming video, animation, gaming, and music video content. Broadband video commercials may appear in live, archived, and downloadable streaming content.

Browser

a software program that can request, download, cache and display documents available on the World Wide Web.

BtoB/B2B (Business-to-Business)

Businesses whose primary customers are other businesses.

BtoC/B2C (Business-to-Consumer)

Businesses whose primary customers are consumers.

Buffering

When a streaming media player temporarily stores portions of a streaming media (e.g., audio or video) file on a client PC until there is enough information for the stream to begin playing.

Button

1) clickable graphic that contains certain functionality, such as taking one someplace or executing a program;
2) buttons can also be ads.

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Cache

Memory used to temporarily store the most frequently requested content/files/pages in order to speed its delivery to the user. Caches can be local (i.e. on a browser) or on a network. In the case of local cache, most computers have both memory (RAM), and disk (hard drive) cache.

Cache busting

The process by which sites or servers serve content or HTML in such a manner as to minimize or prevent browsers or proxies from serving content from their cache. This forces the user or proxy to fetch a fresh copy for each request. Among other reasons, cache busting is used to provide a more accurate count of the number of requests from users.

Cached ad impressions

The delivery of an advertisement to a browser from local cache or a proxy server's cache. When a user requests a page that contains a cached ad, the ad is obtained from the cache and displayed.

Caching

The process of copying a Web element (page or ad) for later reuse. On the Web, this copying is normally done in two places: in the user's browser and on proxy servers. When a user makes a request for a Web element, the browser looks into its own cache for the element; then a proxy, if any; followed by the intended server. Caching is done to reduce redundant network traffic, resulting in increased overall efficiency of the Internet.

Channel

1) a band of similar content;
2) a type of sales outlet (also known as channel of distribution), for example retail, catalogue, or e-commerce.

Chat

Online interactive communication between two or more people on the Web. One can "talk" in real time with other people in a chat room, typically by typing, though voice chat is available.

Chat Room

An area online where people can communicate with others in real-time.

Click Rate

Ratio of ad clicks to ad impressions.

Clicks

1) metric which measures the reaction of a user to an Internet ad. There are three types of clicks: click-throughs; in-unit clicks; and mouseovers;
2) the opportunity for a user to download another file by clicking on an advertisement, as recorded by the server; 3) the result of a measurable interaction with an advertisement or key word that links to the advertiser's intended Web site or another page or frame within the Web site; 4) metric which measures the reaction of a user to linked editorial content.

Click Fraud

Click fraud is a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link.

Click-Stream

1) the electronic path a user takes while navigating from site to site, and from page to page within a site;
2) a comprehensive body of data describing the sequence of activity between a user's browser and any other Internet resource, such as a Web site or third party ad server.

Click-Through

The action of following a link within an advertisement or editorial content to another Web site or another page or frame within the Web site. Ad click-throughs should be tracked and reported as a 302 redirect at the ad server and should filter out robotic activity.

Click-Within

Similar to click down or click. But more commonly, click-withins are ads that allow the user to "drill down" and click, while remaining in the advertisement, not leaving the site on which they are residing.

Client

A computer or software program that contacts a server to obtain data via the Internet or another network. Internet explorer, Outlook, and other browsers and e-mail programs are examples of software clients.

Client-initiated ad impression

One of the two methods used for ad counting. Ad content is delivered to the user via two methods - server-initiated and client-initiated. Client-initiated ad counting relies on the user's browser for making requests, formatting and re-directing content. For organizations using a client-initiated ad counting method, counting should occur at the publisher's ad server or third-party ad server, subsequent to the ad request, or later, in the process. See server-initiated ad impression.

Indicates that the user clicks or otherwise activates a close control which fully dispatches the ad from the player environment. May not apply to non-overlay ads.

Codec

Short for compressor/decompressor. Codecs are computer algorithms that are used to compress the size of audio, video, and image files for streaming over a data network or storage on a computer. Apple's QuickTime, Microsoft's Windows Media Video, and MP3 are examples of common codecs.

Communication Error

The failure of a Web browser/Web server to successfully request/transfer a document.

Content Integration

Advertising woven into editorial content or placed in a contextual envelope. Also known as "Web advertorial".

Contextual Ads

Existing contextual ad engines deliver text and image ads to non-search content pages. Ads are matched to keywords extracted from content. Advertisers can leverage existing keyboard-based paid search campaigns and gain access to a larger audience.

A small piece of information (i.e., program code) that is stored on a browser for the purpose of identifying that browser during audience activity and between visits or sessions.

Cookie buster

Software that blocks the placement of cookies on a user's browser.

CPA (Cost-per-Action)

Cost of advertising based on a visitor taking some specifically defined action in response to an ad. "Actions" include such things as a sales transaction, a customer acquisition, or a click.

CPC (Cost-per-Customer)

The cost an advertiser pays to acquire a customer.

CPC (Cost-per-click)

Cost of advertising based on the number of clicks received.

CPL (Cost-per-lead)

Cost of advertising based on the number of database files (leads) received.

CPM (Cost-per-thousand)

Media term describing the cost of 1,000 impressions. For example, a Web site that charges $1,500 per ad and reports 100,000 visits has a CPM of $15 ($1,500 divided by 100).

CPO (Cost-per-Order)

Cost of advertising based on the number of orders received. Also called Cost-per-Transaction.

CPS (Cost-per-Sale)

The advertiser's cost to generate one sales transaction. If this is being used in conjunction with a media buy, a cookie can be offered on the content site and read on the advertiser's site after the successful completion of an online sale.

CPTM (Cost per Targeted Thousand Impressions)

Implying that the audience one is trying to reach is defined by particular demographics or other specific characteristics, such as male golfers age 18-25. The difference between CPM and CPTM is that CPM is for gross impressions, while CPTM is for targeted impressions.

Crawler

A software program which visits Web pages to build indexes for search engines.

Crowdsourcing

Taking a task that would conventionally be performed by a contractor or employee and turning it over to a typically large, undefined group of people via an open call for responses.

CRM

customer relationship management. Business practices that foster customer care, loyalty, and/or customer support.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheet)

A stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language. CSS provides a more elegant alternative to straight HTML to quickly specify the look and feel of a single Web page or a group of multiple Web pages.

Cyber Cafe

A public venue like a bar or cafe which contains computers with access to the Internet.

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Demographics

Common characteristics used for population or audience segmentation, such as age, gender, household income, etc.

Display Advertising

A form of online advertising where an advertiser's message is shown on a destination web page, generally set off in a box at the top or bottom or to one side of the content of the page.

DHTML (Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language)

An extended set of HTML commands which are used by Web designers to create much greater animation and interactivity than HTML.

Domain Name

The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Every domain name consists of one top or high-level and one or more lower-level designators. Top-level domains (TLDs) are either generic or geographic. Generic top-level domains include .com (commercial), .net (network), .edu (educational), .org (organizational, public or non-commercial), .gov (governmental), .mil (military); .biz (business), .info (informational),.name (personal), .pro (professional), .aero (air transport and civil aviation), .coop (business cooperatives such as credit unions) and .museum. Geographic domains designate countries of origin, such as .us (United States), .fr (France), .uk (United Kingdom), etc.

Drill Down

When an online user accesses more and more pages of the Web site, i.e., he or she goes deeper into the content of the site.

Dynamic IP address

An IP address (assigned by an ISP to a client PC) that changes periodically. Dynamic rotation - delivery of ads on a rotating, random basis so that users are exposed to different ads and ads are served in different pages of the site.

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E-Commerce

The process of selling products or services via the Web.

E-mail Advertising

Banner ads, links or advertiser sponsorships that appear in e-mail newsletters, e-mail marketing campaigns and other commercial e-mail communications. Includes all types of electronic mail (e.g., basic text or HTML-enabled).

E-mail Bounce

An e-mail that cannot be delivered to the mailbox provider and is sent back to the e-mail Service Provider that sent it. A bounce is classified as either "hard" or "soft". "Hard" bounces are the failed delivery of e-mail due to a permanent reason, such as a non-existent address. Soft bounces are the failed delivery of e-mail due to a temporary issue, such as a full inbox or an unavailable ISP server.

E-mail Campaign

Advertising campaign distributed via e-mail.

Encoding

The process of compressing and separating a file into packets so that it can be delivered over a network.

Expandable Banners

A banner ad which can expand to as large as 468 x 240 after a user clicks on it or after a user moves his/her cursor over the banner.

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Failure to transfer

Content requested by a browser can fail to transfer if the page is abandoned by the browser which requested it or if the server is unable to send the complete page, including the ads (known as an error or a communications error).

Family/Ad family

A collection of one or more ad creatives. Also called ad campaign.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

Internet protocol which facilitates downloading or uploading digital files.

Firewall

A security barrier controlling communication between a personal or corporate computer network and the Internet. A firewall is based on rules which allow and disallow traffic to pass, based on the level of security and filtering a network administrator wishes to employ.

Flash

Adobe's vector-based rich media file format which is used to display interactive animations on a Web page.

Floating Ads

An ad or ads that appear within the main browser window on top of the Web page's normal content, thereby appearing to "float" over the top of the page.

Fold

The line below which a user has to scroll to see content not immediately visible when a Web page loads in a browser. Ads or content displayed "above the fold" are visible without any end-user interaction. Monitor size and resolution determine where on a Web page the fold lies.

Frames

Multiple, independent sections used to create a single Web page. Each frame is built as a separate HTML file but with one "master" file to control the placement of each section. When a user requests a page with frames, several files will be displayed as panes. Sites using frames report one page request with several panes as multiple page requests.

Frame Rate

The number of frames of video displayed during a given time. The higher the frame rate, the more high-quality the image will be.

Frequency

The number of times an ad is delivered to the same browser in a single session or time period. A site can use cookies in order to manage ad frequency.

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Geotargeting

Displaying (or preventing the display of) content based on automated or assumed knowledge of an end user's position in the real world. Relevant to both PC and mobile data services.

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format)

A standard web graphic format which uses compression to store and display images.

Gross exposures

The total number of times an ad is served, including duplicate downloads to the same person.

Guerilla Marketing

Campaign tactic involving the placement of often humorous brand-related messages in unexpected places either online or in the real world; intended to provoke word-of-mouth and build buzz.

GUI (Graphical User interface)

A way of enabling users to interact with the computer using visual icons and a mouse rather than a command-line prompt/interpreter.

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History List

A menu in a web browser which displays recently visited sites. The same mechanism makes it possible for servers to track where a browser was before visiting a particular site.

Hit

When users access a Web site, their computer sends a request to the site's server to begin downloading a page. Each element of a requested page (including graphics, text, and interactive items) is recorded by the site's Web server log file as a "hit." If a page containing two graphics is accessed by a user, those hits will be recorded once for the page itself and once for each of the graphics. Webmasters use hits to measure their servers' workload. Because page designs and visit patterns vary from site to site, the number of hits bears no relationship to the number of pages downloaded, and is therefore a poor guide for traffic measurement.

Hotlists

Pull-down or pop-up menus often displayed on browsers or search engines that contain new or popular sites.

House Ads

Ads for a product or service from the same company. "Revenues" from house ads should not be included in reported revenues.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

A set of codes called markup tags in a plain text file that determine what information is retrieved and how it is rendered by a browser. There are two kinds of markup tags: anchor and format. Anchor tags determine what is retrieved, and format tags determine how it is rendered. Browsers receive HTML pages from the Internet and use the information to display text, graphics, links and other elements as they were intended by a Website's creator.

HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol)

The format most commonly used to transfer documents on the World Wide Web.

Hybrid Pricing

Pricing model which is based on a combination of a CPM pricing model and a performance-based pricing model.

Hyperlink

A clickable link, e.g., on a Web page or within an e-mail, that sends the user to a new URL when activated.

Hypertext

Any text that contains links connecting it with other text or files on the Internet.

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IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau)

IAB is a non-profit trade association devoted exclusively to maximizing the use and effectiveness of interactive advertising and marketing. See iab.net for more information.

Impression

A measurement of responses from a Web server to a page request from the user browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and error codes, and is recorded at a point as close as possible to opportunity to see the page by the user.

IMU (Interactive Marketing Unit)

The standard ad unit sizes endorsed by IAB.

Insertion

Actual placement of an ad in a document, as recorded by the ad server.

Insertion Order

Purchase order between a seller of interactive advertising and a buyer (usually an advertiser or its agency).

Intelligent Agents

Software tools which help the user find information of specific interest to him/her. The user's profile is continually refined and improved based on the user's acceptance or rejection of recommendations over time.

Interactive Advertising

All forms of online, wireless and interactive television advertising, including banners, sponsorships, e-mail, keyword searches, referrals, slotting fees, classified ads and interactive television commercials.

Internal Page Impressions

Web site activity that is generated by individuals with IP addresses known to be affiliated with the Web site owner. Internal activity that is associated with administration and maintenance of the site should be excluded from the traffic or measurement report.

Interstitial Ads

Ads that appear between two content pages. Also known as transition ads, intermercial ads and splash pages.

In-unit click

A measurement of a user-initiated action of responding to an ad element which generally causes an intra-site redirect or content change. In-unit clicks are usually tracked via a 302 redirect. Also known as click-downs, click-ups and click-withins.

Inventory

The number of ads available for sale on a Web site.

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Java

A programming language designed for building applications on the Internet. It allows for advanced features, increased animation detail and real-time updates. Small applications called Java applets can be downloaded from a server and executed by Java-compatible browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

Standard web graphic file format that uses a compression technique to reduce graphic file sizes.

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Keyword

Specific word(s) entered into a search engine by the user that result(s) in a list of Web sites related to the key word. Keywords can be purchased by advertisers in order to embed ads linking to the advertiser's site within search results.

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Lead Generation

Fees advertisers pay to Internet advertising companies that refer qualified purchase inquiries or provide consumer information (demographic, contact, and behavioral) where the consumer opts into being contacted by a marketer (email, postal, telephone, fax). These processes are priced on a performance basis (e.g., cost-per-action, -lead or -inquiry), and can include user applications (e.g., for a credit card), surveys, contests (e.g., sweepstakes) or registrations.

Link

A clickable connection between two Web sites. Formally referred to as a hyperlink.

Log file

A file that records transactions that have occurred on the Web server. Some of the types of data which are collected are: date/time stamp, URL served, IP address of requestor, status code of request, user agent string, previous URL of requestor, etc. Use of the extended log file format is preferable.

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Mailing list

An automatically distributed e-mail message on a particular topic going to certain individuals.

Makegoods

Additional ad impressions which are negotiated in order to make up for the shortfall of ads delivered versus the commitments outlined in the approved insertion order.

Media Company

A company that derives revenue from publishing content via one or more means of distribution, e.g., print publishing, television, radio, the Internet.

Micro-sites

Multi-page ads accessed via click-through from initial ad. The user stays on the publisher's Web site, but has access to more information from the advertiser than a display ad allows.

Midroll

Form of online video ad placement where the ad is played during a break in the middle of the content video.

MMA- Mobile Marketing Association

Industry trade organization dedicated to facilitating the growth of advertising on mobile phones Minimize- indicates that the user clicks or otherwise activates a close control which fully dispatches the ad from the player environment. May not apply to non-overlay ads.

Mouseover

The process by which a user places his/her mouse over a media object, without clicking. The mouse may need to remain still for a specified amount of time to initiate some actions.

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Netiquette

A term that is used to describe the informal rules of conduct ("do's and don'ts") of online behavior.

Newsgroup

An electronic bulletin board devoted to talking about a specific topic and open to everybody. Only a handful of newsgroups permit the posting of advertising.

Non-registered user

Someone who visits a Web site and elects not to, or is not required to, provide certain information, and hence may be denied access to part(s) of the site.

Nonqualifying page impressions

Page impressions which should be excluded from traffic or measurement reports, such as unsuccessful transfers of requested documents, successful transfers of requested documents to a robot or spider, and/or pages in a frame set.

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Off-site measurement

When a site forwards its log files to an off-site Web research service for analysis.

On-site measurement

When a server has an appropriate software program to measure and analyze traffic received on its own site.

OPA (Online Privacy Alliance)

A group of corporations and associations who have come together to introduce and promote business-wide actions that create an environment of trust and foster the protection of individuals' privacy online.

Opt-in

Refers to an individual giving a company permission to use data collected from or about the individual for a particular reason, such as to market the company's products and services.

Opt-in e-mail

Lists of Internet users who have voluntarily signed up to receive commercial e-mail about topics of interest.

Opt-out

When a company states that it plans to market its products and services to an individual unless the individual asks to be removed from the company's mailing list.

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Packet Sniffer

A program used to monitor and record activity and to detect problems with Web transactions on a network.

Page

A document having a specific URL and comprised of a set of associated files. A page may contain text, images, and other online elements. It may be static or dynamically generated. It may be made up of multiple frames or screens, but should contain a designated primary object which, when loaded, is counted as the entire page.

Page Display

When a page is successfully displayed on the user's computer screen.

Page Impression

A measurement of responses from a Web server to a page request from the user's browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and error codes, and is recorded at a point as close as possible to the opportunity to see the page by the user.

Page Request

The opportunity for an HTML document to appear on a browser window as a direct result of a user's interaction with a Web site.

Page View

When the page is actually seen by the user. Note: this is not measurable today; the best approximation today is provided by page displays.

Pay-per-Click

An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies and/or media companies based on how many users clicked on an online ad or e-mail message.

Pay-per-Lead

An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay for each "sales lead" generated. For example, an advertiser might pay for every visitor that clicked on an ad or site and successfully completed a form.

Pay-per-Sale

An advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies and/or media companies based on how many sales transactions were generated as a direct result of the ad.

PDF (Portable Document Format)

A digital format developed by Adobe used primarily for distributing digital text files. Files with a .pdf extension can be viewed and printed consistently by anyone, regardless of platform.

Performance Pricing Model

An advertising model in which advertisers pay based on a set of agreed upon performance criteria, such as a percentage of online revenues or delivery of new sales leads.

Permission Marketing

When an individual has given a company permission to market its products and services to the individual.

Persistent Cookie

Cookies that remain a client hard drive until they expire (as determined by the website that set them) or are deleted by the end user.

Platform

The type of computer or operating system on which a software application runs, e.g., Windows, Macintosh or Unix.

Pop-under Ad

Ad that appears in a separate window beneath an open window. Pop-under ads are concealed until the top window is closed, moved, resized or minimized.

Pop-up Ad

Ad that appears in a separate window on top of content already on-screen. Similar to a daughter window, but without an associated banner.

Pop-up Transitional

Initiates play in a separate ad window during the transition between content pages. Continues while content is simultaneously being rendered. Depending primarily on line-speed, play of a transitional ad may finish before or after content rendering is completed.

Portal

A Web site that often serves as a starting point for a Web user's session. It typically provides services such as search, directory of Web sites, news, weather, e-mail, homepage space, stock quotes, sports news, entertainment, telephone directory information, area maps, and chat or message boards.

Posting

Entry on a message board, blog, or other chronological online forum.

Postroll

Form of online video ad placement where the advertisement is played after the content video plays.

Pre-caching

Storing advertising or content in a computer's RAM or hard disk memory before it is displayed on the user's screen, rather than at the time that it plays, to reduce delays in rendering.

Preroll

Form of online video ad placement where the advertisement is played before the content video plays.

A statement about what information is being collected; how the information being collected is being used; how an individual can access his/her own data collected; how the individual can opt-out; and what security measures are being taken by the parties collecting the data.

Profiling

The practice of tracking information about consumers' interests by monitoring their movements online. This can be done without using any personal information, but simply by analyzing the content, URL's, and other information about a user's browsing path/click-stream.

Process Audit

Third party validation of internal control processes associated with measurement.

Push Advertising

Pro-active, partial screen, dynamic advertisement which comes in various formats.

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Rate Card

The list of advertising prices and products and packages offered by a media company.

Re-direct

When used in reference to online advertising, one server assigning an ad-serving or ad-targeting function to another server, often operated by a third company. For instance, a Web publisher's ad management server might re-direct to a third-party hired by an advertiser to distribute its ads to target customers; and then another re-direct to a "rich media" provider might also occur if streaming video were involved before the ad is finally delivered to the consumer. In some cases, the process of re-directs can produce latency.

Referral Link

The referring page, or referral link is a place from which the user clicked to get to the current page. In other words, since a hyperlink connects one URL to another, in clicking on a link the browser moves from the referring URL to the destination URL. Also known as source of a visit.

Referral Fees

Fees paid by advertisers for delivering a qualified sales lead or purchase inquiry. Registration - a process for site visitors to enter information about themselves. Sites use registration data to enable or enhance targeting of content and ads. Registration can be required or voluntary.

Repeat Visitor

Unique visitor who has accessed a Web site more than once over a specific time period.

Return Visits

The average number of times a user returns to a site over a specific time period.

Rich Media

Advertisements with which users can interact (as opposed to solely animation) in a web page format. These advertisements can be used either singularly or in combination with various technologies, including but not limited to sound, video, or Flash, and with programming languages such as Java, Javascript, and DHTML. These Guidelines cover standard Web applications including e-mail, static (e.g. html) and dynamic (e.g. asp) Web pages, and may appear in ad formats such as banners and buttons as well as transitionals and various over-the-page units such as floating ads, page take-overs, and tear-backs.

Roadblock

Premium 100% share-of-voice rotation typically for one day or one week ?aka. carpe diem.

ROI (Return on Investment)

Net profit divided by investment.

RON (Run-of-Network)

The scheduling of Internet advertising whereby an ad network positions ads across the sites it represents at its own discretion, according to available inventor. The advertiser usually forgoes premium positioning in exchange for more advertising weight at a lower CPM.

ROS (Run-of-Site)

The scheduling of Internet advertising whereby ads run across an entire site, often at a lower cost to the advertiser than the purchase of specific site sub-sections.

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Fees advertisers pay Internet companies to list and/or link their company site or domain name to a specific search word or phrase (includes paid search revenues). Search categories include: Paid listings-text links appear at the top or side of search results for specific keywords. The more a marketer pays, the higher the position it gets. Marketers only pay when a user clicks on the text link.

Contextual Search

Text links appear in an article based on the context of the content, instead of a user-submitted keyword. Payment only occurs when the link is clicked.

Paid Inclusion

Guarantees that a marketer's URL is indexed by a search engine. The listing is determined by the engine's search algorithms.

Site Optimization

Modifies a site to make it easier for search engines to automatically index the site and hopefully result in better placement in results.

Search Engine

An application that helps Web users find information on the Internet. The method for finding this information is usually done by maintaining an index of Web resources that can be queried for the keywords or concepts entered by the user.

Search engine marketing (SEM)

A form of Internet Marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in the Search Engine result pages.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.

Sell-through rate

The percentage of ad inventory sold as opposed to traded or bartered.

Server-initiated ad impression

One of the two methods used for ad counting. Ad content is delivered to the user via two methods - server-initiated and client-initiated. Server-initiated ad counting uses the publisher's Web content server for making requests, formatting and re-directing content. For organizations using a server-initiated ad counting method, counting should occur subsequent to the ad response at either the publisher's ad server or the Web content server, or later in the process.

Session

1) a sequence of Internet activity made by one user at one site. If a user makes no request from a site during a 30 minute period of time, the next content or ad request would then constitute the beginning of a new visit;
2) a series of transactions performed by a user that can be tracked across successive Web sites. For example, in a single session, a user may start on a publisher's Web site, click on an advertisement and then go to an advertiser's Web site and make a purchase.

Session cookies

These are temporary and are erased when the browser exits at the end of a web surfing session. .

Shopping Bot

Intelligent agent which searches for the best price.

Site-centric measurement

Audience measurement derived from a Web site's own server logs.

Skyscraper

A tall, thin online ad unit. The IAB guidelines recommend two sizes of skyscrapers: 120 X 600 and 160 x 600.

Slotting fee

A fee charged to advertisers by media companies to get premium positioning on their site, category exclusivity or some other special treatment. It is similar to slotting allowances charged by retailers.

Sniffer

Software that detects capabilities of the user's browser (looking for such things as Java capabilities, plug-ins, screen resolution, and bandwidth).

Social Bookmarking

Aggregating, rating, describing, and publishing "bookmarks" links to Web pages or other online content.

Social Marketing

Marketing tactic that taps into the growth of social networks, encouraging users to adopt and pass along widgets or other content modules created by a brand, or to add a brand to the user's social circle of friends.

Social Network

An online destination that gives users a chance to connect with one or more groups of friends, facilitating sharing of content, news, and information among them. Examples of social networks include Facebook and LinkedIn.

Spam

Term describing unsolicited commercial e-mail.

Spam Filter

Software built into e-mail gateways as well as e-mail client applications designed to identify and remove unsolicited commercial messages from incoming e-mail before the end user sees them.

Spider

A program that automatically fetches Web pages. Spiders are used to feed pages to search engines. It is called a spider because it crawls over the Web. Because most Web pages contain links to other pages, a spider can start almost anywhere. As soon as it sees a link to another page, it goes off and fetches it. Large search engines have many spiders working in parallel.

Splash Page

A preliminary page that precedes the user-requested page of a Web site that usually promotes a particular site feature or provides advertising. A splash page is timed to move on to the requested page after a short period of time or a click. Also known as an interstitial. Splash pages are not considered qualified page impressions under current industry guidelines, but they are considered qualified ad impressions.

Sponsor

1) A sponsor is an advertiser who has sponsored an ad and, by doing so, has also helped sponsor or sustain the Web site itself;
2) an advertiser that has a special relationship with the Web site and supports a specific feature of a Web site, such as a writer's column or a collection of articles on a particular subject.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship represents custom content and/or experiences created for an advertiser which may or may not include ad unties.

Static ad placement/Static rotation

1) Ads that remain on a Web page for a specified period of time;
2) Embedded ads.

Stickiness

A measure used to gauge the effectiveness of a site in retaining individual users. Stickiness is usually measured by the duration of the visit.

Streaming

1) technology that permits continuous audio and video delivered to a computer from a remote Web site;
2) an Internet data transfer technique that allows the user to see and hear audio and video files. The host or source compresses, then "streams" small packets of information over the Internet to the user, who can access the content as it is received.

Streaming media player

A software program which decompresses audio and/or video files so the user can hear and/or see the video or audio file. Some examples are Real Player™, Windows Media and Quick Time Player.

Superstitials

An interstitial format developed by Unicast which is fully pre-cached before playing. Specs are 550 x 480 pixels (2/3 of screen), up to 100K file size and up to 20 seconds in length.

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Terms & Conditions

The details of the contract accompanying an insertion order.

Text Messaging

Text messaging, or texting is the common term for the sending of "short" (160 characters or fewer) text messages, using the Short Message Service, from mobile phones.

Textual ad impressions

The delivery of a text-based advertisement to a browser. To compensate for slow Internet connections, visitors may disable "auto load images" in their graphical browser. When they reach a page that contains an advertisement, they see a marker and the advertiser's message in text format in place of the graphical ad. Additionally, if a user has a text-only browser, only textual ads are delivered and recorded as textual ad impressions.

Third-party ad server

Independent outsourced companies that specialize in managing, maintaining, serving, tracking, and analyzing the results of online ad campaigns. They deliver targeted advertising that can be tailored to consumers' declared or predicted characteristics or preferences.

Throughput

The amount of data transmitted through Internet connectors in response to a given request.

Time Spent

The amount of elapsed time from the initiation of a visit to the last audience activity associated with that visit. Time spent should represent the activity of a single cookied browser or user for a single access session to the web-site or property.

Token

Tracer or tag which is attached by the receiving server to the address (URL) of a page requested by a user. A token lasts only through a continuous series of requests by a user, regardless of the length of the interval between requests. Tokens can be used to count unique users.

Traffic

The flow of data over a network, or visitors to a Web site.

Transfer

The successful response to a page request; also when a browser receives a complete page of content from a Web server.

Transitional Ad

An ad that is displayed between Web pages. In other words, the user sees an advertisement as he/she navigates between page =a' and page =b.' Also known as an interstitial.

Transitional pop up

An ad that pops up in a separate ad window between content pages.

Triggers

A command from the host server that notifies the viewer's set-top box that interactive content is available at this point. The viewer is notified about the available interactive content via an icon or clickable text. Once clicked by using the remote control, the trigger disappears and more content or a new interface appears on the TV screen.

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Unique Browser

An identified and unduplicated Cookied Browser that accesses Internet content or advertising during a measurement period. This definition requires taking account for the potentially inflationary impact of cookie deletion among certain of the cookied browsers that access Internet content.

Unique Cookie

A count of unique identifiers that represents unduplicated instances of Internet activity (generally visits) to Internet content or advertising during a measurement period.

Unique User

Unique individual or browser which has either accessed a site (see unique visitor) or which has been served unique content and/or ads such as e-mail, newsletters, interstitials and pop-under ads. Unique users can be identified by user registration or cookies. Reported unique users should filter out bots.

Unique visitor

A unique user who accesses a Web site within a specific time period.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

The unique identifying address of any particular page on the Web. It contains all the information required to locate a resource, including its protocol (usually HTTP), server domain name (or IP address), file path (directory and name) and format (usually HTML or CGI).

URL Tagging

The process of embedding unique identifiers into URLs contained in HTML content. These identifiers are recognized by Web servers on subsequent browser requests. Identifying visitors through information in the URLs should also allow for an acceptable calculation of visits, if caching is avoided.

User centric measurement

Web audience measurement based on the behavior of a sample of Web users. User registration information contributed by an individual which usually includes characteristics such as the person's age, gender, zip code and often much more. A site's registration system is usually based on an ID code or password to allow the site to determine the number of unique visitors and to track a visitor's behavior within that site.

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View

Often used as a synonym for "impression". Any measurement and reporting of a "view" should be governed by the "impression" definition above.

Viral Marketing

1) any advertising that propagates itself;
2) advertising and/or marketing techniques that "spread" like a virus by getting passed on from consumer to consumer and market to market.

Viral Video

Online video clips (typically short and humorous) passed via links from one person to another.

Visit

A single continuous set of activity attributable to a cookied browser or user (if registration-based or a panel participant) resulting in one or more pulled text and/or graphics downloads from a site.

Visit duration

The length of time the visitor is exposed to a specific ad, Web page or Web site during a single session.

Visitor

Individual or browser which accesses a Web site within a specific time period.

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Web beacon

A line of code which is used by a Web site or third party ad server to track a user's activity, such as a registration or conversion. A Web beacon is often invisible because it is only 1 x 1 pixel in size with no color. Also known as Web bug, 1 by 1 GIF, invisible GIF and tracker GIF.

Web Site

The virtual location (domain) for an organization's or individual's presence on the World Wide Web.

Webcasting

Real-time or pre-recorded delivery of a live event's audio, video, or animation over the Internet.

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XML (Extensible Markup Language)

A richer more dynamic successor to HTML utilizing SGML or HTML type tags to structure information. XLM is used for transferring data and creating applications on the Web.

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Yield

The percentage of clicks vs. impressions on an ad within a specific page. Also called ad click rate.

Yield Management

Yield and Revenue Management is the process of understanding, anticipating and influencing advertiser and consumer behavior in order to maximize profits through better selling, pricing, packaging and inventory management, while delivering value to advertisers and site users.