Glossary
Ad serving glossary
Plain-English definitions of the terms you'll meet when buying, selling or serving ads.
- Ad exchange
- A marketplace where publishers and advertisers trade ad impressions in real-time auctions.
- Ad pod
- A group of video ads played back to back in one break, like a TV commercial break.
- Ad server
- Software that decides which ad to show in a placement, delivers it and records the result.
- CPA
- Cost per action: the advertiser pays when a defined action, such as a sale or sign-up, happens.
- CPC
- Cost per click: the advertiser pays each time the ad is clicked.
- CPM
- Cost per mille: the price for 1,000 ad impressions.
- CTV
- Connected TV: televisions and devices that stream content over the internet, such as smart TVs and streaming sticks.
- DMP
- Data management platform: a system that collects audience data and organises it into segments for targeting.
- DOOH
- Digital out-of-home: digital screens in public places, such as billboards, transit and retail displays.
- DSP
- Demand-side platform: software advertisers use to buy impressions programmatically across exchanges.
- eCPM
- Effective CPM: the revenue earned per 1,000 impressions, whatever the pricing model.
- FAST
- Free ad-supported streaming TV: linear-style channels streamed for free and paid for by ads.
- Fill rate
- The share of ad requests that receive an ad.
- Floor price
- The minimum price a publisher will accept for an impression.
- Frequency cap
- A limit on how many times the same person sees an ad in a given period.
- Header bidding
- A method where many demand partners bid on an impression at the same time before the ad server decides.
- Line item
- A campaign instruction in an ad server that defines what to deliver, where, when, to whom and at what price.
- MRAID
- Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions: an IAB standard for interactive ads inside mobile apps.
- Native ad
- An ad built from parts such as a headline and image, rendered to match the look of the surrounding content.
- OpenRTB
- An IAB protocol that standardises how bid requests and responses are exchanged in real-time bidding.
- OTT
- Over-the-top: video delivered over the internet instead of cable or satellite.
- PMP
- Private marketplace: an invitation-only auction or deal between specific publishers and buyers.
- Prebid
- An open-source header bidding framework widely used by publishers.
- Programmatic
- Automated buying and selling of ad impressions using software and auctions.
- Retail media
- Advertising sold by retailers on their own sites, apps and channels, usually targeted with shopper data.
- Rewarded video
- A video ad a user chooses to watch in exchange for a reward, common in games.
- RTB
- Real-time bidding: auctioning each impression individually as the page or app loads.
- SSP
- Supply-side platform: software publishers use to sell impressions to many buyers.
- Third-party ad server
- An ad server run by an advertiser or agency to deliver and track campaigns across publishers.
- VAST
- Video Ad Serving Template: the IAB standard for describing video ads to players.
- VMAP
- Video Multiple Ad Playlist: the IAB standard for describing where ad breaks go in video content.
- White-label
- Software provided without the vendor's brand, so the buyer can present it as their own.
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