An A-Z list of online advertising definitions…sit back and enjoy.

Ad Unit
The type of advertising proposed, whether a banner, button, e-mail text ad, pop-up or other richer creative. An ‘Advert’ is defined by how they are sold & delivered to the user, i.e. by a third party ad server, and measured in CPM.

Agency Discount
Most B2C media owners in the UK discount 15% (B2B, 10%) from cost of media for agencies which are members of the IAA. (As an incentive for Agencies to underwrite clients media expenditure).

Banner
A banner is an advertisement in the form of a graphic image that typically runs a cross a Web page or is positioned in a margin or other space reserved for ads. Banner ads are usually GIF images. In addition to adhering to size, many Web sites limit the size of the file to a certain number of bytes so that the file will display quickly. Most ads are animated GIFs since animation has been shown to attract a larger percentage of user clicks. The most common larger banner ad is 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high. Smaller sizes include 125 by 125 and 120 by 90 pixels. These and other banner sizes have been established as standard sizes by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Cache
Caching is a technique used to improve performance on the internet. Internet browsers and proxy servers save copies of web pages browsed to local memory so they do not have to retrieve the same material on subsequent requests, provided that the content of the web page has not changed.

Cancellation Deadline
The date by which, prior to a campaign launching, the media buy can be cancelled without penalty. This date varies, e.g. Excite’s is 28 days.

Click Rate
The frequency with which the user clicks on the advertising inventory.

Cost Model
The method and currency adopted for placing value on the advert, sponsorship or distribution.

CPM
The main currency traded online; the banner being the main unit traded between agency and media owner.

CPCT
The media cost attributed to obtaining one click response.

DFA Costs
DFA (Dart for Agencies) is a tool that audits online advertising, using set metrics such as ad impression and adclicks. It’s chief advantage over traditional serving is that it provides consistent measurement between sites, and avoids discrepancies due to differing times, dates and counting methodologies. Ads are served through standard HTML tags which refer to a central database. This enables easy and swift inspection, analysis and optimization of campaigns at any time during the run without necessarily incurring time penalties for further testing and deployment. Charged at a local CPM rate.

Domain
Domain is a group of web sites and pages that end with .domain-name.*. Where domain-name is the name of the domain and * is for example com, net or edu. This includes all the Web pages that are under that domain., e.g. Lycos.co.uk or Lycos.com.

Flight Dates
The planned start and end dates of delivery of impressions.

Gross CPM cost
The cost of the CPM rate before Agency Discount.

Gross Client Cost
The cost of media before Agency Discount to Client.

M-O Gross Negotiated cost
The budget briefed to the Media-Owner (M-O) that includes the % of Agency Discount to be re-invested back as additional media. Also this is the figure used to calculate Agency Commission (at appropriate rate).

Impression
The request of and delivery of the ad to a determined IP address.

Invoice Date
The agreed date that the media owners invoice is received for the cost of media delivered during a set period. Standard trading terms are receipt of invoice at the end of every months activity for the value of the media delivered during that period, with payment within 30 days.

Media/Agency Discount
The percentage reduction in cost of media negotiated by either the planner or agency.

Negotiated Rate
The negotiated Gross cost of media.

Net Client Media Cost
The cost of media after Agency Discount to Client.

Page View
The total number of times a web page has been successfully served; In order to be counted as a page view, the web page must have to be successfully loaded onto the users browser. This includes page views that are accessed from users local cache.

Placement
A placement is a particular ad in a particular format in a particular section of a particular site targetted at a particular user subset.

Platform (= Channel)
The method of access to the internet, the four main digital platforms are Web, email, I-TV and WAP.

Property
The name of the website holding company, or site representative., e.g. Yahoo, Real Media, ValueClick, EMAP.

Section
The specific area of the site where the ads will be appearing, e.g. Finance (in Yahoo).

Sponsorship
Sponsorship is a business relationship between a provider of funds, resources or services and an individual, event or organisation which offers in return some rights and association that may be used for commercial advantage. Not a banner or text link.

Spotlight Data
Post-click data, that helps quantify consumer behaviuor in terms of how the view pages within a website. Only from pages that have been ‘tagged’ can we collate data- which is normally Pages Viewed, User numbers. Normally valid for up to 30 working days from the delivery of the cookie to the user.

Tags
The HTML code, implemented by the media owner, that re-directs the browser/proxy server to send a request to the DART server for the ad unit. This allows us to track impressions and adclicks.

Targeting
Whether by technology/customer data, or by the area within a site(s) where the ad unit appears, the implication is that the campaign will reach a specific audience.

Traffic Deadline
[Externally Set] The date by which, prior to a campaign launching, the creative needs to be trafficked without incurring loss of media value. This date varies, e.g. MSN has a deadline of 5 days.

Under/Over Delivery
The volume of impressions at the planned campaign end date, highlighted as either a deficit or surplus.

Unique Users
The number of unique people that have gone to the site at least once in the defined time period.

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