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Advertising

Cross-channel advertising fundamentals — the concepts that apply across all media.

Subcategories

Terms in Advertising

Ad Fatigue

Creative

Ad fatigue occurs when audiences become desensitised to repeated ad creative, leading to declining engagement, click-through rates, and campaign effectiveness o

Ad Server

Buying

Technology platform that stores, manages and delivers digital advertisements to websites and apps in real-time, tracking performance across campaigns.

Affinity Audience

Audience

An audience segment of users who demonstrate interest in specific topics, brands or categories based on their online behaviour, without necessarily having purch

Assisted Conversion

Metrics

A conversion where a touchpoint influenced the customer journey but wasn't the final interaction. Tracks the full path to purchase across multiple channels.

Banner Blindness

Creative

The tendency for users to ignore or overlook banner advertisements on web pages, treating them as visual clutter rather than content worth engaging with.

Behavioural Targeting

Audience

Targeting ads to users based on their online behaviour, interests, and browsing history rather than demographic data alone.

Bid Request / Bid Response

Buying

The real-time exchange of ad purchase requests and pricing offers between ad exchanges and buyers, forming the core mechanism of programmatic advertising.

Bid Shading

Buying

A bidding strategy where advertisers reduce their maximum bid below their true value to improve profit margins on programmatic ad purchases.

CPM

Metrics

CPM is the cost you pay for every 1,000 ad impressions displayed to users, commonly used to price display and video advertising.

Click-Through Rate

Metrics

CTR measures the percentage of people who click on your ad after seeing it, calculated as clicks divided by impressions.

Contextual Targeting

Audience

Displaying ads based on page content, keywords and context rather than user behaviour. Reaches audiences without relying on personal data tracking.

Contextual vs Behavioural

Audience

Contextual targeting reaches audiences based on page content, whilst behavioural targeting uses browsing history and user actions. Each approach offers distinct

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

Metrics

The cost incurred for each customer action completed, such as a purchase or sign-up. CPA is a performance-based metric that ties spending directly to measurable

Cost Per Action

Metrics

CPA is an advertising pricing model where you pay only when a user completes a specific action, such as a purchase, sign-up, or download.

Cost Per Click (CPC)

Metrics

Cost Per Click (CPC) is the amount you pay each time a user clicks on your paid advertisement, commonly used in search and display campaigns.

Cost Per Click

Metrics

CPC is the amount you pay each time someone clicks on your online ad. It's a key metric for measuring the cost-efficiency of your advertising …

Cost Per Lead (CPL)

Metrics

Cost Per Lead (CPL) is the average amount spent on advertising to acquire one qualified lead. It's a key performance metric for demand generation campaigns.

Custom Audience

Audience

A targeted audience segment created from your own customer data, enabling precise ad delivery to people who've already engaged with your brand.

Deal ID

Buying

A unique identifier assigned to a media buying agreement between an advertiser and publisher, streamlining trafficking and performance tracking.

Demand-Side Platform (DSP)

Buying

A software platform that enables advertisers to programmatically purchase digital ad inventory across multiple exchanges and publishers in real-time.

Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO)

Creative

Automated technology that personalises ad creative in real-time based on user data, showing different versions to different audiences without manual interventio

Fill Rate

Metrics

The percentage of available ad inventory that was successfully sold and displayed. A key metric indicating how effectively publisher inventory is monetised.

First-Price vs Second-Price Auction

Buying

Two auction models determining ad prices: first-price means winning bidders pay their full bid, while second-price means they pay the next highest bid.

Frequency Capping

Audience

A technique that limits how many times an ad is shown to the same user within a set timeframe, preventing ad fatigue and wasted spend.

Header Bidding

Buying

A programmatic advertising technique where publishers offer ad inventory to multiple demand sources simultaneously before making server-side decisions, increasi

Impression Share

Metrics

The percentage of available ad impressions your ads received compared to the total impressions available in your target audience.

In-Market Audience

Audience

Consumers actively researching or comparing products in a specific category, ready to make a purchase decision in the near term.

Lookalike Audience

Audience

An audience segment created by ad platforms to target people similar to your existing customers, based on shared characteristics and behaviours.

MRAID

Buying

MRAID is a standardised framework enabling rich, interactive ad experiences within mobile apps. It allows ads to expand, play video, and access device features

Preferred Deal

Buying

A private marketplace deal where publishers offer premium inventory to selected buyers at negotiated rates before opening to broader auction.

Private Marketplace (PMP)

Buying

A private marketplace (PMP) is an exclusive, invitation-only auction where publishers offer premium ad inventory to selected advertisers at negotiated prices.

Programmatic Guaranteed

Buying

A direct media buying agreement where an advertiser reserves guaranteed ad inventory at a fixed price, combining programmatic efficiency with traditional guaran

Real-Time Bidding (RTB)

Buying

An automated auction system where advertisers bid in real-time for individual ad impressions, with winning bids displayed instantly to users.

Retargeting

Audience

Retargeting shows ads to users who've previously visited your website or engaged with your brand, keeping you top-of-mind as they browse elsewhere online.

ROAS

Metrics

ROAS measures how much revenue you generate for every pound spent on advertising.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

Metrics

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) measures revenue generated for every pound spent on advertising. It's a key performance indicator for evaluating campaign profitabilit

Rich Media Ad

Buying

Interactive digital advertisements with embedded video, animation, or user engagement features that go beyond static display ads to capture attention and drive

Search Impression Share

Metrics

The percentage of eligible impressions your ads received out of the total available in the market. A key metric for understanding search campaign reach and …

Supply Path Optimisation (SPO)

Buying

A programmatic strategy that identifies and prioritises the most efficient digital advertising paths to reach target audiences, reducing waste and improving ROI

Supply-Side Platform (SSP)

Buying

A technology platform that helps publishers and content owners sell their advertising inventory automatically to buyers, maximising revenue through real-time bi

VAST Tag

Buying

VAST Tag is an XML-based code snippet that enables programmatic video ad serving, allowing advertisers to dynamically insert ads into video inventory across mul

VPAID Tag

Buying

A JavaScript tag that enables interactive video ads to communicate with ad servers, allowing real-time tracking and dynamic creative control during playback.

View-Through Conversion

Metrics

A conversion that occurs after a user views a display ad but doesn't click it, then later completes a desired action like a purchase or …

Viewability

Metrics

The percentage of ad impressions that are actually visible to users on screen. A key metric for measuring campaign effectiveness and ensuring media spend delive

Win Rate

Metrics

Win rate measures the percentage of pitches, bids or campaigns your agency successfully wins against competitors.

eCPM

Metrics

eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions) measures the revenue generated per 1,000 ad impressions, helping publishers and advertisers optimise campaign pro

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