Ads Archives - Michael Howe-Ely

The A to Z of Programmatic Advertising (ChatGPT)

There are a lot of different concepts and acronyms within programmatic advertising. I asked OpenAI's AI-powered language model ChatGPT (Version 4) to list various concepts and terms related to programmatic advertising by letter of the alphabet.

Enjoy!

Ad Exchange: A technology platform that facilitates the buying and selling of media advertising inventory between advertisers and publishers. Prices are determined through bidding.
Ad Server: A technology used by advertisers, agencies, and publishers to manage and run online advertising campaigns. It decides which ads to display based on various factors, tracks ad performance, and can optimize placements.
Ad Inventory: Refers to the total amount of space that a publisher has available for displaying ads during a specific period.
Ad Tag: A piece of code placed on a website to collect data or to help in the delivery and tracking of an online advertising campaign.
Ad Unit: Specifies the format of an ad in terms of its size, type (e.g., video, display, native), and other creative elements.
Attribution: In the context of advertising, attribution refers to determining which touchpoints (ads, referrals, searches) contributed to a conversion, and then assigning a value to each of these touchpoints.
Audience Targeting: A strategy where advertisers segment and choose specific groups of people to show their ads based on demographics, behavior, interests, etc.
Automated Guaranteed: A type of programmatic deal where ad inventory is reserved and guaranteed for an advertiser at a fixed price. Unlike RTB (Real-Time Bidding), the price isn't determined through an auction.
Algorithm: In programmatic advertising, algorithms analyze data to make decisions on where, when, and to whom an ad should be displayed. They can optimize bids, placements, and target audiences based on campaign objectives.
Ad Verification: A service that ensures ads are being delivered to the intended location and are being seen by real, genuine users, not bots. It checks for ad fraud, viewability, and brand safety.
Ad Network: A company that connects advertisers to publishers to fill their ad inventory. They aggregate supply and demand and may offer tools for targeting specific audiences.
API (Application Programming Interface): A set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. In programmatic advertising, APIs enable integration between platforms like DSPs, SSPs, and DMPs.
Addressable TV: A technology that allows advertisers to show different ads to different households while they are watching the same program. It's a way of combining digital targeting capabilities with traditional TV advertising.
Ad Ops (Advertising Operations): Refers to the processes and systems that manage and optimize the delivery of ads. Ad Ops professionals often work at agencies, publishers, or ad tech companies.
Ad Group: In digital advertising platforms (like Google Ads), an ad group contains one or more ads that share similar targets. It sits within a campaign and helps structure and organize the advertising effort.

Bid: The amount of money an advertiser is willing to pay for a specific ad placement. In programmatic advertising, this is often done in real-time.
Bid Request: A function in RTB (Real-Time Bidding) where a publisher's system asks the demand side platforms (DSPs) how much they are willing to pay for an impression.
Bid Response: The reply from the DSP to the bid request. It includes the amount of the bid and the ad content to be displayed if the bid wins.
Bidding Algorithm: A set of rules and processes used by automated systems to determine which ads to display and how much to bid for a particular impression.
Banner Ad: A graphical web advertising unit, typically measuring 468 pixels wide and 60 pixels tall (i.e., 468x60).
Blacklist: A list of specific websites where an advertiser does not want their ads to appear.
Brand Safety: Measures and tools used to ensure that an ad will not appear in a context that can harm the advertiser's brand reputation.
Behavioral Targeting: A method of targeting ads to users based on their past browsing behavior, such as the sites they've visited or searches they've made.
Bot Traffic: Web traffic generated by automated bots and not real human users. It's often considered negative in advertising since it can inflate metrics without leading to real human engagement or conversion.
Bulk Buying: Purchasing advertising inventory in large quantities, often at a discount. It contrasts with real-time bidding, where impressions are bought one at a time.
Buy Side: Refers to the side of the programmatic advertising ecosystem that represents advertisers and their interests, typically involving DSPs, ad agencies, and brands.
B2B (Business-to-Business): Advertising targeting other businesses as opposed to individual consumers.
B2C (Business-to-Consumer): Advertising targeting individual consumers directly.
Banner Blindness: The tendency of website visitors to ignore banner ads, even when they contain visuals.
Breakout: A term used when referring to separating different elements, like device types or audience segments, to understand performance more granularly.

CPM (Cost Per Mille): Refers to the cost of 1,000 advertisement impressions on a webpage. "Mille" is Latin for thousand.
CPC (Cost Per Click): The cost an advertiser pays each time someone clicks on their ad.
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): The cost an advertiser pays for each specified acquisition, such as a sale, lead, or sign-up.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): A metric that measures the effectiveness of an advertisement by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions and then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage.
Conversion: The desired action an advertiser wants a user to take, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading an app.
Creative: Refers to the actual advertisement. It can come in various forms like banners, videos, text, and more.
Campaign: A set of ad creatives, targeting settings, and budgets aimed at achieving a specific marketing objective.
Cookies: Small data files stored in users' browsers that track online behavior and website visits. They're often used in targeting and retargeting campaigns.
Contextual Targeting: Advertising that is relevant to the content of the website it's on. For instance, displaying camping gear ads on a camping tips website.
Cross-Device Tracking: The process of tracking user behavior across multiple devices such as desktops, smartphones, and tablets.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Systems and strategies for managing a company's interactions with current and potential customers.
Content Network: A network of websites where ads can be placed, often contextually based on the content of each page.
Connected TV (CTV): Refers to any TV that can be connected to the internet and access content beyond traditional broadcast media, often used for targeted advertising.
Cache Busting: A technique used to prevent a browser from reusing an ad that's been stored in its cache memory, ensuring the user sees fresh content.
Companion Ad: Typically refers to display ads that accompany a video ad, providing additional branding or a call to action that persists after the video completes.
Curated Inventory: Premium ad inventory that's been handpicked (or "curated") by a publisher to ensure brand safety and quality placements for advertisers.

DSP (Demand Side Platform): A platform that allows advertisers to buy ad placements programmatically across multiple ad exchanges.
DMP (Data Management Platform): A centralized system to gather, analyze, and manage large sets of structured and unstructured data from disparate sources, primarily used for targeted advertising.
Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO): A technology that creates personalized ads based on real-time data. DCO can change the content, appearance, and message of an ad in real-time to make it more relevant to the user.
Display Advertising: A type of online advertising that comes in various forms, including banner ads, rich media, and more.
Direct Deal: An agreement where ad inventory is purchased directly from a specific publisher, rather than through an open exchange.
Deal ID: A unique number assigned to a programmatic ad deal, helping track and manage the agreement across platforms.
DoubleClick: Once owned by Google (and subsequently integrated into Google Marketing Platform), DoubleClick offers a range of advertising products, including a DSP and an ad server.
Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH): A form of digital advertising outside of the home, found on billboards, public transport, and other venues.
Domain List: A list of website domains used by advertisers to either target (whitelist) or exclude (blacklist) specific sites for their ad campaigns.
Dynamic Ads: Ads that automatically change content, appearance, and format based on data inputs, user profiles, or the context of the site.
Data Onboarding: The process of transferring offline data to an online environment for marketing purposes.
Data Segment: A subgroup of a larger data set, usually grouped for specific marketing tactics or insights, such as "women aged 25-34."
Direct Response: A type of marketing designed to elicit an immediate response or action from the consumer, such as a sale, sign-up, or download.
Digital Video: Online video content, often accompanied by digital video advertising that plays before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll), or after (post-roll) the content.
Digital Native Advertising: A type of online advertising where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it's placed, such as sponsored content on a news website.
Drop Pixel: A piece of code placed on a webpage to track user behaviors or conversions after seeing an ad.

eCPM (Effective Cost Per Mille): A metric that represents the estimated cost per 1,000 impressions. It's calculated by dividing the total earnings by total number of impressions in thousands.
Exchange: Often referred to as an "ad exchange," it's a platform where publishers and advertisers come together to buy and sell ad inventory, typically through real-time auctions.
Engagement: A measure of how actively users interact with an ad or content, which can include clicks, shares, likes, comments, or time spent viewing.
Expandable Ads: A type of rich media ad that can expand in size when a user clicks or hovers over it, often providing a more interactive experience.
Endemic Advertising: Advertising that appears on websites or in media directly relevant to a product or service. For instance, running an ad for hiking boots on a mountain climbing blog.
Exclusivity: A term used when a publisher grants an advertiser the sole rights to advertise on a particular website or segment of a site.
eCPC (Effective Cost Per Click): Calculated as the advertiser's earnings divided by the number of clicks. It provides an average value for each click to the advertiser.
Exposure: The act of displaying an ad to a user, regardless of whether the user noticed it.
Eye-tracking: A technology used in market research to determine where people are looking when viewing an ad or webpage. It can help determine what elements grab attention.
End Card: A screen or graphic that appears at the end of a video ad, typically containing a call to action or brand information.
Environment: Refers to the context in which an ad is placed, like mobile, desktop, video, or within an app.
Encoder: A software or device that converts (encodes) video or audio files from one format to another, often used in video advertising to ensure compatibility across devices.
External Data: Data sourced from outside the advertiser's own channels, like third-party data, which can be used to supplement first-party data for more comprehensive targeting.
Engagement Rate: A metric that calculates the level of user interaction with content or ads. It could be based on clicks, shares, likes, or other specified actions.
Exclusion Targeting: A strategy that purposely excludes a certain audience segment from viewing an ad, based on criteria like behaviors, demographics, or previous interactions.

Fill Rate: The percentage of ad requests that get filled with an ad. It’s calculated by dividing the number of impressions delivered by the number of impressions requested.
First-Party Data: Data collected directly from your audience or customers. This includes data from behaviors, actions, or interests shown across your website or app.
Frequency Capping: A restriction placed on the number of times a specific ad is shown to a single user during a given time period.
Floor Price: The minimum price set by a publisher for which an impression can be sold.
Full Episode Player (FEP): A video player that's specifically designed to show full-length episodes of TV shows, often monetized with multiple ad opportunities.
Forecasting: The process of predicting or estimating future trends in advertising based on historical data, like potential impressions available for a specific target audience over a set period.
Flat Rate: A pricing model where the advertiser pays a predetermined price, regardless of the performance or placement of the ad.
Fold: A term that describes the division between the parts of a webpage that are immediately visible without scrolling (above the fold) and those that are only visible after scrolling (below the fold).
Fraud: Deceptive practices in digital advertising where advertisers are charged for ads that are not delivered as promised. This can include fake clicks generated by bots or ads that load but are never visible to users.
Frequency: The number of times an ad is delivered to the same browser in a single session or time frame.
Front Fill: A method where the highest paying ads are served first, ensuring maximum revenue.
Fluid Ads: Ads that adjust in size and layout based on the device and screen they’re viewed on, ensuring a consistent and optimized viewing experience.
Frame Rate: The number of individual frames shown per second in a video. Common frame rates include 24, 30, and 60 frames per second.
Fallback: A backup ad that's displayed when the primary ad can't be served for some reason, such as a targeting mismatch or creative error.
Filter Lists: Lists that include or exclude certain types of inventory or audiences, helping advertisers refine where their ads appear and to whom they're shown.

Geo-targeting: Targeting users based on specific geographical locations, such as country, state, city, or even a specific radius around a location.
Guaranteed Deal: A type of programmatic transaction where specific inventory is guaranteed to be sold to an advertiser at a set price.
Google Ads (formerly AdWords): Google's online advertising platform that allows advertisers to create search ads, display ads, video ads, and more.
Gross Rating Point (GRP): A traditional media metric that measures the size of an audience reached by a specific media vehicle or schedule. It's the product of the percentage of the target audience reached and the frequency with which they see it.
Google Ad Manager (GAM): A comprehensive ad-serving platform by Google for publishers, which allows for the management of display, video, mobile, and programmatic ads.
Granular: Refers to the level of detail in targeting or reporting. More granular data means more specific and detailed information.
Geo-fencing: Creating a virtual geographic boundary, typically using GPS technology, enabling software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves a particular area.
Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD): The most common domain extensions such as .com, .org, or .net. Newer gTLDs include domains like .app, .blog, etc.
GDN (Google Display Network): A network of websites (including Google services like YouTube) where advertisers can choose to display their advertisements.
Gross Spend: The total amount of money spent on an advertising campaign, before any discounts or deductions.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format): A commonly used format for images in online advertising, known for supporting animation.
Graylist: A list of domains or IPs that might be suspicious but aren’t definitively categorized as harmful or safe. In programmatic advertising, it refers to sites that are neither on the whitelist nor the blacklist.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): A regulation introduced by the European Union to regulate how companies protect the personal data and privacy of EU citizens.
Gross Impressions: The total number of potential exposures to an ad, not accounting for overlap or repetition among audience members.
GroupM: One of the world's largest advertising media companies, offering media buying and other services. It's a subsidiary of WPP plc.

Header Bidding: A programmatic bidding technique where multiple ad exchanges can bid on the same inventory at the same time before the publisher's ad server is called. It's designed to increase competition and potentially drive up ad prices.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language): The standard markup language used to create web pages. In advertising, HTML5 is often used to develop interactive and animated ad creatives.
House Ads: Advertisements a publisher runs on its own platform to promote its own products, services, or initiatives.
Hard Floor: The absolute minimum price a publisher will accept for an ad impression. Bids below this floor are automatically rejected.
Hybrid Model: A pricing model that blends two or more different pricing methods, such as a combination of CPC (Cost Per Click) and CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions).
Hyperlocal Advertising: Advertising that targets a very specific geographic area, sometimes a radius of just a few blocks or streets, often leveraging mobile location data.
High Impact Ads: Ad formats designed to make a significant visual impact and gain user attention, such as interstitials, takeover ads, or video ads.
Hidden Pixels: Invisible or transparent pixels used to collect data or track user behaviors on a web page without being seen.
Holdout Group: A control group that's intentionally not exposed to a specific marketing tactic or ad campaign. Their behavior is then compared to those who were exposed to measure the campaign's impact.
Halo Effect: A bias where the perception of a particular trait is influenced by the perception of a prior trait. In advertising, it could mean that a positive experience with one ad or product makes a consumer more receptive to subsequent ads or other products from the same brand.
Hotspot: An interactive area within an ad. When a user hovers over or clicks on the hotspot, they may trigger an animation, video, or link to more content.
Heatmap: A data visualization tool that displays where users are most frequently clicking, looking, or interacting on a webpage or ad.
Hybrid Programmatic: A combination of both automated and manual processes in buying and selling digital ad inventory.
Haptic Feedback: Technology that creates a tactile sensation in user interactions. In advertising, it can be used in mobile ads to give users a physical feedback, such as a vibration, when they interact with an ad.
Hosted Campaign: An advertising campaign that's hosted on a publisher's server rather than the advertiser's or a third-party server.

Impression: Refers to the display of an advertisement on a web page. It doesn't necessarily mean it was viewed by the user, just that it loaded properly on the page.
Interstitial Ads: Full-screen ads that cover the interface of a mobile app or website. They're typically displayed at transition points, like between app screens or activities.
Inventory: The total amount of ad space a publisher has available to sell to advertisers.
IP Address: A numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network. In advertising, IP addresses can be used for location targeting or to detect fraudulent activity.
IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau): An advertising business organization that develops industry standards, conducts research, and provides legal support for the online advertising industry.
In-App Advertising: Ads that appear within mobile applications.
In-Read Video: A video ad format where the video plays automatically when it's visible on the user's screen as they scroll through content.
In-House: Refers to tasks or activities managed internally within an organization, as opposed to outsourcing to third-party agencies or vendors.
Insertion Order (IO): A formal, written agreement between an advertiser or agency and a publisher. It typically includes campaign specifics like duration, cost, and other terms.
In-Stream Video Ad: Video ads that play before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll), or after (post-roll) the streaming video content the user has requested.
Interstitial Penalty: A Google penalty targeting mobile interstitials that are obtrusive to users, making it harder to access the main content of a page.
Impression Share: The percentage of impressions an ad has received divided by the estimated number of impressions it was eligible to receive.
Infinite Scroll: A web design style where content continuously loads as the user scrolls down a page. This affects how ads are loaded and displayed.
Identity Resolution: The process of connecting multiple identifiers, across different devices and platforms, to a single individual, enabling a unified profile for ad targeting and personalization.
iFrame (Inline Frame): An HTML document embedded inside another HTML document on a website. In advertising, iFrames can be used to embed ads on a webpage.
Intent Data: Information collected about web users' activities, like searches, downloads, and page visits, that suggest they are gearing up to make a purchase.
Influencer Marketing: Leveraging individuals with influence, often on social media platforms, to promote products or services.

JavaScript (JS): A programming language used primarily in web development to create interactive effects and complex content. In the context of advertising, JavaScript is often used to deliver and control ad content on web pages.
JIT (Just In Time) Loading: A technique where content (like ads) is loaded only when it's needed or just about to become visible on the screen. This can improve page load speed and performance.
Join Rate: In data-driven advertising and marketing, this refers to the rate at which two datasets can be matched and combined, for instance, matching online and offline customer data.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): A commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, often used for digital ads and web graphics.
JICWEBS (Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards in the UK and Ireland): An organization that defines best practices and standards for online advertising to ensure that it’s more effective for both buyers and sellers.
Jitter: Variability in latency (delay) when processing data, often observed in video streaming. Too much jitter can disrupt the viewing experience, making videos appear jumpy or creating buffering issues.
Journey Mapping: A visualization of the steps a customer goes through in engaging with a brand, from the initial interaction, through the process of engagement, and into a long-term relationship. It's used in advertising and marketing to create more effective ad campaigns.
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation): A lightweight data-interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write and easy for machines to parse and generate. In advertising technology, JSON is often used for APIs and configurations.
Jump Page Ad: A web page ad that appears before the user reaches the intended final destination page after clicking on a link or ad.
Juice: A slang term sometimes used to refer to the power or influence of a website, especially in terms of SEO and link value.

Keyword: A specific word or phrase chosen by advertisers to target their ads to specific audience segments based on what users are searching for or showing interest in.
Keyword Bidding: The process where advertisers compete in real-time auctions to have their ads displayed when specific keywords are searched for or interacted with.
Keyword Stuffing: An outdated SEO technique where web content is filled with keywords in an attempt to manipulate ranking on search engines. It's generally frowned upon today and can lead to penalties.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator): A specific measurement or metric used to gauge the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. Common KPIs in digital advertising include click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Knowledge Graph: A knowledge base used by Google and other search engines to enhance their search results with information gathered from various sources. It can affect how brands and products are displayed in search results.
Knockout: A portion of a page where an ad is placed, often ensuring that no other content or ad will appear in that space.
Keep-alive: A method used to maintain a connection between the user's browser and the server, which can be useful for ensuring quick ad delivery or to keep a session active.
Kerning: In design, this refers to the adjustment of space between characters in a font. Proper kerning ensures that ads and other textual content are readable and aesthetically pleasing.
Keyword Density: The percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a web page compared to the total number of words on the page. It's a factor in SEO, though its importance has diminished over time in favor of more contextual content analysis.
Knowledge Panel: In search results, especially on Google, a box displaying detailed information about entities (brands, celebrities, places, etc.) derived from the Knowledge Graph.
Kickback: In the advertising context, this refers to an unethical return of funds to agencies or media buyers by media sales companies or platforms in exchange for placing media buys with them.

Landing Page: The webpage where a user is directed after clicking on an ad or link. It's specifically designed to encourage certain actions, like making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
Lookalike Audience: A type of audience in digital advertising created by matching the characteristics of your current audience or customers to find similar users on a platform.
Location-Based Advertising: Delivering ads to users based on their current or past geographical locations. This can be especially relevant for mobile advertising.
Latency: The delay between a user's action and the web's response. In advertising, low latency is crucial for real-time bidding and ensuring ads load quickly on a page.
Lifetime Value (LTV): A prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer. It helps advertisers understand how much they can spend on acquiring a customer.
Line Item: In the context of digital advertising, it's a specific ad buy within a larger campaign, detailing the specifics like targeting, pricing, and dates.
Linear Video Ads: Video ads that appear before (pre-roll), in the middle (mid-roll), or after (post-roll) a video stream, requiring the user to watch them before continuing with the content.
Local Advertising: Ads targeting a specific city, neighborhood, or regional area.
Long Tail: Refers to the less popular, more niche products or keywords that might collectively bring in as much traffic or sales as the few major ones.
Lead Generation: The process of attracting and converting strangers and prospects into leads or customers, often used in digital marketing campaigns.
Load Time: The time it takes for a web page or an ad to fully display on a user's device. Faster load times improve user experience and can positively impact ad viewability.
Log File: A data file produced by servers that contains details about where visitors came from, how they navigated through the site, and other web traffic data. They can be used in advertising for analysis and optimization.
Lossy and Lossless: Terms used to describe compression methods. Lossy compression reduces file size by eliminating certain information, leading to some loss in quality (common in JPEG images). Lossless compression reduces file size without losing any quality (common in PNG images).
Loyalty Program: Marketing programs that reward customers for purchasing behavior, encouraging repeat business.
Lumen: A unit measuring the amount of light emitted by sources, sometimes used in the context of screen brightness for digital displays and its impact on ad viewability.

Media Buying: The process of buying media placements for advertisements. In the digital realm, this can happen in real-time via programmatic platforms.
Mobile Advertising: Ad campaigns specifically designed for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.
Monetization: The process of converting existing website traffic or app usage into revenue, often through the use of ads.
Multichannel Marketing: Marketing efforts that utilize multiple channels, both online and offline, to engage consumers.
MRAID (Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions): A protocol for native mobile applications to display rich media ads, ensuring uniform functionality across different devices and platforms.
Media Plan: A plan that outlines where and when to place advertisements, considering the advertiser's target audience and campaign goals.
Metrics: Standardized measurements that provide data on various aspects of marketing campaigns, such as impressions, clicks, and conversions.
Mid-Roll: Video advertisements that appear in the middle of a video content stream, similar to traditional TV commercial breaks.
Makegood: A replacement ad provided because the original ad failed to run or there were issues with its delivery or appearance.
Microsite: A small website or web page created for a specific campaign or promotion, distinct from a company's main website.
Media Kit: A package of information about a media outlet, such as audience demographics and advertising rates, provided to potential advertisers.
Multivariate Testing: A testing method used to test multiple variables simultaneously to determine the best combination for achieving a specific goal.
Malvertising: Malicious advertising, where ads carry malware or lead users to harmful sites.
Mobile DSP (Demand-Side Platform): A platform that allows advertisers to buy ad inventory from multiple ad exchanges on mobile platforms, optimizing based on specific goals.
Moat: A specific company that offers brand safety, viewability, and attention metrics for digital advertising, but "moat" can also refer to a strategic advantage one company has over its competitors.
Machine Learning: A subset of artificial intelligence, it allows systems to learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. In advertising, machine learning can be used for predictive analysis, personalization, and campaign optimization.
MRC (Media Rating Council): An industry organization that ensures valid, reliable, and effective audience measurement services.
Macro: In the context of digital advertising, macros refer to placeholders in an ad tag, which get replaced with dynamic values when the ad loads, helping in tracking and personalization.

Native Advertising: A form of paid advertising where the ad matches the form, function, and style of the platform on which it's displayed, making it look like a natural piece of content.
Network: In the context of advertising, this refers to a group of websites or digital properties where ads can be placed.
Net Reach: The total number of unique individuals exposed to an ad campaign during a given time frame.
Non-Guaranteed Inventory: Ad inventory that is not reserved or guaranteed for a particular advertiser. It's typically sold through programmatic channels.
Non-Skippable Video Ads: Video ads that users must watch to completion and cannot be skipped.
Native Video: A type of video ad that fits seamlessly into the user’s chosen platform, maintaining the look and feel of the content surrounding it.
Niche Market: A specific and narrowly-defined market segment. Advertisers often target niche markets to cater to specific audience needs and preferences.
Nielsen Ratings: An audience measurement system created by the Nielsen Company to determine the popularity of television programming. While traditionally associated with TV, the concept of Nielsen Ratings has permeated other media channels.
Non-Linear Video Ads: Video ads that run concurrently with streaming video content, allowing users to view both the content and the ad simultaneously. Overlay ads are an example.
No-Bid: In programmatic advertising, a term used when a bid request is not acted upon or when no bid is submitted in response.
Native DSP (Demand-Side Platform): A platform specifically designed to buy native ad placements.
Network Effect: A phenomenon where a product or service gains additional value as more people use it. In the context of advertising, platforms with strong network effects can command higher ad prices due to increased user engagement.
Neuromarketing: A field of marketing that studies consumers' sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective responses to marketing stimuli, often using brain-imaging tools.
Notification Ads: Ads that appear as notifications on a user's device, often on mobile or desktop operating systems.
Negative Keywords: Keywords that advertisers do not want their ads to be displayed for. These can be used in paid search campaigns to prevent ads from showing up for irrelevant or undesired search queries.
Net Cost: The cost of an ad placement after discounts or agency commissions are taken into account.

Open Exchange: A digital marketplace where advertisers can purchase inventory from any publisher. It's the most accessible type of programmatic buying, but lacks the specificity and premium placement of private exchanges.
Overlay Ad: A type of rich media ad that appears overlaid on the webpage content, often on video streams. Users can interact with it or close it to view the underlying content.
Opt-In: A user's explicit consent to receive marketing communications, often through email or push notifications.
Opt-Out: A method that allows users to unsubscribe or decline receiving marketing communications or to be excluded from data collection or tracking.
Outstream Video: A type of video ad that plays outside of a video stream, often embedded within standard web content. This allows video ads to be displayed on pages without native video content.
OOH (Out-Of-Home) Advertising: Refers to any advertising that reaches consumers when they are outside their homes, such as billboards, transit posters, and digital signage.
Omnichannel: A marketing approach that offers a seamless user experience across all channels, integrating the user's experience on online platforms with offline channels.
OpenRTB (Open Real-Time Bidding): A protocol for the automated buying and selling of online ad impressions. OpenRTB standardizes the interactions between demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply-side platforms (SSPs).
Offer Wall: A monetization method used in mobile apps where users can earn in-app currency or premium features by participating in advertising offers.
Over-the-Top (OTT) Content: Refers to film and television content that's delivered through the internet without requiring users to subscribe to traditional cable or satellite.
Onboarding: In the context of digital advertising, this refers to the process of taking offline data, matching it to online attributes, and then using it for online targeting or analysis.
Opportunity to See (OTS): A metric that estimates the probability that a consumer is exposed to an advertising medium or campaign.
Orchestration: Coordinating and sequencing the delivery of content and marketing messages across various channels in real-time based on user behavior.
Organic Traffic: Web traffic that comes to a website naturally without being driven by paid advertising.
Operating System (OS): Software that manages computer hardware and provides services for computer programs. In advertising, OS can be an important targeting parameter, especially for mobile campaigns.
Outbound Marketing: Traditional form of marketing where companies initiate the conversation and send messages to an audience, as opposed to inbound marketing where the audience seeks out the brand or content.

Programmatic Advertising: The automated process of buying and selling ad inventory through an exchange, connecting advertisers to publishers.
Private Marketplace (PMP): A type of programmatic platform where select advertisers are invited to bid on inventory from specific publishers. It's more exclusive than open exchanges.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC): An online advertising pricing model where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked.
Pixel: A small piece of code placed on a website that collects data on user behavior. It's instrumental in tracking ad impressions, click-through rates, and conversions.
Post-Roll: Video ads that play after the main content has finished.
Pre-Roll: Video ads that play before the main content starts.
Performance Advertising: Digital advertising where advertisers pay based on specific actions like clicks, conversions, or sales.
Premium Inventory: High-quality ad spaces that are more likely to be viewed by users. These often command higher prices.
Programmatic Direct: A method of buying digital ads directly from publishers, but with the efficiency and automation of programmatic.
Placement: The position where an ad will appear on a website or in other media.
Pop-Up Ad: An ad that appears in a new browser window, "popping up" over the original content.
Pop-Under Ad: An ad that appears beneath the current browser window, becoming visible once the user closes or minimizes the top window.
Personalization: The process of tailoring ads or content to individual users based on their preferences, behaviors, or previous interactions.
Programmatic TV: The automated method of buying and placing ads on television using real-time data to make decisions about how, when, and where to place ads.
Publisher: An entity that produces and/or distributes content. In advertising, publishers sell their ad space to advertisers.
Push Notifications: Messages that are "pushed" to users' devices (typically mobile) from an app or platform, often used for alerts, promotions, or updates.
Price Floor: The minimum price set by a publisher or ad platform for its ad inventory. If bids do not meet this price, they are automatically rejected.
Prospecting: The phase in digital advertising where potential customers are identified and targeted, often using data-driven methods.
Programmatic Native: Combines native advertising with programmatic ad buying, allowing for more scale and automation in the placement of native ads.
Psychographic Targeting: Refers to targeting users based on their interests, attitudes, values, and other psychological factors.
Paid Media: Any form of advertising that you pay for, as opposed to earned or owned media.

Quality Score: Used in search advertising platforms like Google Ads, it's a metric that rates the quality and relevance of your keywords and PPC ads. A higher score can lead to lower prices and better ad positions.
Quantitative Data: Numerical data that can be measured and written down with numbers. In advertising, this could refer to metrics like click-through rates, impressions, and conversion numbers.
Query: The term used in search advertising to describe a user's search request. Advertisers can bid on queries to display their ads.
QPS (Queries Per Second): In the context of programmatic advertising, QPS refers to the number of bid requests an ad platform can handle every second.
Quality Assurance (QA): Processes and procedures implemented to ensure the quality of a product or service. In advertising, QA often involves checking that ads display correctly across various platforms and devices.
Qualified Lead: A lead that meets certain criteria set by a company's marketing or sales team. In digital advertising, it might refer to a user who has engaged with an ad or content and shows high potential to convert.
Quartile Reporting: Refers to video ad metrics which show how much of a video has been viewed. For example, a video ad's performance might be measured in terms of how many users watched 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the video content.
Query String: A portion of a URL that includes specific parameters, often used in tracking for digital ads to capture details about a click or conversion.

Real-Time Bidding (RTB): An automated digital auction process that allows advertisers to bid in real-time for the opportunity to display an ad to a specific user.
Retargeting (or Remarketing): An advertising technique where ads are served to users based on their previous online actions, such as visiting a certain webpage but not making a purchase.
Reach: The total number of unique users who have seen an advertisement or piece of content.
Rich Media: Interactive ad formats such as video, audio, or other elements that encourage viewers to engage and interact with the content.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): A metric that measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising.
ROI (Return on Investment): A measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of different investments.
Run of Network (RON): An ad buying option where ads can appear on any page within a network of websites.
Run of Site (ROS): An ad buying option where ads can appear on any page within a specific website.
Rate Card: A document that provides advertising rates, placement options, and other related details for potential advertisers.
Responsive Design: A web design approach aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing experience across a wide range of devices, from desktop monitors to mobile phones.
Roadblock: An advertising tactic where all ad placements on a page are taken over by a single advertiser, ensuring that the user only sees ads from one campaign.
Rotation: In digital advertising, it refers to the cycle in which different ads are displayed.
Rubicon Project: An advertising company that provides automated advertising for buyers and sellers. (Note: It's worth checking recent developments or news about such companies as the landscape changes frequently.)
RFP (Request For Proposal): A business document that announces a project and allows potential vendors to bid by proposing their services and pricing.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication): A web feed allowing users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format.
Reserve Price: The minimum amount that a seller is willing to accept in an auction, such as an RTB auction. It’s the lowest price at which a publisher agrees to sell its inventory.

Supply-Side Platform (SSP): A technology platform that allows publishers to manage, sell, and optimize their ad inventory in an automated fashion, typically in real-time auctions.
Segmentation: The process of dividing a broad audience into smaller, more specific groups based on characteristics like behavior, demographics, or interests.
Skippable Ads: Video ads that allow users to skip them after a certain number of seconds, commonly seen on platforms like YouTube.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): A form of digital marketing that involves promoting websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages primarily through paid advertising.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Techniques used to increase the visibility of a website or web page in a search engine's organic (unpaid) results.
Second-Price Auction: An auction model where the highest bidder pays the amount offered by the second-highest bidder plus a nominal amount, commonly used in programmatic advertising.
Social Media Marketing: The use of social media platforms to promote a product, service, or brand.
Sticky Ad: A type of ad format that remains in a visible area of the webpage as the user scrolls.
Spot Buying: Purchasing ad slots in a specific location for a defined period, often used in the context of TV advertising.
SafeFrame: A technology that enables the secure serving of third-party content within a contained environment on a webpage.
Sequential Targeting: Delivering ads to a user in a specific sequence to tell a story or guide them down a conversion funnel.
Server-to-Server Integration: A direct connection between servers (like a DSP and SSP) for faster and more efficient data exchange in programmatic buying.
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG): An XML-based format for two-dimensional graphics, allowing for interaction and animation.
Social Media Optimization (SMO): Techniques used to increase awareness of a product, brand, or event using social media outlets, communities, and RSS feeds.
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP): A set of step-by-step instructions compiled by organizations to help employees carry out complex routine operations.
Supply Path Optimization (SPO): Techniques and strategies used by advertisers to connect with publishers more directly by filtering or selecting the most efficient and direct paths to inventory.
Swipe-Up Ad: Typically seen in Instagram Stories or Snapchat, these ads allow users to swipe up to be taken to a website, video, or app store directly from the ad.
Synchronous Ad Tag: A type of ad tag that loads at the same time as the website content, as opposed to asynchronous tags that load independently and can improve page load times.
Spot Market: Refers to the buying and selling of advertising inventory in real-time, usually for immediate delivery.

Targeting: The practice of serving ads to specific groups of people based on various criteria like demographics, behavior, geolocation, and more.
Third-Party Data: Data collected by entities that don't have a direct relationship with the user. It's often purchased by companies to supplement their first-party data.
Traffic: Refers to the number of visits to a website or app.
Tag: A piece of code placed on a webpage that can collect data, trigger other tags or enable the integration of third-party software.
Trading Desk: A centralized, service-based organization that serves as a manager and buyer of digital ads on behalf of other businesses.
Transparent Pricing: A pricing model in which costs for various elements of the advertising process are disclosed, allowing advertisers to know where their money is going.
TrueView Ads: A YouTube ad format where advertisers only pay when viewers watch or interact with elements of the video.
Tracking Pixels: A tiny, transparent image (1x1 pixel) embedded in a web page or email to monitor user behavior or conversions.
Time on Page: A metric that measures the amount of time a user spends on a particular webpage.
Test Campaign: A preliminary advertising campaign used to gauge the effectiveness of strategies before launching a larger campaign.
Text Ads: Advertisements displayed in text format, often used in search advertising.
Third-Party Cookies: Cookies set by a website other than the one the user is currently on. They are often used for tracking and retargeting purposes.
Take Rate: In programmatic advertising, it refers to the percentage of ad spend that a platform takes as its fee.
Traffic Acquisition: The process of attracting visitors to a website, often through various digital marketing strategies.
Transparency: In advertising, it pertains to clear and open communication regarding pricing, placement, and other campaign details.
Threshold: A pre-determined limit, often referring to metrics like spend limits in advertising campaigns.
Time-Based Targeting: Serving ads to users at specific times or during certain periods.
Turn Rate: In programmatic advertising, it refers to the percentage of ad requests that result in a served impression.
Total Active View (TAV): A metric that combines viewability and engagement to assess the overall effectiveness of a digital ad.
Turnkey Solutions: Ready-made solutions that can be easily implemented into existing systems without the need for customization.

Unique Visitor: A term used in web analytics to refer to a single individual or browser who accesses a site or webpage within a given period.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The address of a web page. It's often used in advertising to direct users to a landing page or to track ad performance.
User Experience (UX): Refers to the overall experience a user has when interacting with a website, application, or ad, especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use.
User Generated Content (UGC): Content created and published by unpaid contributors, often fans or end-users. Advertisers can leverage UGC for promotional purposes.
User Interface (UI): The space where interactions between humans and machines occur, especially as it relates to design and usability for software and applications.
Unified Auction: A real-time bidding process that doesn't differentiate between direct sold campaigns and programmatic demand, allowing all demand sources to compete equally.
Unfilled Impressions: Ad impressions that a publisher couldn't sell. They may be served as house ads or default ads instead.
Up-Funnel: Refers to the early stages of the consumer's journey or funnel, typically focusing on brand awareness and consideration.
Upfronts: Annual events held by television networks to showcase their upcoming line-ups to advertisers. It's a chance for advertisers to purchase inventory in advance.
Utility Marketing: A marketing strategy where brands offer useful, practical content or tools to potential customers, aiming to provide value and build trust.
User Base: The group of users or customers that routinely visit or utilize a website, platform, or product.
User-Centric: An approach or design that prioritizes the user's needs, interests, and behaviors.
User Path: The sequence of actions taken by a user while navigating through an app or website.
User Profile: A detailed description of a user's characteristics based on collected data, often used in advertising for targeting purposes.
Under-Delivery: When the number of served ad impressions falls short of the contracted amount.
Universal Ad Package (UAP): A set of standard online ad sizes, which includes 728x90, 300x250, 160x600, and a 180x150 pixel unit.

Viewability: A metric used to track the visibility of online ads, ensuring that they are actually seen by users. For instance, an ad is typically considered viewable if 50% of its pixels are visible on the screen for at least one second.
Video Ads: Advertisements that are presented in video format, often displayed before, during, or after video content (pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll).
VAST (Video Ad Serving Template): A standard script/template by the IAB to structure ad tags that serve video ads to multiple ad platforms.
VPAID (Video Player-Ad Interface Definition): A script that allows rich, interactive in-stream ad experiences in video content. It offers a deeper level of interaction compared to VAST.
Vertical Network: Ad networks that specialize in and cater to specific industries or topics, ensuring ads are only shown on relevant sites.
Viral Marketing: A marketing strategy that aims to spread messages from person to person, leveraging word of mouth and social sharing.
View-Through Rate (VTR): The percentage of users who view an entire video ad without skipping it.
View-Through Conversion: Conversions that occur after a user has seen an ad but hasn’t clicked, indicating the ad led to awareness or interest that resulted in a later conversion.
Verification: The process of ensuring that ads run as they were intended, including in the right geography, on the right platform, and in a brand-safe environment.
Virtual Reality (VR) Advertising: A form of advertising that uses virtual reality technology, allowing users to engage with ads in a three-dimensional, interactive environment.
Voice Search: Searches conducted by speaking into a device (like smartphones or voice-activated home assistants). Advertisers are exploring ways to leverage this for advertising purposes.
Volatility: In the context of advertising, this refers to the unpredictability of a campaign's performance over a period.
Value Proposition: The unique value a product or service provides to customers, often used in advertising to clearly convey the benefit to potential customers.
Video Retargeting: A strategy where users who have interacted with a video or have shown interest in a product are retargeted with video ads.
Vendor Content: Content produced by a vendor, often branded, that aims to subtly promote their product or service.

Whitelist: A list of approved websites where an advertiser's ads can appear. It's used to ensure ads only display on reputable, relevant sites.
Waterfalling: A sequential method of selling ad inventory. If the top demand source (usually the one paying the most) doesn't buy the impression, it gets offered to the next one in line, and so forth.
Widget: A stand-alone application that can be embedded into third-party sites by any user on a page where they have rights of authorship, often used for displaying ads or interactive functionalities.
Wrap Ads: Ads that "wrap" around content, often used in email marketing or on web pages to encompass the main content area.
Walled Garden: A closed ecosystem where the platform's operations (like Facebook or Google) are controlled, and often restricts access to data or inventory from outside sources.
Web Beacon (or Pixel Tag): A transparent graphic image, usually 1-pixel x 1-pixel, that is placed on a website and used to monitor the behavior of the user visiting the site.
Win Rate: In programmatic advertising, it refers to the percentage of bid requests that result in a won auction.
Weight: Refers to the relative priority of an ad. Higher-weighted ads display more frequently than lower-weighted ones.
Workflow Automation: The process of automating a sequence of tasks that are necessary for an advertising campaign to run.
Web Analytics: The measurement, collection, and analysis of web data to understand and optimize web usage.
Webinar: A seminar conducted over the internet. Advertisers can sponsor webinars or use them as a platform for lead generation.
Web Traffic: The amount of data sent and received by visitors to a website.
Wireframe: A visual guide representing the skeletal framework of a website, often used in the planning phase of a campaign to decide where ads should be placed.
Word of Mouth Marketing: Promoting products or services through conversations between consumers. While it's a traditional concept, digital platforms have amplified its reach and potential.
Wearable Tech: Devices that can be worn on the body, either as an accessory or as part of the material used in clothing. There's potential for advertising on these devices as they become more popular.

X-axis: In graphical representations, especially in analytics, the x-axis often represents time or specific dates for showcasing trends, performance metrics, etc.
XML (Extensible Markup Language): A language that defines rules for encoding documents in a format readable for both humans and machines. It can be used in data transfer between systems in advertising tech stacks.
XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language): A stricter and cleaner version of HTML. It's an application of XML and can be relevant in contexts where ad creatives or web content need to adhere to stricter web standards.
X-Rate: While not a standard term, in some contexts, this might refer to a rate of exchange or transfer, potentially applicable when discussing metrics or data transfer rates.
X-Domain Tracking: Refers to tracking user behavior across different domains. This is relevant for advertisers looking to understand user journeys that span multiple websites or platforms.
X-device (Cross-device) Targeting: Refers to the ability of advertising platforms to target users across multiple devices, ensuring a seamless ad experience as users switch between mobile, tablet, desktop, etc.

Yield: The percentage of clicks versus impressions on an ad within a specific page. It’s a measure of the effectiveness and profitability of an online ad campaign.
Yield Management: A strategy used by publishers to maximize the revenue generated from their available ad inventory. It involves analyzing market dynamics and adjusting pricing strategies in real time.
Yield Optimization: The process of continually improving the yield from a given ad inventory. Publishers use data-driven insights to make decisions that can lead to increased revenues.
Yottabyte: An extremely large unit of digital information storage, equivalent to one septillion bytes. While more theoretical in the context of advertising, it’s sometimes used to discuss the vastness of data available.
Yandex: A Russian multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related products and services, including a search engine. Advertisers may use Yandex for campaigns targeting the Russian market.
YouTube Advertising: Refers to the various ad formats available on YouTube, such as display ads, overlay ads, skippable and non-skippable video ads, bumper ads, and sponsored cards.
YPV (Yield Per Visitor): Measures the average revenue a site earns for every visitor. This can provide insight into the value each visitor brings in terms of advertising revenue.
Year-Over-Year (YoY): A comparison metric used to compare a statistic to its performance in the previous year. It helps in understanding growth patterns and making informed future predictions in advertising campaigns.
Yield Group: A collection of inventory segments grouped together for sales and reporting purposes.

Zone: In web advertising, a zone often refers to a specific area on a webpage where ads are displayed.
Zero-Party Data: Data that a user voluntarily shares with brands. Unlike first-party data that's collected through interactions, zero-party data is offered proactively by users, often through surveys or preference settings.
Z-index: In web design and online advertising, it's a CSS property that sets the stack order of specific elements. An element with a greater z-index will be displayed in front of an element with a lower one. This is especially relevant when ensuring ads do not get hidden behind other page elements.
Zip Targeting: A type of geotargeting where ads are served to users based on their ZIP code.
ZMOT (Zero Moment of Truth): Coined by Google, this term refers to the moment when a consumer decides to research a product online before making a purchase, emphasizing the importance of online presence and advertising.
Zoomorphic Design: While more of a design concept, in advertising, it refers to the usage of animal shapes, characters, or motifs to make the ad more engaging or memorable.
Zettabyte: A digital information metric equivalent to one sextillion bytes or 1 billion terabytes. Though more theoretical in an advertising context, it sometimes illustrates the enormous scale of data available today.
Zone File: In domain name systems (DNS), a zone file is a text file that describes a DNS zone. Ad tech might interact with these when dealing with domain-specific operations or verifications.

I hope you found this list of programmatic advertising terms by ChatGPT useful!

My Other Blog Posts

If you've made it this far you might enjoy some of my other blog posts.

by Michael