Outbrain's Digital Advertising & Marketing Glossary

Ad network

Ad networks are platforms where digital advertisers and digital publishers trade in online ad space. Ad networks are designed to match supply of ad space inventory with advertiser demand. They utilize a range of technologies to support auctions and advertiser bidding in real time.

Ad server

An ad server is a software platform used by online publishers, advertisers, and advertising agencies to manage, serve, and track online advertisements. It helps to centralize the ad management process and automate tasks such as ad trafficking, ad targeting, ad reporting, and ad optimization. The ad server provides advertisers with a single point of access to serve ads across multiple websites and devices, and enables publishers to maximize revenue from their advertising inventory.

Ad targeting

Ad targeting is a powerful tool used in digital marketing to tailor ad campaigns to specific audiences. It enables both marketers and publishers to deliver adverts more effectively and efficiently by narrowing ad placements down and displaying ads to people who are most likely to show an interest.

Ads.txt

Stands for “Authorised Digital Sellers”, and is a text file in which a publisher records who can sell inventory on the site. This text file is integrated into programmatic platforms and provides buyers with additional transparency. It can also help to prevent ad fraud.

Affiliate marketing

When a blogger or website owner promotes ads for an advertiser on their site, this is called affiliate marketing, or affiliate advertising. The website is operating as an ‘affiliate’ of the advertiser. Affiliate advertising is based on performance – whether it be Pay Per Click, Pay Per Lead or Pay Per Sale.

Agency trading desk

A trading system developed by large agency holding companies to make programmatic purchasing more efficient for their customers. Agency Trading Desks usually access several DSPs and thus a larger inventory, and can be connected to additional data streams via Data Management Platforms (DMPs).

Attribution

Attribution in marketing refers to the process of attributing value or credit to different touchpoints in a customer's journey, in order to understand the impact of marketing and advertising efforts on customer behavior and conversion. It helps to optimize and allocate marketing budgets by identifying the most effective channels and tactics.

Automated guaranteed

Automated Guaranteed is a buying model in programmatic advertising that combines the benefits of both automated and guaranteed methods. Advertisers set a fixed price for a specific audience and inventory, ensuring the delivery of their ad campaign. The process is automated, meaning it's executed programmatically using technology, allowing for real-time bidding, targeting, and optimization. This model provides advertisers with more control over their ad spend and the delivery of their ads, while also providing publishers with a guaranteed source of revenue.

Banner ads

Banner ads are a type of digital ad that typically appear at the top, bottom or sides of a web page, and are typically rectangular in shape. Banner ads often include graphics, text, and a call-to-action button inviting you to "click here." Their purpose is to promote a product, service, brand, or website and get you to take a closer look by visiting the advertiser's landing page.

Banner blindness

Banner blindness is a phenomenon in which internet users stop noticing or paying attention to online ads. First coined in 1998, banner blindness has become a serious concern for digital marketers. Related to the similar phenomenon of ‘ad fatigue’, banner blindness is one of the reasons for the increased use of ad blockers.

Brand ambassador

A brand ambassador is an individual who promotes and represents a brand with the aim of building awareness of the brand among their own target audiences and customers.

Brand awareness

Brand awareness relates to how aware people are about a brand, from its logo, ads, slogan or simply its market presence. Global icons like Nike have very high awareness, while a local business will likely have good brand awareness only in the immediate community or niche target audience.

Brand equity

Brand equity is a marketing term that denotes the perceived, inherent value of a brand. It is not the brand’s monetary value, but rather its social value among the wider public and consumer audience.

Brand exposure

Brand exposure is the actions taken to ensure a brand is seen, noticed, and recognized by consumers and audiences. The more exposure a brand has, the more it can grow brand awareness, brand equity, its customer base, and revenue.

Brand influencer

A brand influencer is an individual who partners with a brand to promote its products or services via the influencer’s social media and online networks. Brand influencers usually gain monetary compensation or may receive complimentary products as compensation.

Brand loyalty

Brand loyalty relates to the positive sentiment that consumers have towards a brand, which leads them to continually purchase the product or service. When brand loyalty is strong, the consumer may continue to purchase from the brand even in the face of inconvenience or negative experiences.

Brand personality

Brand personality can be described as the traits that make up a brand, and which the customers relate to. The brand personality includes the kinds of traits normally attributed to people, like sense of humor, sincerity, introvert/extrovert, conservative, or boisterous.

Brand positioning

Brand positioning relates to the place a brand occupies in the minds of consumers, especially in relation to other brands. In this way, it is somewhat similar to brand perception.

Brand recall

Brand recall denotes how many customers can remember your brand name when prompted or aided, say with a mention of a product, service, or any other concept associated with it, or when unaided, such as when asked “name your favorite shampoo brands.”

Brand recognition

Brand recognition denotes the ability of consumers to recognize a brand based on one or more of its identifying characteristics, such as a product or service, ad jingle, logo, packaging, or any other visual or audio element.

Brand reputation

Brand reputation refers to the general sentiment, associations and perceptions of a brand among all who regard it, including customers, stakeholders, partners, employees, and competitors.

Brand salience

Brand salience is a measure used to describe how much a customer thinks about a brand at a particularly important moment: the purchase decision.

Brand tone

Brand tone describes the overall way a brand communicates with its audiences and the ‘sense’ it creates among consumers.

Brand value proposition

Brand value proposition is a statement that describes the value that customers can expect from a brand.

Brand voice

Brand voice refers specifically to the way a brand ‘speaks’ or ‘sounds’ in all the ways it communicates with the wider world.

Carousel ads

A carousel ad is a type of online ad that allows you to showcase multiple images, GIFs, headlines, and descriptions in a single ad unit that functions like a rotating carousel. With this format, you can display more information than a single image or text-based ad, so you can engage with potential customers in a unique way.

Churn

Churn, or customer churn, is also known as "customer attrition". This is when customers stop doing business with a certain company, and it may be due to a number of reasons. These include a lack of products or services that the customer needs, bad customer service, or better prices, products, services, or deals from competitors. Churn is a very important metric as it shows why customers may be unhappy and gives the business an opportunity to correct it, increase customer retention, and boost revenue.

Content recommendations

Content recommendations are content pieces that are suggested or recommended to web users on the web page they are visiting. Content recommendations are served via discovery platforms such as Outbrain. They are designed to enhance the experience of the reader by suggesting articles that may interest them, based on their past online activity.

Conversion rate (CVR)

Conversion rate, or CVR, is a common metric used in digital marketing to denote the percentage of website visitors who ‘convert’ by taking a desired action, such as making a purchase, filling out an online form, or subscribing to a newsletter. CVR is a key indicator of how effectively a website is converting visitors into customers or leads.

Conversion tracking

Conversion tracking involves taking action to see what customers do after they have clicked on an online ad. Brands and marketers use conversion tracking to gain insight into the effectiveness of their advertisements and campaigns, as well as which ads and offers are most successful in driving engagement.

Cost Per View (CPV)

The price for one video play when a predefined minimum video viewing time is reached. Other possible billing models for videos include Cost Per Completed View (CPCV; paid only when the video is viewed through to completion) and Cost Per Video Viewability (CPVV, paid only if the video is visible; the IAB standard is 50% of the number of pixels visible for at least 2 consecutive seconds).

CPA (Cost per acquisition)

CPA is a marketing metric that denotes how much it costs to acquire a new customer or conversion. The data is used frequently by businesses to drive user acquisition and growth through improved decision making, such as how to allocate your marketing budget and how to optimize the marketing funnel.

CPL (Cost per lead)

CPL (Cost per Lead) is a marketing metric denoting the amount spent to obtain a lead in a digital marketing campaign or channel. This enables advertisers to understand how effective their campaigns are at generating leads in a given stream. With CPL, conversions are reliant on end-users converting via an “opt in”, offering their contact details to the marketer so as to join the company’s marketing funnel.

CPM

Cost per mille (CPM) is a metric used in digital advertising to indicate the cost of 1000 impressions of an ad on the web. CPM provides insight into the cost efficiency of a digital ad in terms of the size of the online audience that views it. Understanding the basics of CPM is essential for successful marketing professionals in this day and age.

Data Management Platform (DMP)

A system for managing data used by agencies, advertisers, or publishers. Most first party data is managed and integrated with third party data to combine user information and activities as well as to optimize media purchasing.

Demand Side Platform (DSP)

A platform that allows brands and agencies to automatically bid on ad inventory. Buyers define information such as creatives and price, and control the distribution of their ads. DSPs determine the best possible inventory for reaching a target audience, place buys, and report on the performance. They are connected to SSPs via ad exchanges. Agency Trading Desks often bundle multiple DSPs to further increase efficiency.

Display advertising

Display ads, which are also sometimes known as banner ads, are a form of paid advertising in which the advertiser pays the website publisher for every ad impression or user click of the display ad.

DSP (Demand Side Platform)

A Demand Side Platform, also known as a DSP, is an online network of ad inventory supply, where advertisers can buy ad placements made available by online publishers. Advertisers can bid in auctions for ad impressions, and thereby purchase ad space across many different websites and mobile apps. In simple terms, a DSP is a programmatic advertising tool that helps to match ads with the right ‘spots’ on publisher sites.

First price auction

in programmatic advertising, a First Price Auction is a type of auction in which the highest bidder wins the impression and pays the price they bid. This contrasts with second price auctions, where the winning bid pays one increment above the second-highest bid. In a First Price Auction, the winning bid is the actual cost of the impression, so the cost to the advertiser may be higher than expected. This creates more competition among bidders and can lead to higher prices for publishers. Advertisers should have a clear understanding of First Price Auction mechanics and bid appropriately to ensure they are getting the best value for their ad spend.

First-party data

First-party data refers to data that is collected directly by the advertiser or publisher from their customers and website visitors. It is collected through website analytics, customer interactions, and other direct sources. First-party data is highly valuable because it is specific to the advertiser and provides insights into the interests and behaviors of their target audience. Unlike third-party data, first-party data is not shared with other advertisers. As third-party cookie depreciation sets in, first-party data will become even more vital for online ad targeting.

Floor price

A floor price in programmatic advertising refers to the minimum price that a publisher is willing to accept for an ad impression. This is set by the publisher to ensure that they are not undervaluing their inventory and receive a minimum revenue from the ad. The floor price is used in real-time bidding (RTB) auctions, where advertisers compete to purchase ad impressions. Advertisers must bid above the floor price to be considered for the impression. If the highest bid is below the floor price, the impression is not sold. The floor price helps to balance the needs of both advertisers and publishers and ensures that inventory is sold at a reasonable price.

Header bidding

Header bidding is a programmatic ad buying method that enables publishers to present their ad space inventory on multiple SSPs (Supply Side Platform), or ad exchanges, at once via an auction model. With header bidding, numerous advertisers can bid simultaneously to compete for advertising space on websites.

Mobile advertising

Mobile advertising is paid advertising that occurs on mobile phones or devices that have a wireless internet connection. Mobile ads can be display ads published on mobile websites by mobile ad networks, or can be promoted in mobile applications as in-app ads.

Native advertising

Native advertising is a digital ad that has the look and feel of editorial content. The ad is ‘native’ to the web page – in design and function, it seems just like the other content on the page. Native ad space is purchased by advertisers via native ad networks like Outbrain.

Native DSP

A Native DSP (Demand Side Platform) is a platform designed specifically for buying native advertising inventory programmatically. Native advertising refers to ads that blend in with the look and feel of the web page, providing a more seamless and non-intrusive advertising experience for the user. A Native DSP allows advertisers to buy native advertising inventory from multiple sources and programmatically target their audience. It enables advertisers to reach their target audience with relevant, high-quality native ads, at scale. The use of a Native DSP streamlines the native advertising buying process and, unlike conventional DSPs, allows for post-engagement targeting.

Online advertising

Any type of advertising that occurs on the internet is considered online advertising. Online advertising comes in many forms, including display advertising, search engine advertising, email advertising, social media advertising, content recommendations, mobile advertising (app advertising).

Open auction

An Open Auction in programmatic advertising is a type of real-time bidding (RTB) auction that is open to all eligible demand sources, including DSPs, networks, and agencies. In an Open Auction, ad impressions are made available to all demand sources, allowing them to bid in real-time for the opportunity to serve an ad. The winning bid is determined by the highest bid, and the winning advertiser pays the amount they bid for the impression. Open Auctions provide a transparent and competitive environment for buying and selling ad impressions, helping to ensure that the best price is achieved for both the advertiser and the publisher.

Paid advertising

Paid advertising is any type of advertising that is paid for. It stands in contrast to owned advertising (ads promoted on the advertiser’s own channels) or earned advertising (non-commissioned writeups or recommendations from third-party publishers).

Post-click engagement

Important metric for performance marketers to optimize campaigns. KPIs such as click rates (on the landing page) or time on site of existing users are analyzed in order to bid on new users who are likely to show the highest engagement.

PPC

PPC, which stands for Pay Per Click, is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to a website or landing page.

Pre-bid targeting

Data that enables advertisers to target visible, fraud-proof, brand-safe or contextually relevant inventory, and bid only on inventory that meets the pre-defined requirements.

Private Marketplace (PMP)

Higher-value ad groups that are grouped together by a publisher or SSP and are not available in an open auction. Only selected advertisers can bid on these placements. Subdivided into Preferred Deal, Private Auction and Automated Guaranteed.

Programmatic advertising

Programmatic advertising is an automated way of buying and selling advertising space in real time. It uses algorithms and software to purchase digital advertising, as opposed to traditional methods such as manual RFPs (Requests for Proposals) and negotiations.

Programmatic direct

A transaction between a publisher and advertiser that takes place through a programmatic ad buying system. Inventory is directly sold and guaranteed.

Real Time Bidding (RTB)

Real Time Bidding, or RTB, is a process used in programmatic advertising to buy and sell digital inventory in real time (a real-time bid consisting of a bid request and a bid response). The bid request is triggered when a user visits a page. The request data (user location, browser history, website, device) is offered for sale via an SSP on an Ad Exchange. A DSP connected to this Ad Exchange responds to this offer with data on price and creatives (bid response). The highest bid for the placement wins and the ad is distributed. This all happens automatically and within milliseconds.

Search advertising

Search advertising is the promotion of ads on search engine listings or on the sidebar of search engine results pages (also known as SERPs). Search advertising is a very popular channel, largely due to the sheer volume of traffic seen by SERPs.

Second price auction

In programmatic advertising, a Second Price Auction is a type of real-time bidding (RTB) auction where the winning bidder pays one increment above the second highest bid, rather than the amount they bid. This type of auction helps to ensure that the final price of an ad impression reflects its true market value, creating a more stable and predictable pricing environment, benefitting both advertisers and publishers.

Second-party data

Second-party data refers to data that is collected by one organization and shared with another. This type of data is obtained through partnerships or data-sharing agreements between two companies. Second-party data can be particularly useful for advertisers who have limited first-party data or who are seeking to reach a new audience. Unlike first-party data, second-party data is not collected directly from the advertiser's customers and website visitors, and is subject to privacy regulations and the data policies of both companies involved.

Social media advertising

Any type of promotion on social networks is considered social media advertising. Platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, TikTok, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, and others, have become hugely popular advertising channels.

Supply Side Platform (SSP)

A platform that allows publishers to automatically sell their inventory and is often linked to ad exchanges. It allows the setting of floor prices and the bundling of inventory for private marketplaces.

Third-party data

Third-party data refers to data that is collected by companies other than the advertiser or publisher and is then made available for purchase by advertisers. It is collected through various sources, such as online and offline surveys, browser and search data, and demographic information. Because third-party data is not collected directly from the advertiser's own website visitors and/or customers, it is subject to privacy regulations and may be less accurate or relevant than first-party data. The use of third party data in digital advertising will wind down in the near future as the third-party cookie is removed from the market.

User acquisition

User acquisition is a term that describes the strategy and processes businesses apply to get new people to buy their product, use their app, or register for their service. There are a variety of strategies and tactics that marketers use to maximize their user acquisition rates. For example, a company will develop advertising campaigns, promotions, and rewards that are focused on attracting new users.

Video Ad-Serving Template (VAST)

A Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) is a standardized XML format that defines the structure for delivering video ads to websites and apps. It provides a common language for video ad delivery and allows video ads to be served and played across a wide range of platforms and devices. VAST provides a framework for the delivery of video ads, including information about the ad's size, duration, and type, as well as tracking and reporting data. The use of a VAST standard helps to simplify the process of delivering video ads in programmatic advertising and ensures a high-quality, consistent viewing experience for users.

Video advertising

Video advertising is the promotion of ads via video. Video ads can take many forms, whether they be short image-style videos, explainer videos, or product videos.