The following glossary includes numerous industry-specific terms as well as internal iPromote verbiage.
A
Access control list. Restrictive list that sets rules on hosts and other layer 3 entities that define which hosts and/or networks can access the service. Rules are applied to port numbers and IP addresses.
Desirable user response to an ad, like buying a product or signing up for a service. Also known as an action or conversion.
HTML placed on a webpage that defines the attributes of a digital advertisement. Often specifies the ad's container element, size, image source, and log destination.
Product that automatically creates a digital media kit, like banner ads and video ads, from existing web and social content. The result is a suite of IAB-compliant, branded ads ready for syndication.
Occurs when a client device requests a digital ad. The request goes to an ad exchange server or ad server.
The state of compliance that ensures ads adhere to various legal and ethical guidelines. For example, that they are truthful.
Electronic platform that matches advertisers with publishers and facilitates ad placement on publisher media, like websites.
A combination of an ad's physical dimensions in pixels and the digital channel it must run on.
One or more companies that act as go-betweens for advertisers and publishers. Depending on context, can include advertisers and publishers within the network.
Software that serves digital ads to on-line media. For real-time buying, ads are bought and sold in on-line auctions. Ads are typically served to websites, mobile media, and social media.
The process by which digital ads are served in real time to on-line viewers. On-line viewers include people using the web, using mobile devices, and using social networks.
Code included in the body of a webpage that initiates a call to an ad server, requesting that an ad be served. Ad tags come in many forms and can contact an ad server directly or indirectly. A common indirect call first goes to a publisher ad server, which in turn contacts an ad exchange, requesting that the exchange acquire an ad from an on-line auction.
The process by which data about a served digital ad is returned to a server for analysis. For example, where the ad was placed.
Owner of advertisements that are available to serve on digital media. Typically a business or organization attempting to promote itself.
The amount of money an advertiser has available to purchase advertising services. Can be allocated in various ways.
Proprietary ad serving engine. It includes 5 facilities, sometimes referred to as roles or modules. They are ad server, API, bidder, logger, and previewer. Each facility is independent of the others and can be run separately.
Application Load Balancer. AWS-built virtual load balancer that routes traffic to system components like EC2 instances, containers, and IP addresses.
Collection of analytical tools that enable the oversight of promotion performance and other aspects of the platform.
An event mediated by an ad exchange where ad space sellers offer an impression for ad space buyers to bid on. Many billions of auctions occur daily on popular ad exchange platforms. Sometimes auction is used to refer to the "place," or ad exchange platform, where auctions take place, but this usage of the word is inaccurate.
B
Business continuity management system. ISO 22301:2012 defines this as a "part of the overall management system that establishes, implements, operates, monitors, reviews, maintains and improves business continuity."
Business continuity plan. ISO 22301:2012 defines this as "documented procedures that guide organizations to respond, recover, resume, and restore to a pre-defined level of operation following disruption."
Business impact analysis. Lists business components and processes, establishes their criticality, and provides data about event impact on business processes.
Message from an ad exchange to a bidder server asking that a bid for seller inventory be made by the bidder. Essentially, the ad exchange says, "Hey, do you have an ad you want to put in this space? If so, what do you want to pay for it?"
List of items that are explicitly disallowed. Typically a list of domains, sellers, and related entities with which the platform can not advertise.
The percentage of webpage viewers who open a page then leave the site without going to another page on the site.
The process of blending or partitioning a budget so that it is split up across multiple ad types. For example, 25% is spent on web, 50% is spent on mobile, and 25% is spent on social.
C
The collection of attributes that apply to the running of a single digital ad that satisfies a single buying strategy. For example, the running of an ad for six weeks that promotes a basketball shoe sale at your store during the NBA playoffs. The campaign could run at the same time a different campaign promoting summer sandals is running. See also promotion.
Specifies an audience group or type. For example, accountant. Often used in targeting to narrow a promotion's scope to focus on a certain audience.
Content delivery network. The computerized, and often globalized, system in place that enables content, or ad creative, to be placed on a webpage.
Cybersecurity incident response plan. Documented plan for dealing with any kind of cyber-attack.
Cybersecurity incident response team. Assigned team of specialists who are called to action during a cybersecurity incident response.
In the context of ad serving, refers to the action of an end-user physically clicking an ad out of interest in the ad.
Statistic that indicates how many ads are clicked relative to how many are placed. Calculated by dividing the total number of clicks by the total number of impressions. Also known as click-through rate (CTR).
When an organization uses another organization's software and very heavily brands the software to suit their own needs, but publicly references the other organization.
Information that can only be accessed by limited internal staff, to include client information that is not public.
Process by which the ad assets that make up a single digital advertisement are delivered to a browser. Assets include image files, style sheets, and JavaScript files. Takes place over the content delivery network (CDN).
Information gleaned from a webpage that can be returned to an ad serving company, telling the company something about the webpage an ad was placed on.
Desirable user response to an ad, like buying a product or signing up for a service. Also known as an action or acquisition.
Statistic that indicates how many ads are clicked relative to how many conversions occur as a result of a click. Calculated by dividing the total number of conversions by the total number of attributable clicks. For example, 10 conversions from 100 clicks yields a rate of 10%.
Tiny text file placed on a browser that enables an ad server to collect helpful data about a user and to serve them relevant ads. For example, cookies are used to record how often ads are shown.
Cost per action or acquisition. Advertising rate that calculates a cost to an advertiser based on the number of times a conversion takes place. For example, an advertiser pays every time an item is bought or signs up for a service after seeing an attributable ad.
Cost per click. Advertising rate that calculates a cost to an advertiser based on the number of times an ad is clicked.
Cost per 1000 impressions. Advertising rate that calculates a cost to an advertiser based on the number of times an ad is placed. The cost is expressed as a dollar amount per 1000 placements.
The graphical imagery used within the body of an ad. Can include pictures or logos, text, animation, and other facets of an advertisement.
Customer relationship manager. Suite of software tools that enable parties to maintain productive relationships with clients. Often include messaging services, calendars, history, reminders, and similar services.
Click-through rate. Statistic that indicates how many ads are clicked relative to how many are placed. Calculated by dividing the total number of clicks by the total number of impressions. Also known as click rate.
An attempted or successful unauthorized access of company IT resources, including servers, workstations, network equipment, file shares, applications, and accounts.
D
Display-Driven Search. Feature that provides an indirect way to measure the effectiveness of a promotion by correlating impression or organic link views with the page views that occur shortly after.
Style of advertising that depends on images of certain sizes to be placed on applicable platforms, like the web.
DomainKeys Identified Mail. Email authentication method that detects email spoofing. Prevents forged sender addresses.
Demand-side platform. Type of real-time bidding ad network that enables advertisers to specify what they want to pay for available publisher inventory. Can involve numerous exchanges and/or publishers.
E
Elastic IP Address. AWS-built static IP address that a network admin can reserve for use with internet traffic. It is associated with dynamic IP addresses at AWS discretion.
Elastic Load Balancer. AWS-built virtual load balancer that routes traffic to system components like EC2 instances, containers, and IP addresses.
F
In this context, the number of times a significant action takes place within a given timeframe. For example, the number of times an ad is placed within a given timeframe.
G
The capability to target an audience based on location. The technology depends on things like user IP address or latitude/longitude. Targeting by IP address is approximate; it does not necessarily reflect the user's device location.
I
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. It is comprised of more than 650 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital advertising or marketing campaigns.
An impression pixel logs that a specific display ad rendered in a browser after it was served.
An adverse or malicious event in an information system, network, or resource, or the threat of the occurrence of such an event. Examples of incidents include unauthorized use of another user's account, unauthorized use of system privileges, and execution of malicious code that destroys data. "Incident" implies harm or the potential for harm. ISO 22301:2012 defines this as a "situation that might be, or could lead to, a disruption, loss, emergency or crisis."
L
The webpage intended by an advertiser to be the first page a user sees after clicking upon an ad.
An algorithm that makes "decisions" based upon input and highly specialized logic. Helps to refine the usefulness of a program by recognizing patterns and refining its own usefulness.
Link provided to resellers that accesses an ad on a live website in real time. The website
always delivers one of the advertiser’s actual ads.
Service that manages the receipt and distribution of ad serving log data, which is used by an ad serving platform to make "decisions." For example, information about if and when an impression is placed successfully is logged.
M
In this context, usually the display platform on which an ad is displayed. For example, web or mobile.
The cost of all impressions, clicks, and activities during the specified date range, based on the schedule and pricing information that was entered for each placement.
A relatively small advertising budget. Typically applies to small-to-medium-sized businesses. The platform is specially designed to accommodate microbudgets, spreading spend across multiple mediums and publishers by way of an ad exchange instead of buying directly from a major publisher.
The process of generating revenue. In this context, typically the process by which a publisher generates revenue by selling ad space on their webpages.
N
Native advertising is a form of online advertising that matches the form and function of the platform on which it appears. For example, an article written by an advertiser to promote their product, but using the same form as an article written by the editorial staff.
O
A customer-centric approach to marketing that integrates all channels, delivering a unified and consistent brand experience across physical stores, apps, and websites.
Record made up of all the settings and data needed to create a campaign before a campaign is launched. A reseller creates an opportunity when they finish moving through the campaign creation workflow, including organization lookup, ad building, targeting, and budget selection. When an advertiser approves an opportunity, it is submitted for approval.
P
A package is a collection of information that tells the platform how a promotion should run. Packages include information like how long a promotion should last, ad placement or ad click target numbers, and pricing details.
Payment card industry. The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) manages the ongoing evolution of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards with a focus on improving payment account security throughout the transaction process. The PCI DSS is administered and managed by an independent body that was created by the major payment card brands (for example, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB.).
Penetration test. Also known as a pen test. Authorized simulated attack on a computer system. Performed to evaluate the security of the system.
Personally Identifiable Information. Generally, information that can be used to identify a specific individual. Depends to a large extent on the organization defining the term. Can be a name or SSN, but can also be a combination of identifiers that together identify an individual.
Location and space on a webpage that is meant to accommodate an ad. Typically include an ad tag to specify the kind of ad desired.
In this context, typically refers to the customizable software system on which the various iPromote services run. The platform includes the back-end engine and databases as well as front-end UI components.
Power Leads is a service that creates dynamic email ad campaigns to promote a partner offering.
Process of retargeting directory search profile page viewers after they've navigated away from a profile.
The collection of attributes that apply to the running of an advertisement. Satisfies a buying strategy. Also known as a campaign. For example, the running of certain ad types in specific channels directed at specified targets for six weeks.
Code included in the body of a webpage that initiates a direct call to an iPromote ad server, requesting that an ad be served. Ad tags used in direct buying come in two forms: standard publisher tag and search publisher tag. A search pub tag enables a publisher to append keywords to the search query part of the URL it sends to an iPromote ad server.
Owner of media on which digital ads can be placed by an advertiser. Media includes websites, mobile apps, and social apps. A single publisher might control many sites or media.
R
The meausre of the frequency an ad is shown to a user. Managing recency helps to control how often an ad is placed, saving spend and/or refraining from bombarding a user with the same ad.
A redirect is a web programming technique that associates a source URL with a different destination URL such that when the source URL is clicked a webpage with the destination URL opens. Commonly used with display ads that link to advertiser landing pages, enabling an ad server to collect valuable data before opening the advertiser webpage.
Retargeting is the practice of serving ads to a user based on data previously collected about the user's tastes and characteristics. The goal of retargeting is to locate and serve the most relevant ads possible.
Retargeting is the practice of serving ads to a user based on data previously collected about the user's tastes and characteristics. The goal of retargeting is to locate and serve the most relevant ads possible.
The "amount" of risk an organization is willing to take on, considering many variables, before the organization responds. For example, an organization might deem somethings less threatening than others because it knows that it has superior security tools in place to offset a potential risk.
Real-time buying or bidding. RTB depends on an intermediary ad exchange to facilitate the selling of ad space, also known as inventory. RTB can be used to buy inventory from web, mobile, and social channels.
S
Security Assertion Mark-up Language. Open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between parties.
Method of placing online advertisements on webpages based on previous user interest in a category or on search keywords entered by a user.
A pixel that marks a user as belonging to a certain segment. For example, an advertiser might place a segment pixel on the homepage and mark all visitors to the homepage as "homepage visitors." -AppNexus
A workflow by which a reseller or other end-user develops a campaign, including ad building and targetting. End-user places order at end of workflow.
Party that sells digital ad space. Often a publisher, but might be a third party that sells on behalf of a publisher.
Search engine results page. This is the page an end-user sees after they submit search keywords to a search engine. It might be the same page the terms were typed into or a new page might render to display the results.
Single sign-on. Access control property that enables multiple related systems to be accessed by a user with a single ID and password.
Supply-side platform. A supply-side platform or sell-side platform (SSP) is a technology platform with the single mission of enabling publishers to manage their advertising impression inventory and maximize revenue from digital media. -Wikipedia
T
Generally known as an ad tag. But might be known by other names, like TinyTag. Other tag types exists as well.
Targeting is the process of serving ads to a known audience or segment. As the term implies, potential ad viewers are deliberately focused on so as to get maximum value out of an ad.
Hierarchical classification method that organizes categories, sub-categories, and keywords. Used to associate an ad request, which includes category and/or keyword data, with a campaign in the system, which also includes category and/or keyword data. Matches ad requests to campaigns.
Refers to the volume of data sent and received by visitors of a website or other digital medium.
V
A flaw in a system that can allow an attacker to manipulate or access the system in ways not intended or desired by the designer or user.
W
A solution built by one organization but which is used by another organization without any apparent reference to the builder.
List of items that are explicitly allowed. Typically a list of domains, sellers, and related entities with which the platform can advertise.
Y