Advertising is the most exciting businesses present in the planet. Here we use various communication means to endorse or sell something. But it could be bit confusing if we are unaware of the new bunch of jargons. Xapads Media team has compiled an advertising glossary for marketers, publishers, agency executives and all who work near online advertising as we know that your main concern is business growth and our main concern is helping your business grow.

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120×60: 120 pixels wide and 60 pixels tall is an IAB standard Ad unit which is mostly used on listing sites for premium listing. It is commonly known as button and do not cost much as it does not perform up-to-the-mark.

120×600: This is a retired Ad unit now. 160×600 has now replaced it.

125×125: This is a retired Ad unit, previously, it was also called button with 120×60.

160×600: 160 pixels tall and 600 pixels wide, this is an IAB standard Ad unit known as sky-scraper or super skyscraper. It replaced the previous 120×600 as it performs and looks better. This is generally placed on side of the page.

300×250: This Ad size is also known as medium rectangle and is commonly placed above the fold. This is the most expensive one.

468×60: This is a 2011 retired Ad unit. This was used to be published at top of the page as a banner.

720×90: This Ad size is known as leaderboard or super banner. It is replaced by small 460×60 as outcomes are way better with alluring look.

A for . . .

Above The Fold: Above The Fold (ATF) refers to the viewable space on a webpage when it initially loads. Here fold means bottom of the user’s screen before scrolling down. As many users avoid Ads, ATF are the only ones which guarantees viewed impressions.

Above The Line: Above The Line (ATL) refers to the target marketing techniques using conventional media such as TV, Radio, Billboards or the Internet. Practically, it is a moral line between clear and not-so-clear advertising as people don’t like to be sold to without realizing it.

Acquisition: Here it means purchase and not takeover.

Active View: This is a Google program which calculates Viewable Impressions. An Active View Viewable Impression is thus one which appeared at least 50% onscreen for at least a second.

Ad Agency: The Company which handles other company’s marketing assignments is known as Ad Agency.

Ad Blocker: The software which stops advertisements being shown on websites in user’s browser is Ad Blocker. Ad blockers are now common in cell phones too.

Ad Buy: A whole block of Ads being purchased for sole purpose is Ad buy.

Ad Buyer: An active person in online marketing who negotiates the price of adverts for an Ad Agency is Ad Buyer. This is a generic term used for an advertiser.

Ad Call: When one computer asks for an Ad from another is known as Ad call or Ad request or Ad Impression. Simply, when you load a webpage on computer, your computer actually asks a server to send webpage plus the Ad on it. Every Ad on the page is literally ‘called’ and every Ad which fully loads is added up as one Ad Impression.

Ad Campaign: A set of Ads which is designed to run together is known as Ad campaign.

Ad Exchange: Ad exchange is a global digital marketplace and a kind of RTB platform which facilitates advertisers and publishers to buy and sell advertising spaces from multiple Ad network through real time auctions.

Ad Impression: Ad Impression is a measure of number of Ads seen by the user or a successful Ad Call. And this has nothing to do with Page Impression.

Ad Inventory: Ad Inventory is the total amount of Ad Impressions an Ad Network or Publisher has. It is usually expressed in per month figure.

Ad Network: Ad network is referred as a company which sells advertising space for numerous websites.

Ad Operations: Ad Ops or Ad Operations is a job role designated for uploading, managing, troubleshooting, optimizing and reporting on Ad Campaigns. It is also known as Ad Trafficking.

Ad Platform: It means the product a company normally uses to serve advertising. For example two of Google’s Ad Platforms are AdSense and AdWords.

Ad Slot: Ad slot is the space on a webpage where an advertisement loads.

Ad Tag: The piece of code an advertiser gives to a website as a substitute to the actual Ads is Ad Tag. These typically come in JavaScript.

Ad Trafficking: The process of uploading, managing, troubleshooting, optimizing and reporting on Advertising Campaigns is Ad Traffic.

Age Gate: A page that stops a user from continuing until they enter their age proof, usually just their date of birth is Age Gate.

B for . . .

Backup Ad: When an Ad Tag fails to call the intended Ad, Backup Ad comes to rescue. It can be also set up when behavioral targeting is being used and user does not match the requisites.

Banner Ads: Banner Ads is the generic term used to portray image based online Ads such as 160×600, 300×250 and 728×90.

Baseline: Baseline in online advertising refers to the unoptimized set of statistics we get when running a campaign first.

Below The Fold: The term Below The Fold means the space on a webpage which can be seen once when the user scrolls down. BTF commands a lower eCPM as Ads placed here are usually less interacted with the users than ATF Ads.

Below The Line: BTL is an unconventional marketing technique which includes native advertising.

Black Hat: Dishonest or illegal methods of practice in online advertising. It is most often used with reference to SEO.

Bots: Bot is a computer program acts as a user for another computer, generally used for increasing Ad Impressions.

Bounce rate: The percentage of users who visit a site but run off right away. A user is believed to have ‘bounced’ if they only visit one webpage.

Brand Advertising: When advertisers pay an extra amount to have their Ads shown on premium sites as advertisers expect good user interaction rates.

Brand Buy: Ad purchased for brand advertising is Brand Buy.

Broken Ad Call: When an Ad tag fails to get back an Ad then it is a broken Ad call.

C For . . .

Cache-busting: The process of stopping an Ad to get automatically stored on a users’ computer is cache busting.

Call to action: Call to action is directive message for users. For example: Get your free sample here or Buy now.

Click-Through Rate: Click-Through Rate is a measure of effectiveness of Ads. It is the percentage of clicks to Impressions. It gives advertisers the right idea from which they can compare performance on different sites in spite of of the relative size of the sites.

Companion Ad: Sometimes there two or more Ads which are delivered together. Due to the nature of work, there is always the one which is served first and the second one loads afterwards, this second Ad, loaded after the main Ad is the Companion Ad.

Consumption: The number of clicks on a Facebook post is Consumption.

Conversion: This is a term used on completion of a CPA campaign.

Conversion Rate: A measure which denotes that how many clicks on Ads became Conversions

Cost Per Acquisition: Cost Per Acquisition or CPA means an advertising rate for which advertiser pays only when an Ad lead to sales.

Cost Per Action: Cost Per Action or CPA is an advertising rate in which advertiser pays only when an Ad leads to specific action.

Cost Per Click: Cost Per Click or CPC is an advertising rate in which publisher get paid when user clicks on an Ad in their site.

Cost Per Day: Cost Per Day or CPD is an advertising rate which means advertisers pay for each single day that an Ad is on a website. Clicks doesn’t matter here, just the presence matters.

Cost Per Engagement: Cost Per Engagement or CPE is an advertising rate which means advertiser make payment for every engagement on an Ad.

Cost Per Install: Cost Per Install is an advertising rate which means advertisers only pay when their app is downloaded.

Cost Per Land: Cost per land is an advertising rate, much similar to Cost Per Click but a slight difference is just publisher gets paid when a user fully loads Landing Page.

Cost Per Lead: Cost Per Lead is an advertising rate where publisher get paid when the potential customer has entered the contact details through Advertisement.

Cost Per Thousand Impressions or CPM: Here M stands as roman M which is equivalent to thousand. This means advertisers pay to publisher when they get 1000 Ad impression on their website.

Cost Per View: Cost Per View is an advertising rate where publisher get paid on per video advert view basis.

Crawling: When an automated program goes through a website and maps it for a website, this process is crawling.

D For . . .

Daisy Chaining: The process of passing an Ad Call from one Ad Network to another via defaults is Daisy Chaining.

De-Duplication: A process of ensuring that two different companies not get paid for the same sale is De-Duplication.

Default Ad: An Ad which gets displayed when no other Ad is available from an Ad Server due to targeting restrictions is default Ad.

Demand Side Platform: A Demand Side Platform nicknamed as DSP is a type of RTB Ad Network in which Ad Agencies put how much they want to pay for an Ad Campaign and publishers make bids to get the business.

Device Targeting: As the name suggests, device targeting is targeting the specific device for projection of Ads such as mobile, computer, tablet etc.

Downweight: Downweight means reducing the Ad appearance on placements when it is not performing up to the mark in order to improve the overall performance of the whole campaign.

E For . . .

eCPM: Full form is effective CPM. It is a calculation through which publisher finds out what CPM they will generate when paid in different advertising rates.

Engagement: Engagement is any sort of user interaction with Ad.

Engagement Rate: The percentage of users interacted with the Ad is Engagement Rate.

Exclusion Pixel: A way to stop Ads appearing in a certain place or to a certain user is Exclusion pixel.

Expandable Ads: An Ad Unit which expands with user interaction.

F For . . .

Fill Rate:  Fill rate is the percentage of inventory sold, i.e. Ad Imressions sold x 100/ Total Inventory

Flash Ad: An interactive and animated Ad made using Adobe Flash.

Floater: Floater is a pop-up appears when user is visiting the web-page.

Freemium: It is a service that has a basic version which is free to use but a paid premium version is also available.

Frequency: Simply how often the user is seeing the Ad.

Frequency Cap: Control on number of times an Ad is shown. For example, if frequency cap is 3/24 then an Ad will be shown 3 times per 24 hour.

G For . . .

Gamification: Turning something into games is Gamification. This is generally done to make Ad attractive, like turning Ad into some kind of quiz.

Gif: An animated image is gif; full form is graphic interchange format.

Guaranteed Inventory: This means Ad buys where a specified amount of inventory is offered. There is also some penalty for failing to deliver such specified amount of inventory.

H For . . .

Homepage Takeover: When a single Ad (kind of sponsorship) appears on the home screen of a website, it is a homepage takeover.

House Ad: Advertising the Ad of a product on its own website is House Ad. They are typically used as default Ads.

I For . . .

Impression Cap: Impression cap means limit in number of impressions. If impression cap is 20,000, then not more than 20,000 impressions shall be served per day.

Impression RPM: Impression RPM means revenue every thousand impressions. Here revenue means the amount which publisher receives.

Inbound link: The link which leads you to the website is inbound link. From SEO POV it is highly recommended.

InLine Advertising: The Ads in the highlighted form within the webpage which eventually expands when clicked.

Install Rate: It determines how many clicks on an Ad takes per installation in a Cost Per Install campaign.

Interstitial: The Ads which appear in the top of the page in a floating manner, delivered by Ad server.

Inventory: Total amount of Ad impressions a publisher has is called as inventory.

J For . . .

Jump Page: A jump page is a microsite that opens after clicking a pop-up Ad.

K For . . .

K Weight: K weight is known as size of an Ad in Kilobytes.

Key Point Indicator: Nicknamed as KPI, this is a set of some most important factors for improving a campaign growth such as clicks, user interactions etc.

L For . . .

Landing Page: A webpage that opens after you click an Ad

Lead: A prospective customer

Leaderboard: A 728×90 Ad unit is known as leaderboard

Low Hanging Fruit: This is an advertising expression which means the easiest thing to do out of several things.

M For . . .

Make Good: Making good the last months under-acquired targets today. It is compensation to underachieved previous impressions.

Marketer: A person who is responsible for endorsement of products or services.

Metrics: A measurable statistics used to improve performance in online advertising.

Microsite: A site created for special purpose. It is usually a small part of a big website having separate URL.

Mid-roll: An Ad roll comes up in between a video is Mid-roll.

Multi-size Ad Slot: A flexible Ad slot which can load any size of Ad.

N For . . .

Native Advertising: The Ads so created to not look like Ad is native advertising.

Negative Targeting:  Use of negative keywords to prevent useless Ad impressions is negative targeting. It is a precious tool for campaign optimization.

Netiquette: Internet etiquettes.

Non-human Traffic: Traffic not generated by the user.

Non-organic traffic: Traffic which has been paid for is non-organic traffic.

O For . . .

Open Rate: Percentage of people who opened the mail sent to them is open rate.

Optimizing: Process of altering an Ad campaign to improve the overall campaign performance

Organic Traffic: The traffic which is real and not a sponsored or paid one. It is a kind of direct user interaction.

Overdelivery: When an Ad delivers some extra impressions than required.

P For . . .

Page impression: Not to be confused with Ad impression, Page impression is when a webpage fully loads.

Page View: Synonym of Page Impression

Pages Per Session: Number of web pages viewed in one session is page session.

Pay Per Click: Publisher will receive payment only when an Ad receive a click. It is a kind of advertising rate.

Polite Loading: Polite loading delays the loading of an Ad as it allows website to load fully first.

Pop-under: The less annoying Ads having websites which opens up in a new window.

Pop-up: An Ad which comprises of a website and opens up while browsing a website is pop-up.

Post Click Conversion: When a user buys a product after clicking the advert, then it is referred as post click conversion.

Post-roll: Post roll are video Ads which come up after a video has been viewed by user.

Pre-game: The video Ads which comes just before the loading of a flash game.

Public Service Advert: Ads displayed for charity purpose are public service adverts.

Publisher: The owner of a website is publisher.

Publisher Ad tag: Publisher Ad tag is a code that publisher puts to call Ad campaigns directly from Ad servers. 

Q For . . .

QR Code: This is a set of pixels that can be read by an app which redirects users to a webpage.

Qualified Leads: Leads which are likely to become sales are qualified leads

Queries Per Second: Number of times a request is sent to a server is queries per second.

R For . . .

Reach: Amount of users a publisher has access of is reach.

Real Time: Something currently happening without delay or contradiction is happening in real time.

Real Time Bidding: Buying and selling of Ad impressions online automatically is real time bidding, nicknamed as RTB in the world of online marketing.

Remnant Inventory: An inventory which remained unsold after performance network is exhausted.

Responsive Ad unit: An Ad which changes its shape to fit in any device is responsive Ad unit.

Rich Media: The Ads which are more than simple images or animated gifs.

Roadblock Ad: All the Ads on a page are sold altogether to one advertiser.

Run of Channel: When a set of Ads are booked to run anywhere in the channel.

S For . . .

Sales confirmation page: A webpage which confirms the sale is sale confirmation page

Search Engine Marketing: A marketing which focuses on improving a site’s ranking.

Search Engine Optimization: A complex procedure to improve the organic site ranking

Session: A session is a time span which determines when a user logged in and when he/she logged out.

Skippable: The video Ads on YouTube which can be skipped are skippables.

Supply Side Platform: Nicknamed as SSP, supply side platform is a RTB platform where publishers place their inventory and advertisers come to make bids.

T For . . .

The Fold: Bottom edge of a browser is the fold.

Third party Ad server: A company which hosts Ads on behalf of advertisers is Third Party Ad server.

Traffic: Number of user interaction is traffic.

U For . . .

Underdelivery: When an Ad fails to achieve the desired amount of impressions, the case is of Underdelivery.

Unqualified Lead: When a user leave website on mid of any process, say sign in process without making sale is unqualified lead.

Unskippable: The video Ads which cannot be skipped.

Upweight: Optimizing Ad campaigns is termed as Upweight.    

User Base: A group of users who frequently visit a site.

User Interaction: User interaction is same as engagement

V For . . .

Viewability: Viewability measures if an Ad is seen or skipped.

Viewability Rate: Percentage of Ad Impressions is viewability rate.

W For . . .

Wait Marketing: Advertising to the users who are waiting for a web page to load is wait marketing.

Waterfall: The order in which Ad networks are used by website according to performance is the waterfall.

White Hat: In online advertising, white hat is performance above the mark.

WYSIWYG: Pronounced as whizzy wig, this word has a long meaning: What you see is what you get.

X For . . .

XML sitemap: A file that list all the URLs of sites to facilitate search engine to index them.

Z For . . .

Z-Index: Z-index is a measure of best. If an Ad has lower Z-index, it’ll show behind the other Ads.