Display advertising glossary

Programmatic advertising

The automated buying and selling of ad inventory through real-time auctions, rather than manual insertion orders.

RTB (real-time bidding)

The auction mechanism behind programmatic: each impression is bid on and won in milliseconds as the page loads.

DSP (demand-side platform)

The buyer's tool for bidding across many exchanges from one seat, for example DV360 or The Trade Desk.

SSP (supply-side platform)

The publisher's counterpart to a DSP, used to offer inventory into the programmatic auction.

Ad exchange

The marketplace that connects DSPs and SSPs and runs the real-time auction for each impression.

CPM

Cost per thousand impressions. Open-exchange and GDN display run about $2–$5; private marketplace inventory $6–$15.

vCPM (viewable CPM)

Cost per thousand viewable impressions, you pay only for impressions that meet the viewability standard.

Viewability

Whether an ad was actually seen. The MRC standard for display is 50% of pixels in view for at least 1 continuous second; for video, 50% of pixels in view for at least 2 continuous seconds.

Frequency capping

A limit on how often one user sees an ad. A common starting point is 3 per user per day and 10–15 per user per week.

Retargeting / remarketing

Showing ads to people who already visited or engaged. Its click-through (~0.7%) runs well above cold display.

Prospecting

Reaching new audiences who have not engaged yet, cheaper attention but lower response than retargeting.

PMP (private marketplace)

An invitation-only programmatic deal between a buyer and specific publishers, usually higher quality and viewability than the open exchange.

Deal ID

The identifier that ties a buyer to a negotiated PMP or preferred deal inside the DSP.

Contextual targeting

Matching ads to the content of a page rather than to a user's profile, increasingly important as third-party signals weaken.

IVT (invalid traffic)

Non-human or fraudulent impressions. Unprotected campaigns run near 10.9%; verification brings it to about 0.7%.

DCO (dynamic creative optimization)

Building each banner at serve time from a template plus a live feed, so one master can show a different product or message per viewer.

Header bidding

A publisher technique that auctions inventory to multiple exchanges simultaneously before calling the ad server, raising yield.

View-through conversion

A conversion from someone who saw, but did not click, a display ad and later converted, display's main hidden contribution.

Click-through conversion

A conversion from someone who clicked the ad and then converted within the attribution window. The visible, last-click side of display.

Open exchange

The public, auction-based programmatic marketplace. Cheapest and largest, but where most invalid traffic and low-quality inventory sits.

Made-for-advertising (MFA)

Low-quality sites built mainly to carry ads. They drain budget without driving outcomes; we exclude them at the inventory level.

Working media

The share of spend that actually reaches a consumer as an impression, rather than going to fees and intermediaries. The ANA put it near 43.9%.

Brand safety

Keeping ads off content that would damage the brand. Enforced pre-bid with verification vendors such as DoubleVerify or IAS.

Attribution window

The period after a click or view in which a later conversion is credited to the ad. Display often uses longer view-through windows than search.

CPA (cost per acquisition)

What it costs to win one conversion. The metric we judge display on, alongside view-through, rather than impressions or clicks.

Want these applied to your account? Start with the banner ad sizes guide or a free display audit.