Jargon Buster

The ability to show multiple ads in a single location, varying the treatment displayed on each new page load and/or within a single page load. Ads are generally rotated to either avoid consumer wear-out or as a part of ad optimisation and testing. 

Technology that serves, tracks and optimises online ads for brands across digital publishers. Ad serving companies can help make online advertising more streamlined for brands by serving as a single point of contact across a number of publishers.

An ad slot is an individual ad that plays within an ad pod. There can be multiple ad slots in each ad pod.

The method for recording campaign delivery metrics between adservers. Third party adserving tags or 1x1 tracking pixels are commonly used to track this data.

A video content service that is funded by advertising. This includes video services that are free to the user and hybrid solutions, which offer a subscription fee as well as showing ads. Broadcaster VOD services (e.g. ITV Hub) that are funded by advertising are included in this, but also YouTube, PlutoTV, etc. By using ad revenue, publishers can give viewers access to content for free or at a reduced rate.

A piece of software that can be overlaid within a browser, app environment or operating system by consumers which will filter out requests for advertising to appear within certain digital environments. Some adblockers will also block data calls used for tracking purposes or basic user functionality where a data exchange is necessary such as flight booking systems.

ATV is the ability to serve different ads to different target groups and audience segments watching the same linear TV content. This helps deliver more relevant ad content to each viewer. Addressable advertising combines the reach and power of linear TV with the possibility to be precise with data-driven targeting such as demographic profile, viewing behaviour, interests, and location. Three types of technologies are used for the delivery of ATV: HbbTV, IPTV, and OTT.

Ads.txt is a project designed by IAB Tech Lab to increase transparency in the programmatic advertising ecosystem. Ads.txt stands for Authorised Digital Sellers and is a simple, flexible and secure method that publishers and distributors can use to publicly declare the companies they authorise to sell their digital inventory, through a simple text file attached to a URL (an ads.txt file can be accessed by searching for examplewebsite.com/ads.txt). 

By creating a public record of Authorised Digital Sellers, ads.txt will create greater transparency in the inventory supply chain, and give publishers control over their inventory in the market, making it harder for bad actors to profit from selling counterfeit inventory across the ecosystem. As publishers adopt ads.txt, buyers will be able to more easily identify the Authorised Digital Sellers for a participating publisher, allowing brands to have confidence they are buying authentic publisher inventory. 

More information can be found here.

An umbrella term referring to any TV content that has evolved beyond traditional, linear TV delivery methods. Advanced TV describes new digital advertising capabilities and impression-based delivery applied to premium video content. Advanced TV generally encompasses OTT/CTV, VOD and addressable / data-driven linear TV.