1
First-party data
This user data is collected directly by the visited website without the involvement of external intermediaries. It usually includes information about customers or potential visitors to the website. First-party data is used to analyze user behavior, better understand target groups, and optimize the user experience. It is often collected using logins, registrations, or cookies.
2
Second-party data
2nd-party data is collected through partnerships with partners who share their own data. This information helps to supplement existing first-party data and to gain a deeper understanding of the target group.
3
Third-party data
3rd-party data is usually provided by specialized third-party providers that focus on optimizing advertising and analyzing campaigns. They are often used for targeted marketing and are available to both buyers and sellers. The impending ban on third-party cookies for web tracking has been debated for quite some time (see also post-cookie era)
A
Ad exchange
A digital platform that allows advertisers and publishers to buy and sell advertising space in real time.
Ad impression
The number of times an ad is displayed on a website or in an app.
Ad server
The ad server is the central software platform used for the administration, delivery, and performance measurement of digital advertising media (such as banners). Publishers use it to manage advertising space and inventory, while advertisers use it to program and target their campaigns.
Agency Trading Desk (ATD)
The ATD is usually not a single desk but an entire department that works with a demand side platform (DSP), an ad server, and a DMP (data management platform). The aim is to simplify the trading of inventory for advertisers, agencies, and publishers and to optimize their digital advertising budgets through real-time bidding and ad exchanges while also ensuring brand safety.
Attention
A KPI that measures how much attention an ad receives from users, e.g., the amount of time a user looks at the ad
Attribution
The process of determining which marketing channels or campaigns are responsible for a particular conversion.
Ad fraud
Definition and measures to prevent ad fraud, e.g., invalid traffic (IVT), click fraud, or domain spoofing.
Ad clutter
The flooding of a website or app with a large number of ads, which worsens the user experience and reduces the advertising impact.
Advertising inventory
Inventory refers to the available advertising space that a publisher – e.g., a website, an app or a platform – offers for sale to advertisers. It includes all places where ads can be placed, such as banners, video ads, native ads, or other advertising formats. The value of an advertising inventory depends on factors such as target group reach, visibility, placement, and the context of the content.
B
Beacon
A beacon is a small code snippet embedded in a webpage or app that tracks user behavior.
Bid response
A DSP’s or bidder’s response to an ad exchange auction, including the bid and creatives.
Brand lift
A metric used to measure advertising effectiveness that indicates the extent to which a campaign has improved brand awareness or purchase intent.
Brand safety
A trending topic: Brand safety describes the protective mechanisms that ensure that ads do not appear in environments that may be inappropriate or harmful to the advertised brand.
Brand suitability
Similar to brand safety, this refers to the suitability of an advertising environment for a particular brand based on content and context.
C
Click fraud
Click fraud refers to fraudulent or intentionally generated clicks on advertisements with the aim of damaging a company’s advertising budget or generating unlawful revenue. There are various types of click fraud:
- Competitor click fraud: Competitors click on ads to exhaust the advertising budget of the competitor.
- Bot clicks: Automated scripts or malware generate clicks to artificially inflate impressions or CPC campaigns.
- Click farms: Groups of real people or automated systems that click on ads en masse in return for payment.
Click-through rate (CTR)
The ratio of clicks to impressions of an ad – expressed as a percentage.
Community Notes
A function on platforms like X that allows users to comment on or correct content to combat fake news.
Consent management
Consent management is designed to ensure data protection and transparency on the internet. As soon as website operators use non-essential cookies on their site, they must obtain the consent of the users to do so. Platforms are now available to manage, obtain, and update user consent across various digital channels. By intelligently orchestrating consent, they ensure compliance with legal data protection requirements such as the GDPR, while also improving the user experience.
Contextual targeting
With context targeting, advertising media are displayed in such a way that they are thematically aligned with the advertising message – e.g., via keywords or key topics. Since, in this case the content of the ads and the users’ interests match, they are generally perceived as less intrusive. In addition, context-based ads do not rely on third-party cookies and therefore promise success even in the post-cookie era.
Cookie
Basic but important: A cookie is a small file stored by a website on a user’s device to collect information about their behavior. See also first-party data, second-party data, third-party data, and post-cookie era.
CPM (cost per mille)
Also: thousand-contact price. A key figure in the advertising industry that indicates how much it costs to reach a thousand users with an advertisement.
Cross-media marketing
Cross-media refers to the holistic communication of advertising messages and brand content across media formats (e.g., print, online, social media). The smart networking of different channels creates synergies by ensuring that potential customers are repeatedly exposed to attention-grabbing content.
CTV (Connected TV)
Programmatic advertising on smart TVs, streaming services, and other IP-based TV platforms.
D
Data Management Platform (DMP)
DMPs are software solutions that collect, organize, and analyze large amounts of data from various sources. They aggregate data from sources such as websites, apps, CRM systems, or third-party providers and segment the information obtained to create user profiles and target campaigns. Data management platforms help convert raw data into actionable insights, for example, for personalized ads.
Demand-Side Platform (DSP)
A DSP is a platform that allows advertisers to buy advertising space programmatically.
DOOH (Digital Out of Home)
Programmatic booking and measurement of digital out-of-home advertising
Domain Spoofing
Domain spoofing is a form of ad fraud in which fraudulent websites pose as legitimate publishers to obtain advertising revenue. This involves faking a well-known or high-quality domain in programmatic advertising so that advertisers believe their ads are being displayed on reputable websites. Types of domain spoofing:
- Simple Domain Spoofing: A fraudulent website poses as a well-known domain in order to divert advertising revenue.
- Cross-Domain Embedding: Ads are embedded on low-quality or non-visible websites, even though they were sold as premium environments.
DSGVO (Datenschutz-Grundverordnung)
An EU regulation that governs the protection of personal data and restricts the use of cookies and other tracking technologies.
Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO)
DCO refers to a technology that adapts advertisements in real time to the preferences and characteristics of the target group. The content of the ads – such as images, text, videos, or call-to-actions – are automatically optimized based on data such as user behavior, location, device type, weather, or other contextual information. The aim is to increase the relevance of the advertising material for the target group and thereby improve the click-through rate (CTR) and the conversion rate.
E
eCPM (Effective Cost Per Mille)
The effective price per 1,000 impressions, which is calculated across various pricing models (CPM, CPC, CPD) and thus provides a uniform basis for comparability.
eCPM = (total revenue : total impressions) : 1,000
Engagement Rate
This term refers to a metric that measures a user’s interactions with an ad (e.g., clicks, likes, shares).
F
First-party data
This user data is collected directly by the visited website, without the involvement of external intermediaries. It typically includes information about customers or potential visitors to the site. 1st-party data is used to analyze user behavior, better understand target audiences, and optimize the user experience. It is often collected using cookies or pixels.
Frequency capping
The limit on the number of times an ad is displayed to a single user within a given period.
I
In-app advertising
Advertising displayed within mobile apps.
Instream
A form of video advertising that is displayed within video content, such as before, during, or after a video. See also outstream.
Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
An international trade association for the online advertising industry that develops and enforces standards and guidelines for the digital advertising industry, for example, the technical standard “Transparency and Consent Framework” (TCF).
Invalid traffic (IVT)
Invalid traffic (IVT) refers to non-human or fraudulent traffic on digital advertising platforms. There are two main types of IVT:
- General IVT: This includes crawlers, bots, and other automated systems that do not act fraudulently.
- Sophisticated IVT (SIVT): Advanced forms of fraudulent traffic, such as hidden ads, ad injection, or manipulation by malware, that aim to abuse advertising budgets and generate invalid impressions or clicks.
Inventory
Inventory refers to the available advertising space that a publisher – e.g., a website, an app, or a platform – offers for sale to advertisers. It includes all places where ads can be placed, such as banners, video ads, native ads, or other advertising formats. The value of an advertising inventory depends on factors such as target group reach, visibility, placement, and the context of the content.
L
Lazy loading
Lazy loading techniques optimize the loading times of advertising slots by intelligently loading them only when they become (or are about to become) visible to the user. This saves bandwidth and improves the user experience and viewability through smoother page loading processes.
Lookalike audience
A target group that has similar characteristics to an existing customer group.
M
Machine learning
Machine learning can help automate the bidding process and optimize bids in real time. This means that the bidding strategy can be continuously adapted to current market conditions. Smart modules use data analysis to tailor bids precisely to the objectives of the advertising campaign – maximizing ROI.
Made-for-advertising (MFA)
Websites created primarily for advertising purposes, often containing low-quality or irrelevant content.
Multitouch attribution
A model that analyzes the influence of multiple marketing channels on a conversion.
N
Native advertising
Advertising content that fits seamlessly into the environment of the website or app in which it is displayed. Usually consists of an image, headline, and text components.
Net ID
An identifier system used in a similar way to Utiq ID to collect and analyze user data for targeted advertising.
Net promoter score (NPS)
A metric that measures the likelihood of customers recommending a company.
Net view time
Net view time is the actual time during which a user actively views a digital ad. It indicates how long an ad has been in the visible area of a screen and has potentially received attention from the user. There are ad tech tools that optimize this valuable time – for example, through intelligent updates. These modules dynamically reload advertising banners as soon as they have reached their net viewability time. They count the actual viewing time of an ad and thus control the optional refresh of the advertising slot.
O
Omnichannel marketing
The coordination of marketing activities across multiple channels to create a unified customer experience.
OpenRTB
A protocol that standardizes the real-time trading of advertising space via ad exchanges.
Open web
Refers to the open internet that is not controlled by large platforms such as Facebook or Google but consists of independent websites and services.
Outstream
A form of digital advertising in which video ads are displayed outside of the actual video content, e.g., in text articles. See also instream.
P
Pixel
Here, the word “pixel” refers to a tracking element embedded on a website to record user actions.
Post-cookie era, cookie-less future
The post-cookie era refers to the time after the gradual abolition or restriction of third-party cookies for tracking users. In the post-cookie era, companies need to find alternative technologies and approaches to personalized advertising and user-centered marketing strategies that do not rely on third-party cookies. One option is contextual targeting technologies and first-party data models, which deliver digital advertising in a targeted manner and in accordance with data protection.
Predictive analytics
Predictive analytics is a subfield of data analysis that uses historical data, statistical models, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) to predict future events or behavior. The aim is to recognize patterns in existing data and to use these to make forecasts for the future – for example, which products a customer might buy.
Private marketplace (PMP)
Private marketplace or PMP is a term from programmatic advertising. What makes private marketplaces so private is the fact that advertisers only get access to the real-time bidding process by invitation. Marketers sell their advertising inventory in private deals and private auctions, in this case only to selected customers.
Programmatic advertising: The automated buying and selling of advertising space in real time.
R
Real time bidding (RTB)
RTB is an auction model in which advertising space is sold in real time. With some AdTech tools, this even works cross-media. They combine CRM and booking tools and analyze historical data, market trends and current campaign objectives to fulfill customer requests in record time. This minimizes costs through data-based bookings – and maximizes advertising efficiency through cross-media, targeted, and time-optimized placements.
Retail media.
Advertising within online shops or marketplaces, which is becoming increasingly relevant for many brands.
Retargeting
Re-engaging users who have previously interacted with a website or ad.
S
Second party data
2nd-party data is collected through partnerships with other companies. This information helps to supplement existing first-party data and gain a deeper understanding of the target group.
Self-booking
In online marketing, self-booking refers to a method in which advertisers or companies can book and manage their advertising placements and campaigns independently and without the help of agencies or third-party providers. This is done via a self-service platform that enables the entire process of campaign creation, monitoring, and optimization. With smart AdTech tools, the process can be simplified and the delivery of ads across different digital channels can be automated.
Semantic analysis
Semantic analysis examines and interprets the meanings and relationships of words, phrases and texts in digital content. The goal is to understand the context and intention behind the terms used rather than just focusing on the choice of words or the direct wording. The result: greater user satisfaction, more effective advertising campaigns, and increased business success.
Supply-side platform (SSP)
A platform that helps publishers monetize their advertising space by connecting it to multiple demand-side platforms (DSPs).
Supply Path Optimization (SPO)
strategies to find the most efficient way to purchase advertising inventory and increase transparency.
Sustainability
The internet does not work without energy, and online advertising is a CO2-intensive process because various partners are part of an ad request. It is possible to minimize resource consumption by optimizing energy-intensive processes with the help of appropriate tools to continuously monitor and improve the ecological footprint.
T
Tag management system (TMS)
A platform that makes it possible to manage tracking codes, tags, and scripts on websites. Smart tagging tools use automation to ensure that data is collected accurately and efficiently, reducing manual errors.
Third-party data
3rd-party data is usually provided by specialized third-party providers that focus on optimizing advertising and analyzing campaigns. They are often used for targeted marketing or reporting and are available to both buyers and sellers. The imminent demise of third-party cookies for web tracking has been discussed for some time.
Y
Yield management
Yield management refers to strategies for maximizing revenues from the sale of advertising space. AdTech tools, for example, help to analyze the performance of advertising space in real time and dynamically adjust the delivery of ads. The modules take into account factors such as user behavior, market trends, and historical data to determine the best time, the best partners, and the best placements. This way, advertising revenue is continuously optimized through a balanced combination of price and demand.