Digital Advertising Glossary
The language of digital advertising moves fast. This glossary covers the terms that matter most — from programmatic fundamentals and CTV to AI, identity, and measurement — each defined clearly and in context. Whether you're planning a campaign, briefing a client, or getting up to speed on the open internet ecosystem, this is your reference.
Inventory
Above the fold
(ATF)
Above the fold (ATF) refers to the portion of a webpage visible immediately upon loading without scrolling. These premium placements capture instant user attention, driving superior viewability rates and higher eCPMs across editorial environments.
Programmatic
Ad exchange
An ad exchange is an automated digital marketplace where publishers and advertisers trade ad inventory in real time. It utilizes machine learning to evaluate and execute impressions in milliseconds before a page loads.
Measurement
Ad fraud
Ad fraud is the deliberate falsification of impressions, clicks, or conversion metrics for financial gain. Combating ad fraud requires strict supply path verification and direct-to-publisher transparency safeguards.
CTV
Addressable TV
Addressable TV is a television strategy that serves specific ad experiences to individual households watching the same program. It leverages smart TV data to deliver precise audience addressability and eliminate wasted media spend.
CTV
Advertising video on demand
(AVOD)
Advertising video on demand (AVOD) refers to free or low-cost streaming services funded entirely by advertising revenue. AVOD combines the cinematic impact of traditional TV with the digital precision of cross-screen audience addressability.
AI
Agentic AI
Agentic AI represents advanced artificial intelligence capable of autonomously managing complex workflows like bid optimization and creative selection. Unlike standard tools, agentic systems adapt to real-time variables to secure optimal performance outcomes.
Measurement
Attribution
Attribution is the methodology of assigning financial credit to marketing touchpoints that drive user actions. Omnichannel platforms streamline this by tracking unified consumer paths across CTV, mobile, and desktop display.
Identity
Audience graph
An audience graph is a privacy-compliant data framework that maps consumer touchpoints across multiple screens and channels. It replaces third-party cookies with durable first-party identifiers to sustain sequential messaging.
Data
Behavioral targeting
Behavioral targeting is an audience addressability methodology using historical browsing and content habits to deliver relevant messaging. In premium environments, editorial engagement data provides a deeper signal of true consumer intent.
Measurement
Brand lift
Brand lift is a measurement framework quantifying a campaign’s incremental impact on awareness, consideration, and purchase intent by comparing exposed audiences against a statistically matched control group.
Inventory
Brand safety
Brand safety is the practice of ensuring brand messaging appears exclusively within appropriate, contextually secure editorial environments. Direct publisher supply paths offer the strongest structural protection against harmful content.
CTV
Connected TV
(CTV)
Connected TV (CTV) refers to any television set or streaming device connected to the internet. CTV merges the high-attention impact of regular TV with the precise tracking and data addressability of digital media platforms.
Data
Contextual targeting
Contextual targeting is a privacy-first advertising methodology that matches messaging directly to the specific editorial topic of a webpage. It respects consumer data privacy while unlocking high-fidelity intent signals.
Programmatic
Cost per mille
(CPM)
Cost per mille (CPM) is the foundational pricing model representing the financial cost an advertiser pays per 1,000 served impressions. It is most effective when weighed alongside viewability and real attention metrics.
Omnichannel
Cross-screen advertising
Cross-screen advertising is an integrated campaign strategy delivering synchronized brand experiences across CTV, mobile, and desktop. A single platform approach eliminates reach duplication and manages frequency across the household.
CTV
CTV HomeScreen
CTV HomeScreen is a native placement that positions a brand at the very first point of viewer discovery on smart TVs and streaming devices. It allows enterprise advertisers to own the moment before an application is even selected.
CTV
CTV InPause
CTV InPause is a high-impact ad format that transforms a viewer’s content pause into a valuable brand moment. It delivers non-intrusive static or interactive creative instantly while fully respecting the consumer experience.
CTV
CTV InPlay
CTV InPlay is a premium advertising format designed to keep brand experiences visible without content interruption. It places video messaging naturally within active streaming feeds so brands stay cleanly in sight.
CTV
CTV InStream
CTV InStream refers to premium video ad placements running directly within streaming television content, appearing during natural commercial breaks to deliver high-impact, television-quality brand storytelling on the living-room screen.
CTV
CTV Performance
CTV Performance represents data-driven media activations designed to optimize living-room screen campaigns for measurable, lower-funnel business returns. Powered by predictive AI, it bridges mass branding with predictable outcomes.
Data
Data clean room
A data clean room is a secure software environment allowing brands and publishers to safely match overlapping data assets without exposing raw user identities, maintaining absolute compliance with privacy regulations.
Data
Data management platform
(DMP)
A data management platform (DMP) is a centralized tech framework traditionally used to aggregate multi-source data for audience profiling. DMPs are transitioning toward customer data platforms built on durable first-party identifiers.
Programmatic
Demand-side platform
(DSP)
A demand-side platform (DSP) is a programmatic software interface allowing buyers to automatically purchase media across exchanges. Modern platforms enhance standard DSP mechanics by connecting beautiful creative directly with premium media.
AI
Dynamic creative optimization
(DCO)
Dynamic creative optimization (DCO) is an automated technology powered by predictive AI that generates personalized ad creative in real time. It pairs interchangeable visual assets with audience context to maximize message relevancy.
Measurement
Effective cost per mille
(eCPM)
Effective cost per mille (eCPM) is a normalized metric calculating gross ad spend or yield per 1,000 impressions regardless of the buying model. It provides a standardized framework for evaluating inventory cost efficiency.
Data
First-party data
First-party data represents durable audience insights owned and collected directly by a company from its own consumer interactions. It serves as the highest-quality signal for sustainable cookieless addressability.
Programmatic
Frequency capping
Frequency capping is a programmatic setting limiting how often an ad appears to the same individual. Unified cross-screen capping prevents media waste and ad fatigue across the connected household.
Measurement
Full-funnel marketing
Full-funnel marketing is a comprehensive advertising approach engaging users from initial awareness through to lower-funnel conversion. Success requires a single platform layer to connect upper-funnel exposure with concrete outcomes.
AI
Generative engine optimization
(GEO)
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the discipline of optimizing a brand’s visibility and authority within conversational AI search responses. It focuses on earning direct citations by anchoring brand presence across premium publisher networks.
Programmatic
Header bidding
Header bidding is a programmatic mechanism letting multiple demand sources bid simultaneously on inventory before an ad server call. It maximizes publisher yield while giving buyers clean supply transparency.
Identity
Identity graph
An identity graph is a database that securely stitches disjointed identifiers into a single persistent view of a consumer. It powers cohesive cross-screen activation and frequency controls without cookie reliance.
Programmatic
Impression
An impression is a single instance of an ad being delivered to a user’s digital screen. Because it tracks delivery rather than visibility, viewability and attention metrics are required for accurate validation.
Measurement
Incremental reach
Incremental reach is the percentage of net-new audiences engaged via digital or CTV channels that were completely missed by a traditional linear television buy, extending total household coverage.
Creative
InRead
InRead (video or display) is Teads’ signature outstream format embedded natively within the text of premium editorial content. The player activates dynamically only when scrolled into view, maximizing viewability and real attention.
Measurement
Invalid traffic
(IVT)
Invalid traffic (IVT) includes non-human traffic generated by bots or scrapers rather than authentic consumer engagement. Direct publisher relationships and transparent supply chains remain the strongest safeguards against IVT.
Measurement
Key performance indicator
(KPI)
A key performance indicator (KPI) is a quantifiable metric used to measure a campaign’s operational success against business goals. Clear KPIs ensure upper-funnel branding and lower-funnel performance metrics align toward predictable outcomes.
AI
Large language model
(LLM)
A large language model (LLM) represents sophisticated artificial intelligence architectures trained to understand and generate human text. Earning recommendations within LLM experiences requires deep integration across authoritative editorial content.
CTV
Linear TV
Linear TV is traditional scheduled broadcast television delivered via cable or satellite. Brands increasingly complement linear buys with CTV to capture light TV viewers and cord-cutters.
AI
Lookalike modeling
Lookalike modeling is a machine learning technique analyzing high-value consumer subsets to discover net-new lookalike prospects, expanding addressable campaign scale across the open internet without loss of precision.
AI
Machine learning
Machine learning is an AI discipline enabling systems to spot patterns and automate decisions from deep data pools. It drives real-time bid optimization, context addressability, and creative personalization.
Measurement
Media mix modeling
(MMM)
Media mix modeling (MMM) is an aggregated, privacy-compliant analytical framework measuring the business return of distinct marketing channels, uniquely suited for high-impact media like CTV that resist standard click attribution.
Inventory
Native advertising
Native advertising refers to ad units that match the visual layout and tone of their surrounding platform. Integrated within editorial content, native formats respect the consumer experience and capture high-quality attention.
CTV
OEM
An OEM (Original equipment manufacturer) is a company that manufactures physical smart TVs and hardware. OEM partnerships give brands premium real estate like the CTV HomeScreen, bypassing traditional exchange congestion for instant discovery.
Omnichannel
Omnichannel advertising
Omnichannel advertising is a unified media strategy coordinating brand narratives across CTV, mobile, and desktop via a shared data layer. It eliminates fragmentation to turn every screen into an outcome-driven screen.
Inventory
Open internet
The open internet is the premium ecosystem of independent websites, apps, and streaming networks outside closed platforms. It provides deep transparency, consumer respect, and critical publisher revenue diversification.
CTV
OTT
OTT (Over-the-top) refers to premium video content streamed over the internet, bypassing regular broadcast feeds. OTT describes the digital video delivery method, while CTV refers to the connected screen it plays on.
Inventory
Outstream video
Outstream video represents video placements that display natively outside of a video player, expanding directly between paragraphs of editorial articles to achieve long user dwell times and superior viewability.
AI
Predictive AI
Predictive AI is advanced machine learning that evaluates billions of real-time variables to forecast outcomes, connecting beautiful creative with optimal placements to maximize full-funnel return on ad spend (ROAS).
Programmatic
Programmatic advertising
Programmatic advertising is the automated, algorithmic buying and selling of digital media space. It evaluates and prices individual impressions instantly, matching creative assets with addressable target criteria in real time.
Programmatic
Programmatic guaranteed
(PG)
Programmatic guaranteed (PG) is a premium automated deal securing fixed pricing and volume between an advertiser and a publisher, combining programmatic precision with direct-sold inventory certainty for priority placements.
Inventory
Publisher
A publisher is a digital organization or media owner producing high-quality content. Premium publishers provide professional editorial standards and brand-safe context, driving trusted attention for enterprise brands.
Measurement
Reach
Reach is the total count of unique individuals exposed to a campaign over time. Unlike raw impressions, reach quantifies distinct consumer coverage, making it a vital top-of-funnel tracking tool.
Programmatic
Real-time bidding
(RTB)
Real-time bidding (RTB) is the millisecond-level automated auction process that prices and sells individual ad impressions as a webpage loads, pairing buyer criteria with available supply via instant data responses.
Programmatic
Retargeting
Retargeting is an activation strategy serving relevant messages to consumers who previously engaged with a brand’s assets, using first-party infrastructure to coordinate cross-screen sequencing gracefully.
Programmatic
Sequential messaging
Sequential messaging is a creative deployment method serving a structured series of ads to a user across screens, such as introducing a concept on CTV before driving conversion on a mobile device.
Inventory
Supply path optimization
(SPO)
Supply path optimization (SPO) is the tactical simplification of the programmatic supply chain to cut out redundant middlemen, ensuring more marketing budget converts directly into high-transparency working media.
Programmatic
Supply-side platform
(SSP)
A supply-side platform (SSP) is technology letting publishers aggregate demand and programmatically monetize space. Premium SSP layers implement deep structural controls for floor prices, brand safety, and verification rules.
Inventory
Transparency
Transparency is the clarity marketers maintain regarding placement pricing, fee structures, and execution context, forming the essential baseline for effective supply path verification and fraud mitigation.
Identity
Unified ID
(UID2)
Unified ID (UID2) is an open-source cookieless identifier built on encrypted, authenticated emails. It allows secure cross-device frequency controls and full-funnel measurement while respecting consumer choice.
Measurement
Video completion rate
(VCR)
Video completion rate (VCR) is the percentage of video impressions viewed from start to finish. VCR serves as an important benchmark of consumer attention, reaching its zenith in lean-back CTV environments.
CTV
Video on demand
(VOD)
Video on demand (VOD) is a flexible content delivery model allowing users to stream video whenever they choose. Ad-supported VOD unlocks high-attention inventory for scalable programmatic activation.
Measurement
Viewability
Viewability is the measurement standard verifying an ad had the true opportunity to be seen by a human, filtering out served-but-unseen placements to ensure clean programmatic validation.
Inventory
Walled garden
A walled garden is a closed digital platform that isolates audience insight and attribution entirely within its ecosystem. The open internet stands as the transparent alternative, offering independent verification.