Here are some of the most common online advertising terms as well as some of the terms that you'll encounter in the AdButler interface.

Accupixel
Advertiser
Ad item
Ad request
Backfill
Campaign
Channel
Click
Conversion
CPA and eCPA
CPC and eCPC
CPM and eCPM
Creative
CTR
CVR
Default ad
Header bidding
Home page takeover
Impression
Macro
Media library
Placement
Publisher
Schedule
Serving
Static weight
Targeting
Tracking pixel
Zone
Zone tag

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Accupixel

An optional feature in AdButler that loads tracking pixels after an ad item is loaded. This helps ensure that an impression is genuine. To toggle this feature, click on your Administrator name on the top left corner then click AdButler Settings. Scroll down and look for Enable Accupixel Tracking.

For more information, read Tracking statistics with Accupixel and Server side ad requests (via JSON API).

Advertiser

An entity that provides ads. This is usually a company that wants to promote its product or service. In the AdButler interface, the Advertisers section is where you create and manage campaigns, as well as view ad statistics.

Each advertiser has a unique ID called advID, which you can see on your browser's address bar when you're in that advertiser's section.

For more information, read How AdButler serves ads, Advertiser overview, Archiving Advertisers, and our Quick-start guide.

Ad Item

An individual ad. Ad items have a variety of forms, including text, images, and video.

Each ad item has a unique ID called bannerID, which you can see on your browser's address bar when viewing that ad item's properties.

For more information, read Ad item overview, Ad item types, and Pausing an Ad item.

Ad request

A call sent by a zone tag to AdButler's server asking for an ad to display. This triggers whenever the zone tag is loaded; either when the page loads, via a script event, or as a result of a user-initiated action.

For more information, read Requests vs. Impressions and VAST Impressions vs. Requests.

Backfill

The reserve ad items that are used when there are no ads that fit the requirements of one or more zones. Similar to a default ad, backfill usually comes from a programmatic source.

For more information, read Setting up Programmatic Demand (Open RTB) and AdButler Open RTB Endpoints.

Campaign

A collection of ad items. Grouping ad items into a campaign makes it much easier to assign them into a zone or a channel all at once. Ad items in a campaign also share a schedule and overall are treated as one placement.

Each campaign has a unique ID called campaignID, which you can see on your browser's address bar when you're in that campaign's section.

For more information, read Campaign overview, Different campaign types, How to Assign Campaigns to Zones or Channels, Pausing a Campaign, and our Quick-start guide.

Channel

A group of zones that exist in one or more publishers. These zones are related either by their content or type, such as an HTML5 zone or a VAST zone. Channels make it easy to assign ad items or campaigns to multiple zones at once.

Each channel has a unique ID called channelID, which you can see on your browser's address bar when you're in that channel's section.

For more information, read Channel overview, Creating a channel, and Assign Campaigns to Zones or Channels.

Click

This is simply a unit for the number of times an ad was clicked in a given period.

For more information, read about the metrics and other information in a custom report, Click tracking in HTML5/Rich Media banners, Custom Click Parameters, and Using Click Macros with Adobe Edge.

Conversion

A unit representing the goal of your campaign. Viewing and clicking on the ad are not enough; the goal must also be achieved for a conversion to be counted. Say you want people who see your ad to buy your product by clicking on the ad to go to your online store. In that case, a conversion will be counted only when a customer views your ad, clicks on the ad, and makes a purchase. AdButler's conversion tags track conversions.

For more information, read about the metrics and other information in a custom report, Basic conversion tracking, Advanced conversion tracking (server-to-server), and Setting up affiliate tracking.

CPA and eCPA

CPA stands for Cost Per Action. It's the industry term for the price of one action directly resulting from clicking on an ad, such as the viewer buying the advertised product or signing up for the promoted service. Advertisers set the CPA for their ads or campaigns.

In contrast, the Effective CPA or eCPA is a metric that shows the performance of an ad or campaign within a period. Its formula is ad revenue/number of actions obtained. Publishers can use the eCPA to compare changes in ad performance and improve their site or network strategy. You can view the eCPA of an ad or campaign by creating a custom report.

For more information, read Financial settings and about the metrics and other information in a custom report.

CPC and eCPC

CPC stands for Cost Per Click. It's the industry term for the price of one click on an ad. Advertisers set the CPC for their ads or campaigns.

In contrast, the Effective CPC or eCPC is a metric that shows the performance of an ad or campaign within a period. Its formula is ad revenue/clicks obtained. Publishers can use the eCPC to compare changes in ad performance and improve their site or network strategy. You can view the eCPC of an ad or campaign by creating a custom report.

For more information, read Financial settings, about the metrics and other information in a custom report and Publisher properties.

CPM and eCPM

CPM is short for Cost Per Mille. It's an industry standard for how ad impressions are priced. A CPM price denotes the price for 1,000 impressions. Advertisers set the CPM for their ads or campaigns.

In contrast, the Effective CPC or eCPC is a metric that shows the performance of an ad or campaign within a period. Its formula is (ad revenue/impressions obtained) * 1000. Publishers can use the eCPM to compare changes in ad performance and improve their site or network strategy. You can view the eCPM of an ad or campaign by creating a custom report.

For more information, read Financial settings, about the metrics and other information in a custom report, Publisher properties, Serve Method Options, and Managing Portal Inventory.

Creative

The displayed part of an ad item, such as text, an image, or a video.

Each creative you upload to your Media Library has a unique ID called creativeID, which you can see on your browser's address bar when viewing that creative's properties in the Media Library.

For more information, read Ad item types and Uploading your ad creative.

CTR

CTR stands for Click-Through Ratio, or the ratio of impressions to clicks in a given period.

For more information, read about the metrics and other information in a custom report.

CVR

CVR stands for Conversion Rate, or the ratio of conversions to clicks in a given period. For more information, read about the metrics and other information in a custom report.

Default ad

The ad item that will show when there's no ad that fits the requirements of a zone. This is usually a programmatic ad or an in-house ad, i.e. one that promotes the publisher itself.

For more information, read Setting a default or house ad.

Header bidding

A programmatic technique that allows a group of advertising sources to bid on a publisher's inventory of zones in real time. The bidding can occur hundreds of times in the brief moment before a web page loads in a viewer's device.

For more information, read Setting up Header Bidding Zones and Setting up Programmatic Demand (OpenRTB).

Home page takeover

An online advertising practice where advertisers obtain all the zones on the most viewed page or pages of a website. This locks out competition and is also used to present a themed set of ads at once. You can implement this technique using AdButler's roadblocks feature.

For more information, read Creating a Roadblock, Roadblock Ads in Email Zones, and Server Side Ad Requests (via JSON API).

Impression

The number of times a user has viewed an advertisement in a zone within a given period.

For more information, read about the metrics and other information in a custom report, Requests vs. Impressions, and VAST Impressions vs. Requests.

Macro

A short snippet of code that triggers AdButler to perform a set of functions, such as adding data to creatives, recording viewer information, or tracking ad performance.

For more information, read Basic Macro glossary and Advanced macro glossary.

Media library

In AdButler's interface, the Media library is where you can upload ad creatives such as images and zip files to our servers. This makes it easy to use those creatives repeatedly within ad items that you create in AdButler.

For more information, read Uploading your ad creative.

Placement

The details and statistics related to a zone assignment.

For more information, read How to Assign Campaigns to Zones or Channels.

Publisher

An entity that owns a website or an app that has space (aka zones) for ads. Publishers can own anything from small blogs and apps to major news sites and social media networks.

Each publisher has a unique ID called publisherID, which you can see on your browser's address bar when you're in that publisher's section.

For more information, read How AdButler serves ads, Publisher overview, Archiving Publishers, User Accounts, and our Quick-start guide.

Schedule

The duration of an ad campaign, indicated by start and end dates.

By default, you configure a campaign's schedule at the campaign level, i.e. when creating an assignment, you will set only one schedule for all the ad items in the campaign. However, when creating a campaign, you can set its scheduling to the ad item level. This will allow you to create separate schedules for each ad item in the campaign each time you create an assignment.

For more information, read Pacing & Schedule and Shared Schedules.

Serving

The industry term for the act of displaying an ad on a website.

For more information, read How AdButler serves ads, Getting Started, Serve method options, Serving 3rd-Party Ad Tags, and our Quick-start guide.

Static weight

An integer that dictates how often an ad item or campaign should be served relative to other ad items or campaigns that are assigned to the same zone. For example, ad item A has a weight of 2 and ad item B has a weight of 1. If all other settings are the same, ad item A will serve twice as often as ad item B.

For more information, read Pacing & schedule.

Targeting

A method of serving ads to or excluding ads from a group of audiences based on parameters such as keywords, geography, or device.

By default, you configure targeting options at the campaign level, i.e. when creating an assignment, you will configure only one set of targeting options for all the ad items in the campaign. However, when creating a campaign, you can set its targeting to the ad item level. This will allow you to configure separate targeting options for each ad item in the campaign each time you create an assignment.

For more information, read Targeting overview, Geographic and location targeting, Keyword targeting, Platform & device targeting, Data Keys, and Pacing & Schedule.

Tracking pixel

Tracking pixels are snippets of code that allow advertisers to record how viewers interact with ads. There are three main types of tracking pixels: Impression, Click, and Conversion tracking pixels.

All three types are based on the same technology. When the tracking pixel loads - either through Javascript or an HTML element - the server to which the pixel is connected records an event. Whether that event is an impression, click, or conversion depends on the tracking pixel. A service such as AdButler can then track the recorded statistic.

For more information, read Adding tracking pixels, Basic conversion tracking, and Tracking statistics with Accupixel.

Zone

A location on a website or an app where ads are served. Zones often have a defined area (width x height) that is measured in pixels.

Each zone has a unique ID called zoneID or SetID, which you can see on your browser's address bar when you're in that zone's section.

For more information, read Zone overview, Making a zone responsive, and our Quick-start guide.

Zone tag

A piece of code that is placed in the publisher's website that calls for ads to be displayed in a zone whenever a viewer loads the page.

For more information, read Zone tag overview, Types of zone tags, Zone Properties, and our Quick-start guide.