Olive Canada Network

Terms A-C

Ad impression: an ad which is served to a user’s browser.
Ad network: an aggregator or broker of advertising inventory for many sites. Ad networks are the sales representatives for the Web sites within the network.
Ad request: the request for an advertisement as a direct result of a user's action as recorded by the ad server. Ad requests can come directly from the user’s browser or from an intermediate Internet resource, such as a Web content server.
Ad serving: the delivery of ads by a server to an end user's computer on which the ads are then displayed by a browser and/or cached. Ad serving is normally performed either by a Web publisher, or by a third-party ad server. Ads can be embedded in the page or served separately.
Alternate text: a word or phrase that is displayed when a user has image loading disabled in their browser or when a user abandons a page by hitting "stop" in their browser prior to the transfer of all images. Also appears as “balloon text” when a user lets their mouse rest over an image.
Animated GIF: an animation created by combining multiple GIF images in one file. The result is multiple images, displayed one after another, that give the appearance of movement.
Bandwidth: the amount of information that can be transmitted over communications lines at one time.
Banner: An advertisement on a web page which links to another web site or page. This often refers to a 468x60 format. Big Box – An ad format that is typically sized as 300x250. It is also sometimes called a medium rectangle.
Bounce: what happens when e-mails are returned to the mail server as undeliverable. Broadband an Internet connection that delivers a relatively high bit rate.. Cable modems, DSL and ISDN all offer broadband connections.
Browser: a software program that can request, download, cache and display documents available on the World Wide Web. Browsers can be either text-based or graphical.
Cache: memory used to temporarily store the most frequently requested content/files/pages in order to speed its delivery to the user. Cache can be local (i.e. on a browser) or on a network. In the case of local cache, most computers have both memory (RAM), and disk (hard drive) cache. Today, Web browsers cause virtually all data viewed to be cached on a user's computer.
Cache busting: the process by which sites or servers serve content or HTML in such a manner as to minimize or prevent browsers or proxies from serving content from their cache. This forces the user or proxy to fetch a fresh copy for each request. Among other reasons, cache busting is used to provide a more accurate count of the number of requests from users.
Cached ad impressions: the delivery of an advertisement to a browser from local cache or a proxy server’s cache. When a user requests a page that contains a cached ad, the ad is obtained from the cache and displayed.
Channels: a group of sites containing a similar category of content. Within Olive, inventory can be purchased across a channel to maximize reach
Chat: online interactive communication between two or more people on the Web. One can “talk” in real time with other people in a chat room, but the words are typed instead of spoken.
Clicks: 1) metric which measures the reaction of a user to an Internet ad. There are three types of clicks: click-throughs; in-unit clicks; and mouseovers; 2) the opportunity for a user to download another file by clicking on an advertisement, as recorded by the server; 3) the result of a measurable interaction with an advertisement or key word that links to the advertiser’s intended Web site or another page or frame within the Web site; 4) metric which measures the reaction of a user to hot-linked editorial content. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines. See also ad click, click-through, in-unit clicks and mouseover.
Click-stream: 1) the electronic path a user takes while navigating from site to site, and from page to page within a site; 2) a comprehensive body of data describing the sequence of activity between a user’s browser and any other Internet resource, such as a Web site or third party ad server.
Click-through: the action of following a hyperlink within an advertisement or editorial content to another Web site or another page or frame within the Web site. Ad click-throughs should be tracked and reported as a 302 redirect at the ad server and should filter out robotic activity.
Click-through rate: the percentage of clicks per impressions served
Click-within: similar to click down or click. But more commonly, click-withins are ads that allow the user to “drill down” and click, while remaining in the advertisement, not leaving the site on which they are residing.
Cookie: a file on the user’s browser that uniquely identifies the user’s browser. There are two types of cookies: persistent cookies and session cookies. Session cookies are temporary and are erased when the browser exits. Persistent cookies remain on the user’s hard drive until the user erases them or until they expire.
Cookie buster: software that blocks the placement of cookies on a user’s browser.
CPA (Cost-per-Action): cost of advertising based on a visitor taking some specifically defined action in response to an ad. "Actions" include such things as a sales transaction, a customer acquisition, or a click.
CPC (Cost-per-click): cost of advertising based on the number of clicks received.
CPL (Cost-per-lead): cost of advertising based on the number of database files (leads) received.
CPM (Cost-per-thousand): media term describing the cost of 1,000 impressions. For example, a Web site that charges $1,500 per ad and reports 100,000 visits has a CPM of $15 ($1,500 divided by 100).
CPO (Cost-per-Order): cost of advertising based on the number of orders received. Also called Cost-per-Transaction.
CPS (Cost-per-Sale): the advertiser's cost to generate one sales transaction. If this is being used in conjunction with a media buy, a cookie can be offered on the content site and read on the advertiser's site after the successful completion of an online sale.
Crawler: a software program which visits virtually all pages of the Web to create indexes for search engines. They are more interested in text files than graphic files. See also spider, bot, and intelligent agent.
CRM: customer relationship marketing. Marketing specifically targeted to increasing brand loyalty.

Terms D-F

DHTML (Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language): an extended set of HTML commands which are used by Web designers to create much greater animation and interactivity than HTML.
Dynamic rotation: Delivery of ads on a rotating basis.
Domain name: the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Every domain name consists of one top or high-level and one or more lower-level designators. Top-level domains (TLDs) are either generic or geographic. Generic top-level domains include .com (commercial), .net (network), .edu (educational), .org (organizational, public or non-commercial), .gov (governmental), .mil (military); .biz (business), .info (informational),.name (personal), .pro (professional), .aero (air transport and civil aviation), .coop (business cooperatives such as credit unions) and .museum. Geographic domains designate countries of origin, such as .us (United States), .fr (France), .uk (United Kingdom), etc.
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line): a high-speed dedicated digital circuit from a given location to the telephone company's central office, using normal copper telephone lines. DSL provides a separate channel for voice and fax, which means that phone calls and faxes can be carried at the same time high-speed data is flowing across the line. DSL is a general term that includes several variations: ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), ranging up to 1.5 Mbps; HDSL (High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line), 1.5 Mbps; SDSL (Single-line Digital Subscriber Line), 1.5 Mbps; VDSL (Very high-data-rate Digital Subscriber Line), ranging up to 2.3 Mbps; and RDSL (Rate Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line), various speeds.
Dynamic IP address: an IP address that changes every time a user logs on to the Internet.
eCommerce: product sales through a website
Encryption: the scrambling of digital information so that it is unreadable without the use of digital keys.
Eyeballs: reference to the number of people who view, or "lay their eyes on," a certain advertisement.
Flash™: Macromedia’s vector-based graphics file format which is used to display interactive animations on a Web page. This form of rich media technology is available via a plug-in.
Floating ads: an ad or ads that appear within the main browser window on top of the Web page's normal content, thereby appearing to "float" over the top of the page.
Fold: an ad or content that is viewable as soon as the Web page arrives. One does not have to scroll down (or sideways) to see it. Since screen resolution can affect what is immediately viewable, it is good to know whether the Web site's audience tends to set their resolution at 640 x 480 pixels or at 800 x 600 (or higher).
Frequency: the number of times an ad is delivered to the same browser in a single session or time period. A site can use cookies in order to manage ad frequency. Frequency cap – a proscribed limit on the number of times an ad is served to a unique user GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) – a common image file type, widely accepted for online advertising GUI (Graphical User Interface) a way of enabling users to interact with the computer using visual icons and a mouse rather than a command-like prompt/interpreter.

Terms I-P

Image map: a GIF or JPEG image with more than one linking hyperlink. Each hyperlink or hot spot can lead to a different destination page.
Impression: a measurement of responses from a Web server to a page request from the user browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and error codes, and is recorded at a point as close as possible to opportunity to see the page by the user. Instant messaging a method of users communicating one-to-one or in groups over the standard IP protocol. Users can assemble “buddy lists” and chat with friends, family and colleagues.
Interstitial ads: ads that appear between two content pages. Also known as transition ads, intermercial ads, splash pages and Flash pages.
Inventory: estimated number of ad impressions available on a given website or set of websites that can be delivered over a given time period.
IP address: Internet protocol numerical address assigned to each computer on the network so that its location and activities can be distinguished from other computers. The format is ##.##.##.## with each number ranging from 0 through 255 (e.g. 125.45.87.204)
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network): high-speed dial-up connections to the Internet over ordinary copper phone wires. DSL has in large part replaced ISDN. See DSL.
ISP (Internet Service Provider): an organization that provides access to the Internet. An ISP can be a commercial provider, a corporate computer network, a school, college, university, or the government.
iTV (Interactive Television): any technology that allows for two-way communication between the audience and the service provider (such as the broadcaster, cable operator, set-top box manufacturer) via standard or enhanced television appliance.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): file format that uses a compression technique to reduce the size (number of bytes) of graphic files.
Jump page ad: microsite which is reached via click-through from button or banner ad. The jump page itself can list several topics, which are linked to either the advertiser's site or the publisher's site.

Terms K-P

Key word: specific word(s) entered into a search engine by the user that result(s) in a list of Web sites related to the key word. The key word can be purchased by advertisers in order to direct the hyperlink opportunity to the advertiser's site or to serve an ad related to the user’s search.
Keyword search revenues: fees advertisers pay to retrieve the hyperlink opportunity to the advertiser’s site or to serve an ad related to the user’s search.
Log file: a file that records transactions that have occurred on the Web server. Some of the types of data which are collected are: date/time stamp, URL served, IP address of requestor, status code of request, user agent string, previous URL of requestor, etc. Use of the extended log file format is preferable.
Login: the identification or name used to access a computer, network or site. Mailing list an automatically distributed e-mail message on a particular topic going to certain individuals.
Makegoods: additional ad impressions which are negotiated in order to make up for the shortfall of ads delivered versus the commitments outlined in the approved insertion order.
Micro-sites: multi-page ads accessed via click-through from initial ad. User stays on the publisher’s Web site, but has access to more information from the advertiser than a standard ad format allows.
Mouseover: the process by which a user places his/her mouse over a media object, without clicking. The mouse may need to remain still for a specified amount of time to initiate some actions.
Netiquette: a term that is used to describe the informal rules of conduct ("do's and don'ts") of online behavior.
Newsgroup: an electronic bulletin board devoted to talking about a specific topic and open to everybody. Only a handful of newsgroups permit the posting of advertising.
Opt-in: refers to an individual giving a company permission to use data collected from or about the individual for a particular reason, such as to market the company's products and services. See permission marketing.
Opt-in e-mail: lists of Internet users who have voluntarily signed up to receive commercial e-mail about topics of interest.
Opt-out: when a company states that it plans to market its products and services to an individual unless the individual asks to be removed from the company's mailing list.
Page impression: a measurement of responses from a Web server to a page request from the user’s browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and error codes, and is recorded at a point as close as possible to the opportunity to see the page by the user.See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines.
Page request: the opportunity for an HTML document to appear on a browser window as a direct result of a user's interaction with a Web site.
Page view: when the page is actually seen by the user. Note: this is not measurable today; the best approximation today is provided by page displays.
Password: a group of letters and/or numbers which allow a unique user access to a secured Web site and/or a secure area of a Web site.
Pay-per-Click: an advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies and/or media companies based on how many users clicked on an online ad or e-mail message.
Pay-per-Impression: an advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay based on how many users were served their ads. See CPM pricing model.
Pay-per-Lead: an advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay for each "sales lead" generated. For example, an advertiser might pay for every visitor that clicked on an ad or site and successfully completed a form. See CPL.
Pay-per-Sale: an advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay agencies and/or media companies based on how many sales transactions were generated as a direct result of the ad. See CPS.
PDF files (Portable Document Format): a translation format developed by Adobe used primarily for distributing files across a network, or on a Web site. Files with a .pdf extension have been created in another application and then translated into .pdf files so they can be viewed by anyone, regardless of platform.
Performance pricing model: an advertising model in which advertisers pay based on a set of agreed upon performance criteria, such as a percentage of online revenues or delivery of new sales leads. See CPA, CPC, CPL, CPO, CPS, CPT.
Permission marketing: when an individual has given a company permission to market its products and services to the individual. See opt-in.
Persistent cookie: a cookie which remains on the user’s hard drive until the user erases it.
Pixel: picture element (single illuminated dot) on a computer monitor. The metric used to indicate the size of Internet ads.
Platform: the type of computer or operating system on which a software application runs, e.g., PC, Macintosh, Unix or WebTV.
Plug-in: a program application that can easily be installed and used as part of a Web browser. Once installed, plug-in applications are recognized by the browser and their function integrated into the main HTML file being presented.
Pop-under ad: ad that appears in a separate window beneath an open window. Pop-under ads are concealed until the top window is closed, moved, resized or minimized.
Pop-up ad: ad that appears in a separate window on top of content already on-screen. Similar to a daughter window, but without an associated banner.
Pop-up transitional: initiates play in a separate ad window during the transition between content pages. Continues while content is simultaneously being rendered. Depending primarily on line-speed, play of a transitional ad may finish before or after content rendering is completed.
Portal: a Web site that often serves as a starting point for a Web user’s session. It typically provides services such as search, directory of Web sites, news, weather, e-mail, homepage space, stock quotes, sports news, entertainment, telephone directory information, area maps, and chat or message boards.
Privacy policy: a statement about what information is being collected; how the information being collected is being used; how an individual can access his/her own data collected; how the individual can opt-out; and what security measures are being taken by the parties collecting the data.
Profiling: the practice of tracking information about consumers' interests by monitoring their movements online. This can be done without using any personal information, but simply by analyzing the content, URL’s, and other information about a user’s browsing path/click-stream.

Terms Q-S

Query: a request for information, usually to a search engine. Rate Card – price list of all available advertising products
Re-direct: when used in reference to online advertising, one server assigning an ad-serving or ad-targeting function to another server, often operated by a third company. For instance, a Web publisher's ad management server might re-direct to a third-party hired by an advertiser to distribute its ads to target customers; and then another re-direct to a "rich media" provider might also occur if streaming video were involved before the ad is finally delivered to the consumer. In some cases, the process of re-directs can produce latency. See ad serving, latency.
Reach: 1) unique users that visited the site over the course of the reporting period, expressed as a percent of the universe for the demographic category; also called unduplicated audience; 2) the total number of unique users who will be served a given ad.
RealAudio®: a software program that downloads and plays streaming audio files.
Real time: events that happen in real time are happening virtually at that particular moment. When one chats in a chat room, or sends an instant message, one is interacting in real time since it is immediate.
Referral link: the referring page, or referral link is a place from which the user clicked to get to the current page. In other words, since a hyperlink connects one URL to another, in clicking on a link the browser moves from the referring URL to the destination URL. Also known as source of a visit.
Referral fees: fees paid by advertisers for delivering a qualified sales lead or purchase inquiry.
Registration: a process for site visitors to enter information about themselves. Sites use registration data to enable or enhance targeting of content and ads. Registration can be required or voluntary.
Repeat visitor: unique visitor who has accessed a Web site more than once over a specific time period.
Return visits: the average number of times a user returns to a site over a specific time period.
Rich media: a method of communication that incorporates animation, sound, video, and/or interactivity. It can be used either singularly or in combination with the following technologies: streaming media, sound, Flash, and with programming languages such as Java, Javascript, and DHTML. It is deployed via standard Web and wireless applications including e-mail, Web design, banners, buttons, and interstitials.
ROI (Return on Investment): Net profit divided by investment.
RON (Run-of-Network): the scheduling of Internet advertising whereby an ad network positions ads across the sites it represents at its own discretion, according to available inventor. The advertiser usually forgoes premium positioning in exchange for more advertising weight at a lower CPM.
ROS (Run-of-Site): the scheduling of Internet advertising whereby ads run across an entire site, often at a lower cost to the advertiser than the purchase of specific site sub-sections.
Sample: a subset of a universe whose properties are studied to gain information about that universe.
Search engine: a program that helps Web users find information on the Internet. The method for finding this information is usually done by maintaining an index of Web resources that can be queried for the keywords or concepts entered by the user.
Sell-through rate: the percentage of ad inventory sold as opposed to traded or bartered.
Server: a computer which distributes files which are shared across a LAN, WAN or the Internet. Also known as a "host".
Server centric measurement: audience measurement derived from server logs.
Session: 1) a sequence of Internet activity made by one user at one site. If a user makes no request from a site during a 30 minute period of time, the next content or ad request would then constitute the beginning of a new visit; 2) a series of transactions performed by a user that can be tracked across successive Web sites. For example, in a single session, a user may start on a publisher's Web site, click on an advertisement and then go to an advertiser's Web site and make a purchase. See visit.
Session cookies: cookies which are loaded into a computer’s RAM, and only work during that browser session. When the browser exits, these cookies are erased. They are “temporary cookies”, and no cookie is written to a user’s hard drive. See cookie.
Set-top box: an electronic device that sits on top of one’s TV set and allows it to connect to the Internet, game systems, or cable systems.
Shockwave: a browser plug-in developed by Macromedia which allows multimedia objects to appear on the Web (animation, audio and video).
Shop bot: intelligent agent which searches for the best price.
Skins: customized and interchangeable sets of graphics, which allow Internet users to continually change the look of their desktops or browsers, without changing their settings or functionality. Skins are a type of marketing tool.
Skyscraper: a tall, thin online ad unit. The IAB guidelines recommend two sizes of skyscrapers: 120 X 600 and 160 x 600.
Slotting fee: a fee charged to advertisers by media companies to get premium positioning on their site, category exclusivity or some other special treatment. It is similar to slotting allowances charged by retailers.
Sniffer: software that detects capabilities of the user's browser (looking for such things as Java capabilities, plug-ins, screen resolution, and bandwidth).
Spam: slang term describing unsolicited e-mail.
Spider: a program that automatically fetches Web pages. Spiders are used to feed pages to search engines. It is called a spider because it crawls over the Web. Because most Web pages contain links to other pages, a spider can start almost anywhere. As soon as it sees a link to another page, it goes off and fetches it. Large search engines have many spiders working in parallel. See robot.
Splash page: a preliminary page that precedes the user-requested page of a Web site that usually promotes a particular site feature or provides advertising. A splash page is timed to move on to the requested page after a short period of time or a click. Also known as an interstitial. Splash pages are not considered qualified page impressions under current industry guidelines, but they are considered qualified ad impressions.
Sponsorships: integration of an advertiser’s message within a specific section of a site. It is often accompanied by the words “brought to you by”.
Static placements: non-rotating ad placements which run for a set period of time
Stickiness: a measure used to gauge the effectiveness of a site in retaining individual users. Stickiness is usually measured by the duration of the visit.
Streaming: 1) technology that permits continuous audio and video delivered to a computer from a remote Web site; 2) an Internet data transfer technique that allows the user to see and hear audio and video files. The host or source compresses, then "streams" small packets of information over the Internet to the user, who can access the content as it is received.
Superstitials®: an interstitial format developed by Unicast which is fully pre-cached before playing. Specs are 550 x 480 pixels (2/3 of screen), up to 100K file size and up to 20 seconds in length.

Terms T-Z

T-commerce: electronic commerce on interactive television.
T-1: a high-speed (1.54 megabits/second) Internet connection.
T-3: a very high-speed (45 megabits/second or higher) Internet connection.
Targeting: applied filters designed to reach the most appropriate user for the advertiser’s message
Textual ad impressions: the delivery of a text-based advertisement to a browser. To compensate for slow Internet connections, visitors may disable "auto load images" in their graphical browser. When they reach a page that contains an advertisement, they see a marker and the advertiser's message in text format in place of the graphical ad. Additionally, if a user has a text-only browser, only textual ads are delivered and recorded as textual ad impressions.
Third-party ad server: independent outsourced companies that specialize in managing, maintaining, serving, tracking, and analyzing the results of online ad campaigns. They deliver targeted advertising that can be tailored to consumers' declared or predicted characteristics or preferences.
Total visits: total number of browsers accessing a Web site within a specific time period. Total visits should filter robotic activity, but can include visits from repeat visitors.
Total visitors: total number of browsers or individuals which have accessed a site within a specific time period.
Transitional ad: an ad that is displayed between Web pages. In other words, the user sees an advertisement as he/she navigates between page ‘a’ and page ‘b.’ Also known as an interstitial.
Traffic: a website’s composition of users
Triggers: a command from the host server that notifies the viewer's set-top box that interactive content is available at this point. The viewer is notified about the available interactive content via an icon or clickable text. Once clicked by using the remote control, the trigger disappears and more content or a new interface appears on the TV screen.
Unduplicated audience: the number of unique individuals exposed to a specified domain, page or ad in a specified time period.
Unique user: unique individual or browser which has either accessed a site (see unique visitor) or which has been served unique content and/or ads such as e-mail, newsletters, interstitials and pop-under ads. Unique users can be identified by user registration or cookies. Reported unique users should filter out robots. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines.
Upload: to send data from a computer to a network. An example of uploading data is sending e-mail.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator): the unique identifying address of any particular page on the Web. It contains all the information required to locate a resource, including its protocol (usually HTTP), server domain name (or IP address), file path (directory and name) and format (usually HTML or CGI).
User centric measurement: Web audience measurement based on the behavior of a sample of Web users.
User registration: information contributed by an individual which usually includes characteristics such as the person's age, gender, zip code and often much more. A site’s registration system is usually based on an ID code or password to allow the site to determine the number of unique visitors and to track a visitor's behavior within that site.
Viral marketing: 1) any advertising that propagates itself; 2) advertising and/or marketing techniques that "spread" like a virus by getting passed on from consumer to consumer and market to market.
Visit: measurement which has been filtered for robotic activity of one or more text and/or graphics downloads from a site without 30 consecutive minutes of inactivity and which can be reasonably attributed to a single browser for a single session. See iab.net for ad campaign measurement guidelines. Visit duration the length of time the visitor is exposed to a specific ad, Web page or Web site during a single session.
WAP (Wireless Application Protocol): a specification for a set of communication protocols to standardize the way that wireless devices, such as cellular mobile telephones, PDAs and others can be used for Internet-based access.
WAP device: any device (e.g., mobile phone, PDA, or simulator) that allows access to wireless content.
WAP phones: mobile phones which utilize wireless application protocol technology to access the Internet. The screen on a WAP phone can be used to deliver ads.
Web beacon: a line of code which is used by a Web site or third party ad server to track a user’s activity, such as a registration or conversion. A Web beacon is often invisible because it is only 1 x 1 pixel in size with no color. Also known as Web bug, 1 by 1 GIF, invisible GIF and tracker GIF.
Web site: the virtual location (domain) for an organization's or individual's presence on the World Wide Web.
Webcasting: real-time or pre-recorded delivery of a live event’s audio, video, or animation over the Internet.

Glossary

Terms A-C

Terms D-F

Terms G-J

Terms I-P

Terms K-P

Terms Q-S

Terms T-Z