A
Abandonment – when a user leaves a shopping cart with something in it prior to completing the transaction.
Ad banner – a graphic image or other media object used as an advertisement.
Ad blocker – software on a user’s browser which prevents advertisements from being displayed.
Ad campaign audit – an activity audit for a specific ad campaign.
Ad centric measurement – audience measurement derived from a third-party ad server’s own server logs.
Ad display/Ad delivered – when an ad is successfully displayed on the user’s computer screen.
Ad download – when an ad is downloaded by a server to a user’s browser. Ads can be requested, but aborted
or abandoned before actually being downloaded to the browser, and hence there would be no opportunity to
see the ad by the user.
Ad impression – 1) an ad which is served to a user’s browser. Ads can be requested by the user’s browser
(referred to as pulled ads) or they can be pushed, such as e-mailed ads;
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. See MediaScope’s Guide to Ad Network’s in the
Australian market.
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.
Ad space – the location on a page of a site in which an advertisement can be placed. Each space on a site is
uniquely identified. Multiple ad spaces can exist on a single page.
Ad view – when the ad is actually seen by the user. Note this is not measurable today. The best approximation
today is provided by ad displays.
Affiliate marketing – an agreement between two sites in which one site (the affiliate) agrees to feature content
or an ad designed to drive traffic to another site. In return, the affiliate receives a percentage of sales or some
other form of compensation generated by that traffic.
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 sequentially, giving the appearance of movement.
Audit – third party validation of log activity and/or measurement process associated with Internet activity/advertising.
Activity audits validate measurement counts. Process audits validate internal controls associated with measurement.
Avatar – A graphical representation of an individual in a game or other virtual world or environment
B
Bandwidth – the transmission rate of a communications line or system, expressed as kilobits per second (kbps) or
megabits per second (Mbps) for digital systems; the amount of data that can be transmitted over communications
lines in a given time.
Banner – a graphic advertising image displayed on a Web page.
Beta – a test version of a product, such as a Web site or software, prior to final release.
Behavioral Targeting- A technique used by online publishers and advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their
campaigns. Behavioral targeting uses information collected on an individual’s web browsing behavior such as
the pages they have visited or the searches they have made to select which advertisements to be displayed to that
individual. Practitioners believe this helps them deliver their online advertisements to the users who are most likely
to be influenced by them.
Blog – Generic name for any Website featuring regular posts arranged chronologically, typically inviting public
comments from readers. Blog postings are generally short and informal, and blog software is generally free and
very easy for individual users, making it a popular tool for online diaries as well as more professional publications.
Bonus impressions – additional ad impressions above the commitments outlined in the approved insertion order.
Bounce – see E-mail Bounce.
Broadband – an Internet connection that delivers a relatively high bit rate
Browser – a software program that can request, download, cache and display documents available on the World
Wide Web.
Button – 1) clickable graphic that contains certain functionality, such as taking one someplace or executing a program;
2) buttons can also be ads.
C
Cache – memory used to temporarily store the most frequently requested content/files/pages in order to speed its
delivery to the user. Caches 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.
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.
Caching – the process of copying a Web element (page or ad) for later reuse. On the Web, this copying is normally
done in two places: in the user’s browser and on proxy servers. When a user makes a request for a Web element,
the browser looks into its own cache for the element; then a proxy, if any; followed by the intended server. Caching
is done to reduce redundant network traffic, resulting in increased overall efficiency of the Internet.
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, typically by typing, though voice chat is available.
Chat room – an area online where people can communicate with others in real-time.
Click rate – ratio of ad clicks to ad impressions.
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 linked editorial content. See also, click-through, in-unit clicks and mouseover.
Click Fraud – Click fraud is a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person,
automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose
of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad’s link.
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 link 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-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.
Content integration – advertising woven into editorial content or placed in a contextual envelope. Also known as
“Web advertorial”.
Contextual Ads – Existing contextual ad engines deliver text and image ads to non-search content pages. Ads are
matched to keywords extracted from content. Advertisers can leverage existing keyboard-based paid search campaigns
and gain access to a larger audience.
Cookie – a small piece of information (i.e., program code) that is stored on a browser for the purpose of identifying
that browser during audience activity and between visits or sessions.
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-Customer) – the cost an advertiser pays to acquire a customer.
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).
Crawler – a software program which visits Web pages to build indexes for search engines. See also spider, bot,
and intelligent agent.
Crowdsourcing – Taking a task that would conventionally be performed by a contractor or employee and turning
it over to a typically large, undefined group of people via an open call for responses.
CRM – customer relationship management. Business practices that foster customer care, loyalty, and/or customer
support.
D
Display Advertising – a form of online advertising where an advertiser’s message is shown on a destination
web page, generally set off in a box at the top or bottom or to one side of the content of the page.
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.
E
E-commerce – the process of selling products or services via the Web.
E-mail Advertising – banner ads, links or advertiser sponsorships that appear in e-mail newsletters, e-mail
marketing campaigns and other commercial e-mail communications. Includes all types of electronic mail
(e.g., basic text or HTML-enabled).
E-mail Bounce – An e-mail that cannot be delivered to the mailbox provider and is sent back to the e- mail
Service Provider that sent it. A bounce is classified as either hard or soft. Hard bounces are the failed delivery
of e-mail due to a permanent reason, such as a non- existent address. Soft bounces are the failed delivery of
e-mail due to a temporary issue, such as a full inbox or an unavailable ISP server.
E-mail campaign – advertising campaign distributed via e-mail.
E-mail Inbox – Within a mailbox provider, the default, primary folder that stores delivered e-mail messages.
Expandable banners – a banner ad which can expand after a user clicks on it or after a user moves his/her
cursor over the banner.
Eyeballs – slang term for audience; the number of people who view a certain website or advertisement.
F
Firewall – a security barrier controlling communication between a personal or corporate computer network
and the Internet. A firewall is based on rules which allow and disallow traffic to pass, based on the level of
security and filtering a network administrator wishes to employ.
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 – The line below which a user has to scroll to see content not immediately visible when a Web page loads
in a browser. Ads or content displayed above the fold are visible without any end-user interaction.
Monitor size and resolution determine where on a Web page the fold lies.
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.
G
Geotargeting- Displaying (or preventing the display of) content based on automated or assumed knowledge
of an end user’s position in the real world.
GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) – a standard web graphic format which uses compression to store and
display images.
Gross exposures – the total number of times an ad is served, including duplicate downloads to the same person.
H
Hit – when users access a Web site, their computer sends a request to the site’s server to begin downloading
a page. Each element of a requested page (including graphics, text, and interactive items) is recorded by the
site’s Web server log file as a “hit.” If a page containing two graphics is accessed by a user, those hits will be
recorded once for the page itself and once for each of the graphics. Webmasters use hits to measure their
servers’ workload. Because page designs and visit patterns vary from site to site, the number of hits bears no
relationship to the number of pages downloaded, and is therefore a poor guide for traffic measurement.
Home page – the page designated as the main point of entry of a Web site (or main page) or the starting point
when a browser first connects to the Internet. Typically, it welcomes visitors and introduces the purpose of the
site, or the organization sponsoring it, and then provides links to other pages within the site.
House ads – ads for a product or service from the same company. Revenue from house ads should not be included
in reported revenues.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) – a set of codes called markup tags in a plain text file that determine
what information is retrieved and how it is rendered by a browser. There are two kinds of markup tags:
anchor and format. Anchor tags determine what is retrieved, and format tags determine how it is rendered.
Browsers receive HTML pages from the Internet and use the information to display text, graphics, links and
other elements as they were intended by a Website’s creator.
HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) – the format most commonly used to transfer documents on the World
Wide Web.
Hybrid pricing – pricing model which is based on a combination of a CPM pricing model and a
performance-based pricing model. See CPM pricing model and performance-based pricing model.
Hyperlink – a clickable link, e.g., on a Web page or within an e-mail, that sends the user to a new URL
when activated.
Hypertext – any text that contains links connecting it with other text or files on the Internet.
I
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 (IM) – a method of communicating in real-time, one-to-one or in groups over the internet.
Interactive advertising – all forms of online, wireless and interactive television advertising, including
banners, sponsorships, e-mail, keyword searches, referrals, slotting fees, classified ads and interactive
television commercials.
Internet – The worldwide system of computer networks providing reliable and redundant connectivity
between disparate computers and systems by using common transport and data protocols known as TCP/IP.
Interstitial ads – ads that appear between two content pages. Also known as transition ads, intermercial
ads and splash pages.
Intranet – a network based on TCP/IP protocols that belongs to an organization, usually a corporation,
and is accessible only by the organization’s members, employees or others with authorization.
IP address – Internet protocol numerical address assigned to each computer on the Internet so that its
location and activities can be distinguished from those of other computers. The format is ##.##.##.##
with each number ranging from 0 through 255 (e.g. 125.45.87.204)
ISP (Internet Service Provider) – A business or organization that provides Internet access and related
services, to consumers.
J
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) – Standard web graphic file format that uses a compression
technique to reduce graphic file sizes
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.
K
Keyword – 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. Keywords can be purchased by advertisers in order to embed ads linking to the advertiser’s
site within search results
L
Lead Generation- fees advertisers pay to Internet advertising companies that refer qualified purchase inquiries
(e.g., auto dealers which pay a fee in exchange for receiving a qualified purchase inquiry online) or provide
consumer information (demographic, contact, and behavioral) where the consumer opts into being contacted
by a marketer (email, postal, telephone, fax). These processes are priced on a performance basis
(e.g., cost-per-action, -lead or -inquiry), and can include user applications (e.g., for a credit card), surveys,
contests (e.g., sweepstakes) or registrations.
Link – a clickable connection between two Web sites. Formally referred to as a hyperlink.
Login – the identification or name used to access a computer, network or site.
M
Mailing list – an automatically distributed e-mail message on a particular topic going to certain individuals.
Microblogging – Publishing very brief, spontaneous posts to a public Website, usually via a mobile device or
wirelessly connected laptop.
Micro-sites – multi-page ads accessed via click-through from initial ad. The user stays on the publisher’s Web site,
but has access to more information from the advertiser than a display ad allows.
Midroll – Form of online video ad placement where the ad is played during a break in the middle of the content video.
See Preroll and Postroll.
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.
MP3 – Generic term for any digital music file
N
Netiquette – a term that is used to describe the informal rules of conduct (“do’s and don’ts”) of online behavior.
O
On-demand – the ability to request video, audio, or information to be sent to the screen immediately by clicking
something on the screen referring to that choice.
On-site measurement – when a server has an appropriate software program to measure and analyze traffic
received on its own site.
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.
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.
OTS (Opportunity to See) – same as page display – when a page is successfully displayed on the user’s computer
screen.
P
Page – a document having a specific URL and comprised of a set of associated files. A page may contain text,
images, and other online elements. It may be static or dynamically generated. It may be made up of multiple frames
or screens, but should contain a designated primary object which, when loaded, is counted as the entire page.
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.
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 user access to a secured 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. See CPC
Pay-per-Impression – an advertising pricing model in which advertisers pay based on how many users were
served their ads. See CPM.
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.
PayP-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.
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.
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., Windows,
Macintosh or Unix.
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.
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.
Postroll – form of online video ad placement where the advertisement is played after the content video plays.
Preroll – form of online video ad placement where the advertisement is played before the content video plays.
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.
R
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.
Real time – events that happen ‘live’ – at a particular moment. When one chats in a chat room, or sends an
instant message, one is interacting in real time.
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.
Rich media – advertisements with which users can interact (as opposed to solely animation) in a web page format.
These advertisements can be used either singularly or in combination with various technologies, including but not
limited to sound, video, or Flash, and with programming languages such as Java, Javascript, and DHTML.
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.
RSS / RSS Readers- or ‘Really Simple Syndication’– is a process for publishing content on the Internet that
facilitates moving that content into other environments. For example, top news stories on a newspaper website
can be published as an RSS feed and pulled into and delivered via a Web portal site. RSS Readers are software
programs or websites that enable users to subscribe to one or more RSS feeds, delivering content and information
from multiple sources into a single user interface and environment.
S
Search – Fees advertisers pay Internet companies to list and/or link their company site or domain name to a
specific search word or phrase (includes paid search revenues).
Search Paid listings – text links appear at the top or side of search results for specific keywords. The more a
marketer pays, the higher the position it gets. Marketers only pay when a user clicks on the text link.
Contextual search – text links appear in an article based on the context of the content, instead of a user-submitted
keyword. Payment only occurs when the link is clicked.
Site optimization – modifies a site to make it easier for search engines to automatically index the site and hopefully
result in better placement in results.
Search engine – an application 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.
Search engine marketing (SEM)– a form of Internet Marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their
visibility in the Search Engine result pages
Search engine optimization (SEO) – SEO is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site
from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.
Sell-through rate – the percentage of ad inventory sold
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.
Site-centric measurement – audience measurement derived from a Web site’s own server logs.
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.
Social Bookmarking– Aggregating, rating, describing, and publishing ‘bookmarks’– links to Web pages or other
online content
Social marketing – Marketing tactic that taps into the growth of social networks, encouraging users to adopt and
pass along widgets or other content modules created by a brand, or to add a brand to the user’s social circle of friends.
Social network – An online destination that gives users a chance to connect with one or more groups of friends,
facilitating sharing of content, news, and information among them. Examples of social networks include Facebook
and LinkedIn.
Spam – term describing unsolicited commercial e-mail.
Spam filter – software built into e-mail gateways as well as e-mail client applications designed to identify and remove
unsolicited commercial messages from incoming e-mail before the end user sees them
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.
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.
Static ad placement/Static rotation – 1) ads that remain on a Web page for a specified period of time; 2) embedded
ads.
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.
Streaming media player -a software program which decompresses audio and/or video files so the user can
hear and/or see the video or audio file. Some examples are Real PlayerTM, Windows Media and Quick Time
Player.
T
Text Messaging-text messaging, or texting – is the common term for the sending of “short” text messages,
using the Short Message Service, from mobile phones. See SMS.
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.
Time Spent – The amount of elapsed time from the initiation of a visit to the last audience activity associated with
that visit. Time spent … should represent the activity of a single cookied browser or user for a single access
session to the web-site or property.
Traffic – the flow of data over a network, or visitors to a Web site
Transfer – the successful response to a page request; also when a browser receives a complete page of content
from a Web server.
Transitional pop up – an ad that pops up in a separate ad window between content pages.
U
Unduplicated audience – the number of unique individuals exposed to a specified domain, page or ad in a specified
time period.
Unique Browser– An identified and unduplicated Cookied Browser that accesses Internet content or advertising
during a measurement period. This definition requires taking account for the potentially inflationary impact of
cookie deletion among certain of the cookied browsers that access Internet content.
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.
Unique visitor –a unique user who accesses a Web site within a specific time period. See unique user.
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).
URL tagging – the process of embedding unique identifiers into URLs contained in HTML content.These identifiers
are recognized by Web servers on subsequent browser requests.Identifying visitors through information in the
URLs should also allow for an acceptable calculation of visits, if caching is avoided.
User – an individual with access to the World Wide Web.
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.
V
View – Often used as a synonym for ‘impression’.
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 – A single continuous set of activity attributable to a cookied browser or user (if registration-based or a panel
participant) resulting in one or more pulled text and/or graphics downloads from a site.
Visit duration – the length of time the visitor is exposed to a specific ad, Web page or Web site during a single session.
Visitor – individual or browser which accesses a Web site within a specific time period.
W
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 events audio, video, or animation over the Internet.
Widget – A small application designed to reside on a desktop (Mac OS X or Windows Vista) or within a Web-based
portal or social network site (e.g., MySpace or Facebook) offering useful or entertaining functionality to the end user
Wi-Fi – Any of a family of wireless LAN data standards used fairly ubiquitously for corporate and home connectivity.
Also available as ‘hotspots’in public areas such as cafes and airport terminals, either for free or for a one-time use
charge or subscription fee.
Y
Yield – the percentage of clicks vs. impressions on an ad within a specific page.
Yield Management– Yield and Revenue Management is the process of understanding, anticipating and influencing
advertiser and consumer behavior in order to maximize profits through better selling, pricing, packaging and
inventory management, while delivering value to advertisers and site users.