Impression (online media)

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An impression (in the context of online advertising) is when an ad is fetched from its source, and is countable. Whether the ad is clicked is not taken into account. [1] Each time an ad is fetched, it is counted as one impression. [2]

Contents

Because of the possibility of click fraud, robotic activity is usually filtered and excluded, and a more technical definition is given for accounting purposed by the IAB, a standards and watchdog industry group: "Impression" is 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. [3] [4]

Purpose

Counting impressions is the method by which most Web advertising is accounted and paid for, and the cost is quoted in CPM (cost per thousand impressions) or CPI (cost per impression). (Contrast CPC, which is the cost per click and not impression-based). [5]

Construction

A movement is underway to move from the current standard of served impressions, to a new standard of viewable impressions. [6] [7] [8] The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Association of National Advertisers (ANA), and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) have joined forces in an initiative called 3MS (Making Measurement Make Sense), with the purpose of better defining the value of display media. [9]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">In-text advertising</span>

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In the online advertising industry, a viewable impression is a measure of whether a given advert was actually seen by a human being, as opposed to being out of view or served as the result of automated activity. The viewable impression guidelines are administered by the Media Rating Council and require that a minimum of 50% of the pixels in the advertisement were in an in-focus tab on the viewable space of the browser page for at least one continuous second.

A demand-side platform (DSP) is a concept that combines various software for advertisers to automate the process of buying and selling ad impressions in real time.

References

  1. "Yahoo Search Marketing Glossary". Archived from the original on 2011-10-13. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  2. Google AdWords Help: Impression
  3. IAB Glossary of Interactive Advertising Terms v. 2.0
  4. Interactive Audience Measurement and Advertising Campaign Reporting and Audit Guidelines
  5. Peter, Alex. "7Search PPC" . Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  6. Mane, Sherill. Measuring Return From Interactive Advertising. MASB Summer Board Meeting and Summit, August 2012.
  7. 1 2 http://www.iab.net/mmms iab. Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS). Cited 13 March 2013.
  8. http://www.measurementnow.net www.measurementnow.net. Making Measurement Make Sense. Cited 15 March 2013.
  9. 1 2 http://www.rosetta.com/about/thought-leadership/Display-Advertising-Trends-Standardizing-Viewable-Impressions.html Rosetta. Display Advertising Trends: Standardizing Viewable Impressions. Cited 13 March 2013.