Advertising 101

Above The Fold (ATF): The area of a web page that is seen without the viewer having to scroll up or down. "Above the fold" ad placements are generally considered to be desirable because of their high visibility.

Ad Impressions: A measurement of how many times an ad is served to a browser.

Ad Units: A way of classifying ad types. Ad units include, banners, bookends, buttons, skyscrapers, etc.

Ad View: The appearance of an ad unit on a web page.

Animated GIF Ad: A moving image created by using sequences of GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) files.

Banner: A graphic advertising image that appears on a web page, most frequently across the top. The standard ad banner is 468x60 pixels.

Below The Fold (BTF): The area of a web page that is seen only when the viewer scrolls down.

Blog: Derived from "web log." A website that features typically chronological, informal views of the author, often inviting public comments from readers.

Bookends: Ad units on each side of The Nation logo on the homepage. See below:

Branding: Creating a product, service or company image and position that is recognized in the marketplace.

Browser: A computer software program that enables users to access and view web pages on the World Wide Web (www).

Call To Action: Text (such as "click here" or "download now" or "send e-mail") that encourages users to take a defined action. These ads generally have higher click-through rates (CTRs).

CGM (Consumer Generated Media): Posts made by consumers within online venues on products that they have used and/or purchased.

Channels: A website's organization of content based on categories or topics.

Click-through: The action of clicking a link within an advertisement. Ad click-throughs can be tracked and reported by taking the number of click-throughs divided by the number of impressions, multiplied by 100 and expressed as a percentage. For example, a CTR is 1% if 100 people are shown an ad and one person clicks through to the site.

Contextual Ads: Ads that are matched to pages with relevant content.

Cookie: A file of a user's browser that uniquely identifies him or her. Use of cookies makes it possible to identify return visitors and track their web actions.

CPM: Cost per one thousand impressions ("M" is the Roman numeral for 1,000). For example, $100 CPM means the advertiser pays $100 for every 1,000 times its ad appears.

Geo-targeting: Distribution (or blocking) of ads to a particular geographic location.

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format): A standard web graphic format that uses compression to transfer files between computers.

GIF89a: An animation tool for creating moving images that can be seen when transmitted to a viewer's page.

Half-Page Ad: A standard ad unit of 300x600 pixels.

Home Page: The main point of entry to a website or the starting point when a browser first connects to the Internet.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The coding in plain text that determines what information is retrieved and how it is delivered by a browser.

HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol): The format most commonly used to transfer documents on the web.

Impression: A measurement of how many times an ad is served to a browser.

Insertion Order (IO): A contract that outlines the specifics of an ad campaign, including pricing.

Landing Page/Jump Page: The advertiser's page to which a user is directed after clicking an ad.

LeaderBoard: A standard ad page of 728x90 pixels.

Log / Log Files: A file on a web server that keeps records of site transactions, including domain names and file requests.

Micro-sites, Mini-sites: A page or series of pages accessed by click-through from the original ad. The user stays on the publisher's web site, but has access to more information from the advertiser than a display ad allows.

Opt-in, Opt-in E-mail: An individual gives a company permission to use data collected from or about the individual for a specific purpose.

Page Views: When an ad connects to a user's browser.

Page Tag: A code embedded in web pages that counts page views.

Pixel: An illuminated dot on a computer monitor. It is used to indicate the size of Internet ads.

Post Click Activity: Tracking and measuring what users do after clicking on an ad, such as completing a transaction.

Rich Media: The technology that enables users to interact with a web page.

Roadblock Ad: An ad that appears during the transition between two web pages.

Run Of Site or Service / Run of Network (ROS / RON): The scheduling of Internet advertising whereby ads run throughout an entire site, often at a lower cost to the advertiser than the purchase of specific site subsections.

Skyscraper: A tall, thin online ad format that runs down the side of a web page. The Nation.com Skyscraper position features ads sized 160x600 pixels.

Sponsorship: Buying advertising on all or most of a specific section of a website or e-mail newsletter, thereby creating dominance and adding value.

Sticky/Stickiness: A measure used to gauge the effectiveness of a site in maintaining an individual user's attention (usually measured by duration of visit).

Surround Session: Advertising sequence in which a visitor receives ads from one advertiser throughout an entire site visit.

Targeting: The means by which an advertiser reaches an intended audience, usually defined in terms of specific demographics (age, sex, income), product purchase behavior, product usage or media usage.

Text Ad: An ad designed for text delivery. To compensate for slow Internet connections, visitors may disable "auto load images" in their graphical browser. They then see the ad message in text format in place of the graphical ad.

Third-Party Ad Servers: 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.

Traffic: The number of visits and /or visitors who enter a website.

Unduplicated Audience: The number of unique individuals exposed to a specified domain, page or ad in a specified time period.

Unique User/Unique Visitor: A single individual (as determined by IP address, cookies, or user log-in) who has either accessed a site or who has been served unique content and/or ads such an e-mail or newsletter.

Universal Ad Package: A standard group of ad units that most campaigns should include, for example, a superbanner (78x90 pixels), skyscraper (160x600), and a rectangle (300x250 or 336x280 pixels).

View-Through/View-Through Conversions: The method of tracking the action taken by users who view, but don't click on an ad. Advertisers are finding that views can generate a higher return on investment than clicks.

Visit: The number of distinct visits to a web site within a specified time period.

Visitor: Individual or browser which accesses a website within a specific time period.

Web Analytics: Tracking website traffic and behavior of visitors by analyzing the log files or page tagging.

Web Site Metrics: The measures used to evaluate a website. This includes total traffic and reach as well as frequency of use and origin of clicks.