Knowledge Bridge

Global Intelligence for the Digital Transition

C

Cache

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.

Caching

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.

Click

Click

A click can denote several different things.

  • It can be a metric that measures the reaction of a user to an Internet ad. In this context, there are 3 types of click:
    1. click-throughs
    2. in-unit clicks
    3. mouseovers
  • It can be the opportunity for a user to download another file by clicking on an advertisement, as recorded by the server.
  • It can be 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.
  • It can be a metric that measures the reaction of a user to linked editorial content.
Click Fraud

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 rate

Click rate

Ratio of ad clicks to ad impressions.

Click-stream

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

Click-through

The measurement of a user clicking on a link that re-directs the user’s web-enabled device to another Web destination.

Click-within

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.

Client-initiated ad impression

Client-initiated ad impression

One of the two methods used for ad counting. Ad content is delivered to the user via two methods - server-initiated and client-initiated. Client-initiated ad counting relies on the user’s browser for making requests, formatting and re-directing content. For organizations using a client-initiated ad counting method, counting should occur at the publisher’s ad server or third-party ad server, subsequent to the ad request, or later, in the process. See server-initiated ad impression.

CMS (Content Management System)

CMS (Content Management System)

Software tools or web services for creating and amending website content. Typically, CMS are browser-based web applications running on a server. All enable users to readily add new pages within an existing page template.

Contextual Advertising

Contextual Advertising

A form of targeted advertising on a website that is relevant to the page’s content. The advertisements themselves are selected and served by automated systems based on the content displayed to the user.

Contextual targeting

Contextual targeting

Targeting content that deals with specific topics, as determined by a contextual scanning technology.

Cookie

Cookie

A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie, is a string of text sent from a web server to a user's browser that the browser is expected to send back to the web server in subsequent interactions.

A cookie has a few core attributes - the cookie value, the domain and path within which it is valid, and the cookie expiry. There are other attributes as well that limit the cookie to HTTPS-only transactions, or hide it from JavaScript.

  • The domain and path define the scope of the cookie - they tell the browser that cookies should only be sent back to the server for the given domain and path.
  • Cookies that do not have a specific expiration date and time are automatically deleted when the web browser is next closed. Cookies with a set expiry time are considered persistent cookies, while cookies without set expiry times are considered session cookies.

In online advertising, cookies generally store a unique identifier, and may contain information like what ads were recently seen (for frequency capping), when the cookie was created (to discover short duration identities), and other simple attributes.

Cost Per Time

Cost Per Time

Cost Per Time refers to a form of online advertising, where the buyer pays for an advertisement to be placed on a website for a set amount of time. It differs from cost per impression, in which a buyer pays for the ad to be displayed a set number of times. Cost for time permits the ad to displayed unlimited times over the term of the contract. The duration can be as little as a day or as long as a year. Some contracts may allow for a guaranteed minimum number of impressions.

Cost Per Unique Visitor

Cost Per Unique Visitor

Total cost of the placement or application, divided by the number of unique visitors.

CPA (Cost-per-Action)

CPA (Cost-per-Action)

Cost of advertising based on a visitor taking some specifically defined action in response to an ad. Examples of "Actions" include such things as completing a sales transaction, or filling out a form.

CPC (Cost-per-Click)

CPC (Cost-per-Click)

CPC or cost-per-click is the cost of advertising based on the number of clicks received.

CPL (Cost-per-lead)

CPL (Cost-per-lead)

Cost of advertising based on the number of database files (leads) received.

CPM (Cost per mille)

CPM (Cost per mille)

Online advertising can be purchased on the basis of what it costs to show the ad to one thousand viewers (CPM) - also called Cost per Thousand (CPT). It is used in marketing as a benchmark to calculate the relative cost of an advertising campaign or an ad message in a given medium. Rather than an absolute cost, CPM estimates the cost per 1,000 views of the ad.

CPO (Cost-per-Order)

CPO (Cost-per-Order)

Cost of advertising based on the number of orders received. (Also called Cost-per-Transaction)

CPS (Cost-per-Sale)

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.

CPTM (Cost per Targeted Thousand Impressions)

CPTM (Cost per Targeted Thousand Impressions)

Implying that the audience one is trying to reach is defined by particular demographics or other specific characteristics, such as male golfers age 18-25. The difference between CPM and CPTM is that CPM is for gross impressions, while CPTM is for targeted impressions.

CRM

CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the set of business practices that guide a company's interactions with current and future customers in all areas, from sales, marketing, and loyalty programs, to customer service, and technical support.

Cross-site analytics

Cross-site analytics

Cross-site analytics are statistics that span multiple web sites. In the interactive advertising industry, there ware two main consumers for cross-site analytics - large publishers, who want to understand traffic behavior over multiple properties, and advertisers, who want to understand inventory before a campaign and success metrics afterwards.

Crowdsourcing

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.

CTR (Click-through rate)

CTR (Click-through rate)

Used to measure the success of a mobile or online advertising campaign. CTR = number of users who clicked on ad/number of times the ad was delivered.

This glossary is based on the IAB Wiki and IAB UK’s Jargon Buster. The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the trade association for online and mobile advertising. It promotes growth and best practice for advertisers, agencies and media owners.
For more information visit www.iab.net and www.iabuk.net.