Glossary of Industry Terms

allowlist

A list of mobile device IDs that are the target of a mobile advertising campaign. Allowlists are commonly used in re-engagement campaigns. Allowlists are also used by advertising exchange platforms; allow listed sources include publishers and networks on which a marketer has chosen to run their advertisements.

API

Application Program Interface. A set of programming instructions that allow your publishing app to communicate with the Liftoff Monetize server.

banner ad

An ad format that can be displayed alongside in-app content without interfering with the content. Banner ads are often run during CPC or CPM campaigns and can be found in a number of different creative sizes from fullscreen takeovers to more traditional leaderboard-style creatives.

click

The event of a user clicking on the call to action (CTA) button on an ad.

completed view

We define a video as completed if 80% or more was watched (for example 12s+ on a 15s video). Completes is the total number of video ads watched to completion.

CPCV

Cost Per Completed View. We define a video trailer as having been watched or “completed” if 80% or more of the video has been played (for example, 12 seconds of a 15-second video).

CPI

Cost per Install. An install occurs when a device downloads and opens an app at least once.

CPM

Cost Per Mille (1,000 impressions). A “view” counts as anything over 10% of the video played before the rest is skipped. For publishers, CPM is calculated as Revenue ÷ (Impressions * 1000) and tells a publisher how much they will earn for showing 1,000 video impressions.

CTA

The creative displayed after a video is shown and invites the user to act; for example, “Install me” or “Visit site.”

CTR

Click-Through Rate: the number of clicks over the number of impressions.

CVR

Conversion Rate: the number of installs over the number of impressions.

DAU

Daily Active Users. The number of unique devices opening the app on any given day (almost always looked at as an average over several days/weeks).

denylist

A publisher deny list is a set of advertiser IDs that a publisher wants to specifically prevent from showing ads in their app; typically because the advertising content does not match the nature or audience of the publisher app. An advertiser deny list is a set of publisher apps or user devices in which the advertiser does not want their ads to appear. A common example of deny list use is to exclude existing users from user acquisition campaigns.

DSP

Demand-Side Platform. An online platform that makes it easier for advertisers to buy display advertising on ad exchanges, ad networks, and other available inventory sources they are connected with. DSPs are a popular ad buying platform because they provide advertisers with the ability to buy from a wide selection of inventory, optimize campaign performance, and view reporting analytics from one, centralized interface. If used for Real-Time Bidding, a DSP enables you to buy media across many ad exchanges, as well as centralize ad bidding and reporting into one interface. Ad exchanges (like Google's AdX and Facebook's FBX in the desktop space, and Vungle Exchange for mobile), offer a market place where advertisers can bid and auction for available ad inventory in real time. The DSP in this example would have access to, and would allow its users to bid on the inventory available on all four ad exchanges. 

DVL

Daily View Limit: the maximum number of ads unique to a user|publisher that can be played in one day.

eCPM

Effective Cost per Mille (thousand). Calculated by dividing the total earnings of a publisher by the total number of impressions in thousands.

end card

Annotation used at the end of a video to promote other videos, create call to actions, and show extra information.

fill rate

The percentage of ads, out of all ads requested, when Liftoff Monetize is able to return an ad. In more technical terms: of the total events when playAd is called, the fill rate is the percent of times that Liftoff Monetize plays a video. The alternative is “fail to fill.”

frequency cap

Restriction of the number of times a specific user of an app is shown a particular advertisement. Frequency capping is typically used to prevent oversaturation of ads and wasted impressions to users who have already been exposed to the ad.

GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy.

IAB

Interactive Advertising Bureau. An advertising business organization that develops industry standards, conducts research, and provides legal support for the online advertising industry. 

IAP

In-App Purchase. This is a very common form of micro-payment within many applications.

IMP

Installs per one thousand impressions. IPM Calculation = installs/views *1,000

impression

An impression is when an ad is called to play. The user has entered the ad experience (the video need not have started to count as an impression).

incentivized ads

An outdated term referring to the ad placement of our videos inside a publishing app. This incentivizes people to watch our ads in return for in-game currency/boosts/unlocked content, etc. Incentivized ads are now known as rewarded ads. Liftoff has switched to using the term rewarded whenever possible. Legacy code still has incentivized in its object names.

interstitial ad

An ad that displays as a user navigates from one web page to the next. The ad fills the device window after the user leaves the initial page, but before the target page displays on the user’s screen.

initialization

The event of a unique SDK initialization for the app.

installs

Number of user installs of an advertised application.

inventory

Inventory refers to the impressions (opportunities to show ads within publishing apps), the supply side of the advertising business.

LTV

Lifetime value. Refers to the whole monetary value a user brings to an app, through purchasing the app, advertising, or micropayments, etc.

mediation company

Also referred to as a mediation layer, this is an SSP that acts on the behalf of a publisher to deal with all advertising entities, including ad networks and ad exchanges.

monetize

To make money out of an app. Publishers monetize their apps by letting Liftoff play video ads in their games, and then getting paid for views, clicks, and/or installs resulting from those ads.

MRAID

Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions. Rich media ads are non-static creatives and  typically appear in the form of video ads or animated gifs. Refer to the IAB for details.

PII

Personally identifiable information. Refer to GDPR.

placement

The time and position in the app where an ad is shown.

pre-cached

Video is requested from Liftoff by the device in advance and loads in the background, ensuring a seamless experience for the user when the video is due to be played (no buffering or loading time on the video).

programmatic buying

Ad inventory is bought and sold on a per-impression basis, via real-time bidding, similar to financial markets. With real-time bidding, advertising buyers bid on an impression and, if the bid is won, the buyer’s ad is instantly displayed on the publisher’s site. Real-time bidding lets advertisers manage and optimize ads from multiple ad networks by granting the user access to a multitude of different networks, allowing them to create and launch advertising campaigns, prioritize networks and allocate percentages of unsold inventory, known as backfill.

revenue

Earnings generated from in-app advertising.

rewarded ads

Refers to the ad placement of our videos inside a publishing app. This incentivizes people to watch our ads in return for in-game currency/boosts/unlocked content, etc. Rewarded ads are also known as incentivized ads. Liftoff has switched to using the term rewarded whenever possible. Legacy code still has incentivized in its object names.

return on ad spend (ROAS)

ROAS is the revenue gained from a user, compared to what it cost you to get that user. It is calculated as the revenue from a user divided by the user’s CPI. A ROAS campaign aims to programmatically reach the desired ROAS percent within a target horizon window. Simply stated, a ROAS campaign programmatically optimizes your ads to reach users who are more likely to make in-app purchases.

RTB

Real-time bidding. Refers to the means by which ad inventory is bought and sold on a per-impression basis, via programmatic instantaneous auction, similar to financial markets. With real-time bidding, advertising buyers bid on an impression and, if the bid is won, the buyer’s ad is instantly displayed on the publisher’s site. Real-time bidding lets advertisers manage and optimize ads from multiple ad networks by granting the user access to a multitude of different networks, allowing them to create and launch advertising campaigns, prioritize networks and allocate percentages of unsold inventory, known as backfill.

S2S

Server-to-server. Typically used in the context of server-to-server connections for tracking installs. This is done by posting back install events with a unique ID of the device to our API.

SDK - Software development kit. Code that the app developer must integrate in their app in order for Liftoff Monetize to provide the publisher with a way to communicate with our ad server and to request and show videos. Monetizing with Liftoff requires some setup on the Publisher dashboard as well as backend integration of our SDK.

session count

Session count refers to how many times users have gone into your app.

SSP

Supply-Side Platform. A technology platform that makes it easier for publishers to manage and sell their inventory on multiple ad exchanges and networks. An SSP acts like a yield optimization tool for publishers. It provides a platform where these publishers can more efficiently sell their available inventory on ad exchanges and to ad networks. After making their inventory available through the SSP, the publisher can set selling preferences such as price floor, preferred buyers, and the type of advertisements it wants displayed on its site. After a publisher makes its inventory available through an SSP, the SSP's job is then to optimize selling price, maintain quality of advertisements, and extend buyer reach.

user

A user is essentially a unique user|device combination. One device can have multiple user IDs belonging to different individuals; one user can own multiple devices. In our system, each unique combination is a “user.”

VAST

(Digital) Video Ad Serving Template. The Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB’s) VAST specification is a universal XML schema for serving ads to digital video players, and describes expected video player behavior when executing VAST-­formatted ad responses. VAST provides a common protocol that enables ad servers to use a single ad response format across multiple publishers/video players.

view

Our system defines a view as anything over 0% of a video: a view means that a video was started. Contrast with impression, which only means that the user has entered the ad experience (the video need not have started to count as an impression).

If you have any requests for additional definitions, please write us at tech-support@vungle.com

Questions?

Need further assistance, feel free to reach out to us, we’re here to help!

Was this article helpful?