Programmatic Audio Buying Glossary

There are a wide variety of terms used in programmatic advertising today. Browse our glossary below for definitions of some of the more commonly used terms.

 

Ad Exchange/Marketplace

A marketplace for sellers to provide aggregated inventory to buyers through an auction service.

 

Advertiser Opportunities or Advertiser Avails

The number of auctions considered sellable to a unique advertiser (Frequency capping is considered, to avoid the insertion of the same ads back-to-back).

 

Auction Service

A service through which buyers may buy inventory through RTB.

 

Audience Targeting

Audience targeting enables a brand to be more accurate when choosing who will see an ad, i.e. demo and gender, 1st party data (via Registration Information), 3rd party data (via Publishers making 1st party registration data available on other publishers’ websites), and Retargeting (via cookies and Ad IDs to track browsing and purchasing history)

 

Bid Request

The inventory offered by sellers to buyer using an auction service.

 

Bid Response

The information, specifications and rules submitted to Sellers by Buyers in response to a bid request.

 

Buyer / Demand-Side

An agency representing advertisers buying ad inventory.

 

Cookie

Identifier attached to a person’s internet browser to track the sites he or she visits.

 

Cookie-Sync Mechanism

The matching process of the SSP cookie to the DSP cookie.

 

Data Management Platform (DMP)

A system that allows the collection of audience intelligence to buyers, thereby allowing better ad targeting in subsequent campaigns.

 

Deal ID

A piece of code containing the agreed-upon terms (negotiated pricing, for example) between an advertiser and publisher that allows the advertiser to access the publisher’s inventory.

 

Delivery Rate

The percentage of auctions won that were delivered to a listener with recorded impressions.

 

Demand Side Platform (DSP)

A technology platform that provides centralized and aggregated media buying from multiple sources including ad exchanges, ad networks and sell side platforms. Using a DSP allows for analysis of performance metrics.

 

Device Targeting

The act of targeting audience by Devices (i.e. iPod, Android, Tablet, etc.) or Consoles used (i.e. PlayStation, Apple TV, Roku, etc.)

 

Evergreen deals

A packaging of audience or publishers that facilitates the bidding process. Evergreen deals compete with open market deals.

 

Fill Rate

The percentage of opportunities that reported an impression.

 

First-Party Data

Data that a company has collected directly, i.e. a retailer’s list of loyalty members.

 

First-Price Auction

When a buyer pays exactly what they bid. There is an exception to this rule when the buyer is bidding against a deal.

 

Frequency Capping

The restriction (capping) of the number of times a specific listener is served a particular ad.

 

Geo-Targeting

The practice of showing an ad to an individual based on a number of geographic targeting parameters, such as MSA, DMA, City and Zip Code, Longitude/Latitude (Gathered from IP and/or GPS), etc.

 

Hard Floor

The minimum price that a publisher is willing to accept for its audio inventory. If a buyer bids less than the hard floor, the buy is automatically rejected.

 

Opportunities or Avails

The number of auctions that are considered sellable.

 

Private deals

Direct deals made between a buyer and a publisher. In the marketplace, private deals have access to inventory before the open market does.

 

Programmatic Advertising Marketplace/Exchange

An online marketplace for advertisers to buy and sell inventory, often through real-time auctions.

 

Programmatic Buying

A method that enables Buyers to show a highly targeted piece of advertiser content to a consumer through RTB.

 

Programmatic Direct

An ad buy done directly between a publisher and advertiser through automated ad-buying systems.

 

Programmatic Non-Reserved

The typical automated ad buy. It’s similar to an open auction in which relatively anyone can bid to buy ad space that is up for sale.

 

Programmatic Reserved

An automated ad buy that is only open to a specified set of advertisers.

 

Radio Targeting

Format or Genre

 

Real-Time Bidding (RTB)

Ad inventory bought or bid for in real time

 

Second-Price Auction

An auction by which the highest bidder pays 1 cent more than the second highest bidder. (i.e. If the first Buyer bid wins at $14 and the second Buyer bids $12, the first Buyer will win the bid paying $12.01 when the second price bidding policy is in place.)

 

Seller / Supply-Side

A digital service from a traditional broadcaster or a streaming audio platform.

 

Sell Side Platform (SSP)

A technology platform that provides outsourced media selling services or applications for sellers that optimizes the yield across demand side partners.

 

Soft Floor

The minimum price for inventory, as specified by the publisher. This price can be lowered if a second-price auction option is in place. The bid will not be rejected if it comes in below the soft floor.

 

SSP

An SSP, or Supply-Side Platform, is a technology platform that enables publishers to manage their advertising space inventory, fill it with ads, and receive revenue. This system allows advertisers to put online advertising before a selected target audience.

 

Third-Party Data

Information that a company collects indirectly (such as through cookies) or aggregates from others (such as credit card companies and magazine publishers) and then sells to ad buyers to aid in targeting.

 

Trading Desk

A department or subsidiary of an advertising or media agency. Considered as an "internal" center of excellence for managing digital advertising buying on behalf of agency clients. Optimizes buying and campaign deployment according to advertisers’ goals based on CPM, CPC, CPA and other branding metrics, all while ensuring brand safety. Manages data by using advertiser or 3rd party data. Ensures reporting and billing across the different third parties.

 

Triton Programmatic Audio Marketplace

The world's first programmatic marketplace for digital audio that supports both open marketplace as well as private deals. It contains a wide array of inventory from thousands of podcasters, radio broadcasters, web radios, and online music services from around the globe.

Unique-User/Device ID

Identifier assigned to a device or user that lasts until the device is reset or the account is deleted.

Yield Optimization

A technique used by ad servers to determine the value of ad impressions and to maximize revenue from potential advertisers.