Ad Monetization Glossary: Terms From A to Z

Ad dashboards are full of short names, and the same name can mean slightly different things in two places. This glossary covers 46 terms you will meet often, with a small worked number wherever one helps.

Definitions follow common usage, and each network words its own help pages a little differently, so check your account when exact meaning matters. To turn any of this into an income estimate, use the revenue calculator. If you would rather start from a question, try the plain-answer Q&A.

A · B · C · D · E · F · H · I · L · M · N · O · P · R · S · T · V · W

A

A/B test

Two versions of a placement, cap or floor shown to separate halves of your audience, then compared. Run it for at least a full week.

Ad refresh

Swapping the ad in a unit for a new one after a set time, such as 30 to 60 seconds. Refreshing too fast can drag down viewability and bids.

Ad request

A call from your app or page asking a network for an ad. Requests are the denominator of fill rate.

Ad unit

One named placement with its own ID in the network dashboard, such as a level-end interstitial. Separate units let you read results by placement.

ads.txt

A text file at the root of a website listing the companies allowed to sell its ad space. The IAB Tech Lab publishes the specification.

Anchor ad

A banner pinned to the bottom or top edge of the screen that stays put as the page scrolls. A tall one crowds small phones.

app-ads.txt

The mobile version of ads.txt, hosted on the developer website listed in your store page.

App open ad

A full-screen ad shown while an app loads or returns from the background. It typically pays between banner and interstitial rates and needs a cap.

ARPDAU

Average revenue per daily active user: a day's ad revenue divided by DAU. $120 from 8,000 DAU is $0.015. The AdMob revenue calculator estimates the revenue side.

ATT

App Tracking Transparency, Apple's prompt asking iOS users whether an app may track them. A "no" usually lowers bids for that user; see how ATT changed iOS ad income.

B

Banner

A small strip at the screen edge that stays visible. It earns the least per impression, typically around $1 eCPM or less in Tier 1.

Bidding

An auction in which each ad source submits a live price for one impression and the highest bid wins.

Buy-side

The advertiser's end of the market: brands, agencies and the platforms that buy space for them.

C

Consent management platform (CMP)

The tool that shows visitors a privacy choice message and records their answer. Google's User Messaging Platform quick start shows the Android setup.

CPC

Cost per click: what an advertiser pays when someone clicks its ad.

CPI

Cost per install: what an app advertiser pays for each new install. Install campaigns fund much of the demand for game ads.

CPM

Cost per mille, the price for 1,000 impressions. A $5 CPM means $5 per 1,000 ads shown. It is the buyer's price, not always your payout.

CTR

Click-through rate: clicks divided by impressions. 30 clicks on 2,000 impressions is 1.5%.

D

DAU

Daily active users: distinct people who open the app on a given day. It is the base of ARPDAU.

E

eCPM

Effective cost per mille: revenue divided by impressions, times 1,000. $18 from 4,000 impressions is $4.50 eCPM. See eCPM in plain English.

F

Fill rate

The share of ad requests that return a paid ad. 900 filled out of 1,000 requests is 90%.

Floor price

The minimum price you will accept per impression. Set it too high and fill drops faster than price rises.

Frequency cap

A limit on how often one user sees a format, such as one interstitial every three minutes. See earning more from the audience you have.

H

Header bidding

A web auction where several demand partners bid at once, before the ad server picks, instead of being called one after another.

I

Impression

One ad shown. Networks differ on when it counts, so totals rarely match across dashboards.

Interstitial

A full-screen ad shown at a natural pause, such as between levels. It pays well but interrupts.

Invalid traffic

Clicks or impressions that do not reflect real interest: bots, accidental taps, self-clicks. Networks remove it from earnings.

L

Lifetime value (LTV)

Total revenue an average user brings over their time with the app. A rough ad-only estimate is ARPDAU times expected days active: $0.015 over 20 days is $0.30.

M

Match rate

The share of requests for which the network found an advertiser. Some dashboards measure it before display and some after, so check yours.

Mediation

A layer between your app and several ad networks that decides who fills each request. Mediation or a single network compares the setups.

N

Native ad

An ad styled to match your own layout, such as a list item. You build the template yourself.

Net terms

The payment delay in a contract. Net 45 means March earnings are paid roughly in mid-May.

O

Outstream video

A video ad that plays inside page content, usually muted when it scrolls into view. Website ad formats compared weighs its pay against reader annoyance.

P

Pageview

One load of a page, and the base of web RPM. At the time of writing, Raptive asks for 25,000 monthly pageviews, while Mediavine's main programme asks for $5,000 in annual ad revenue and its Journey programme for 1,000 Tier 1 sessions in 30 days.

Payout threshold

The minimum balance before a network pays. AdMob's is $100 at the time of writing, with a PIN mailed at $10. See the AdMob payment guide.

R

Retention

The share of users who return after day 1, 7 or 30. If 40 of 100 installs return the next day, day-1 retention is 40%.

Revenue share

The part of ad revenue a network keeps. Splits vary by contract; AdSense or Mediavine covers bloggers.

Rewarded video

An opt-in video the player watches in exchange for an in-game reward. It is the best-paid common mobile format, roughly $9 to $15 eCPM in Tier 1 across the networks we benchmark. See rewarded vs interstitial.

RPM

Revenue per thousand pageviews or sessions. $36 from 3,000 pageviews is a $12 page RPM. See what 1,000 pageviews earn by niche.

S

SDK

Software development kit: the code library from a network that you add to your app to show ads.

Sell-side

The publisher's end of the market: apps and sites with space to sell, plus the ad servers and mediation tools that sell it.

Session

One visit or play period, usually ended by a stretch of inactivity, often 30 minutes in web analytics.

Session RPM

Revenue per 1,000 sessions instead of pageviews. A $12 page RPM at 1.5 pages per session is an $18 session RPM.

T

Tier 1 / Tier 2 / Tier 3 geo

Country groups by ad prices. On this site Tier 1 is the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada; Tier 2 is Western Europe and developed Asia-Pacific; Tier 3 is the rest. Tier 1 often pays eight to ten times Tier 3 (see the mobile eCPM benchmarks).

V

Viewability

The share of impressions actually in view. The common display standard is half the pixels visible for one second, as defined by the Media Rating Council.

W

Waterfall

The older style of mediation: networks are called in a fixed order by expected price, each getting a turn only if the one above fails to fill. Bidding has largely replaced it.