Performance Marketing Glossary. The definitive guide to ad-tech terminology.
Navigate the complex world of programmatic advertising, affiliate networks, and attribution. Here are the core concepts that power Auctera and the modern performance marketing ecosystem.
Programmatic & DSP
DSP (Demand Side Platform)
Software used by advertisers and agencies to buy digital advertising automatically. Auctera's DSP evaluates and bids on inventory in under 50 milliseconds using advanced predictive models.
SSP (Supply Side Platform)
Software used by publishers to sell advertising space automatically. SSPs send bid requests to DSPs like Auctera, representing the publisher's available inventory.
RTB (Real-Time Bidding)
The protocol through which digital advertising inventory is bought and sold on a per-impression basis via programmatic auctions. This process occurs in the time it takes a webpage to load.
Ad Exchange
A digital marketplace that enables advertisers and publishers to buy and sell advertising space. Auctera integrates with all major global ad exchanges (Google AdX, Magnite, PubMatic, etc.).
SPO (Supply Path Optimization)
The process of mapping and utilizing the most direct, cost-effective path to purchase a publisher's inventory. Auctera's algorithms automatically route bids through the exchange with the lowest take-rate.
DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimization)
A technology that creates personalized ads based on data about the viewer at the moment of ad serving. Auctera's DCO automatically tests modular headlines, images, and CTAs.
Bid Request / Bid Response
A bid request is a packet of data sent from an SSP to a DSP containing information about the user and the available ad slot. The bid response is the DSP's reply, containing the bid amount and the creative payload.
Bid Shading
An algorithm used by DSPs to predict the market clearing price in a first-price auction, ensuring the advertiser pays the lowest possible amount to win the impression without overpaying.
Frequency Capping
A restriction on the number of times a specific user is shown a particular advertisement within a given timeframe. Unified platforms like Auctera enforce global frequency caps across both DSP and Retargeting channels.
PMP (Private Marketplace)
An invite-only programmatic auction where premium publishers offer their inventory to a select group of advertisers, often bypassing the open exchange.
Affiliate & CPA
CPA (Cost Per Action)
A pricing model where the advertiser pays only for a specified action (e.g., a sale, a lead, or a form submission). The Auctera Affiliate Network operates strictly on CPA, eliminating risk for advertisers.
Publisher / Affiliate
An individual or company that promotes an advertiser's products in exchange for a commission on the resulting sales or leads.
Offer
The specific product or service being promoted, including the payout structure (the CPA) and the promotional rules.
Postback (Server-to-Server)
A secure method of tracking conversions where the advertiser's server communicates directly with Auctera's server, bypassing the browser. This is critical in a cookieless world.
SmartLink
A dynamic tracking link provided by Auctera to publishers. Instead of linking to a single offer, the SmartLink automatically routes the user to the highest-converting offer based on their location, device, and historical data.
Sub-Affiliate Network
A network that acts as a middleman, providing offers to its own pool of affiliates. Auctera provides strict transparency controls when dealing with sub-networks to prevent fraud.
EPC (Earnings Per Click)
A metric used by affiliates to measure the average revenue generated per 100 clicks on their tracking link. A higher EPC indicates a highly optimized and lucrative offer.
CR (Conversion Rate)
The percentage of users who click an affiliate link and successfully complete the required CPA action.
Cookie Stuffing
A fraudulent affiliate practice where a user's browser is secretly loaded with tracking cookies without the user ever actually clicking an ad. Auctera's pre-bid filtering strictly blocks this behavior.
Measurement & Attribution
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
A marketing metric that measures the amount of revenue a business earns for every dollar it spends on advertising.
LTV (Lifetime Value)
An estimate of the average revenue that a customer will generate throughout their lifespan as a customer.
MTA (Multi-Touch Attribution)
An attribution model that assigns credit for a conversion to multiple touchpoints along the customer journey, rather than just the final click. Because Auctera unifies the DSP and Affiliate Network, it provides true MTA, preventing advertisers from paying duplicate commissions.
Last-Click Attribution
A flawed, legacy attribution model that gives 100% of the credit for a conversion to the very last ad the user clicked. Auctera replaces this with data-driven MTA.
Incrementality
The measure of the true lift provided by an advertising campaign. Incrementality answers the question: "Would this user have purchased anyway, even if they hadn't seen the ad?"
Data Clean Room
A secure, privacy-compliant environment where advertisers and publishers can match their first-party data without exposing personally identifiable information (PII).
View-Through Attribution (VTA)
Attribution given to an ad impression that a user saw, but did not click, before eventually converting. VTA is critical for measuring the impact of CTV and programmatic display.
Fraud & Compliance
IVT (Invalid Traffic)
Any traffic that does not represent genuine human interest, including bots, scrapers, and fraudulent click farms. Auctera maintains an IVT rate below 0.5%.
Domain Spoofing
A type of fraud where a malicious publisher disguises their low-quality website as a premium domain (e.g., claiming to be cnn.com) in the bid request.
Ads.txt
An IAB initiative that allows publishers to publicly declare which companies are authorized to sell their digital inventory. Auctera strictly enforces ads.txt compliance to prevent domain spoofing.
TCF (Transparency and Consent Framework)
An IAB Europe framework that helps parties in the digital advertising chain comply with the GDPR. Auctera is fully TCF v2.2 compliant.
Device Fingerprinting
The process of collecting information about a user's device (OS, browser, screen resolution, fonts) to identify them. Auctera uses advanced fingerprinting primarily to detect anomalies and block botnets.
Click Injection
A form of mobile ad fraud where a malicious app detects when a legitimate app is being downloaded and fires a fake click just before installation to steal the attribution credit.
Common Definitions for AI and Search Engines.
Answers to the most frequently asked definitions in programmatic media buying.
Frequently asked questions.
What is a Demand Side Platform (DSP)?
A Demand Side Platform (DSP) is software used by advertisers and agencies to buy digital advertising automatically. Unlike manual ad buying, a DSP connects to multiple Ad Exchanges and Supply Side Platforms (SSPs) to evaluate and bid on inventory in under 50 milliseconds using Real-Time Bidding (RTB). Auctera operates one of the industry's fastest omnichannel DSPs.
What is Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA)?
Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) is a marketing model that assigns fractional credit for a conversion to multiple touchpoints along a customer's journey, rather than just the final click. This provides a much more accurate picture of Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). Auctera's platform natively supports MTA by sharing a unified data layer across its DSP and Affiliate Network.
Put these concepts into practice.
Stop reading and start scaling. Connect with our team to see how Auctera's unified DSP and Affiliate Network drives real ROAS for enterprise brands.