Ad views

The number of times an ad is requested and presumably seen by visitors. Ad views may understate the number of gross exposures due to browser caching.

Ad clicks

The number of times users click on an ad, typically leading to the advertiser's Web site.

Ad click rate

Sometimes referred to as a "click-through," this is the percentage of ad views that resulted in an ad click.

Banner

A hyperlinked ("clickable")advertising graphic image. The common ad format encountered on web-sites. CASIE, and the Internet Advertising Bureau, have agreed to a standard set of banner sizes:

PIXEL SIZE AD TYPE

468 x 60 Full banner
460 x 55 Full banner
392 x 72 banner with vertical navigation bar
234 x 60 Half banner
125 x 125 Square button
120 x 90 Button
120 x 60 Button
88 x 31 Micro button
120 x 240 Vertical banner

Browser Caching

The storage of recently viewed pages on a user's disk by the browser. To speed browsing, if a user revisits a page, browsers display pages from the disk instead of requesting them again from the Web site's server. As a result, Web servers under count the number of times a page, which has been cached, is viewed.

CPM

Cost per thousand impressions, the price for delivering one thousand impressions at a particular Web site. A Web site that charges $15,000 per banner and guarantees 600,000 impressions has a CPM of $25 ($15,000 divided by 600).

C.A.S.l.E.

The Coalition for Advertising-Supported Information and Entertainment (C.A.S.I.E.) A joint effort of the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies, with the cooperation of the Advertising Research Foundation. Efforts are aimed at assuring "best media research practices." Standardized terms and measurements and among other results, with the Internet Advertising Bureau, have set a standard for ad "banner' sizes to help make measurements comparable. See <a href="http://www.commercepark.com/AAAA/bc/casie/guide.html">CASIE Guiding Principles of Interactive Audience Measurement</a>

Cookie

Recognition data which a site leaves on visitors browser, to allow the visitor or the visitor's preferences to be recognized on subsequent visits (see Unique Users).

Gross Exposures

The number of times an ad was seen: Viewers x Viewings One person seeing an ad 10 times OR 10 people each seeing an ad once, are cases of 10 gross exposures Equivalent to gross impressions

Hit

When a visitor reaches a Web site, their computer sends a request to the site's computer (server) to begin displaying pages. Each element of a requested page (including graphics, text, interactive items) is recorded by the site's Web server log file as a "hit" Because page designs and visit patterns vary from site to site, the number of hits bears no relationship to the number of pages viewed or visits to a site.

Intranet

An internet-like network within an individual organization , based on client/server technology and browser software

Page

A Web page consists of HTML formatted text and/or included elements as displayed together in a single, (scrollable) browser window. All Web sites are collections of electronic "pages." Elements can include text, images or media objects such as RealAudio player files, QuickTime videos or Java applets. Pages can be static or dynamically generated. A page has a unique URL

Page views

The number of times a page which may contain a specific ad is requested. Page views may overstate the number of gross exposures if users choose to turn off graphics (often done to speed browsing), or understate, due to caching, as above

Proxy Caching

The storage of downloaded pages by a proxy server. A proxy server provides a channel for multiple users. Proxy caching allows a proxy server to reduce the number of requests for the same page from the same web site. Once one user of the proxy server has requested a page, the proxy server "recvcles" that page to other users of the proxy server who have requested it. High-traffic Web gateways, such as America Online and CompuServe, rely on caching to speed the display of Web pages by storing popular sites, such as the White House, in a local server. While this process reduces the time users spend waiting for pages, ad-supported Web sites suffer because traffic lost due to caching cannot be captured or measured. May defeat cookies.

Push

Multi-meaning, too-new-for-agreement term.

1) sending material to an individual site visitor based on preferences established by registration, cookies, browser type, etc

2) sending material by satellite or phone line, directly to the server of an intranet

3) Programming an internet-fed client according to registered preferences, such as PointCast, an screen blanker which displays selected newsfeeds from Time Inc, CNN, NY Times, Stocktickers, etc.

Reach

The number of different people who have been exposed to an ad schedule. For other media reach is often reported as a percentage of a target demographic group and, in cable, for example, as a percentage of coverage area. "Coverage area" or "connected population" for the web idoes not yet have a consensus definition..

Site-centric

Measurement based on analysis of server logs. "Clicks, hits, impressions", etc are site-centric terms. Traffic measurement are site-centric. Price Waterhouse'sNetcount is a site centric measurement

Unique Users

The number of different individuals who visit a site within a specific time period. To identify unique users, Web sites need a unique identifier, which may be obtained through some form of user registration or identification system (See Cookie )

User-centric

Measurement based on survey sample of web users. "Number of sites visited, last site visited, reach" are user-centric. NPD's PC-Meter, a panel study of web users, is a user-centric study

Visit

A user's interaction with a Web site. One visit is distinguished from the next by a "time-out" period. If a user does not interact with the Web site within the time-out period, the user's next interaction with the site starts a new visit. To enable comparisons across sites, I/PRO uses a 30-niinute time-out period.

Visit Length

The period of time of a user's interaction with a Web site.