Ad Tech Glossary

Definition & Explanation A Data Management Platform (DMP) is a platform that collects, organizes, and activates audience data for ad targeting. It aggregates first-, second-, and third-party data to build refined audience segments that advertisers and publishers use to deliver more relevant campaigns. DMPs serve as a central data warehouse, powering the automated decision-making processes...h

Definition & Explanation A broken supply chain occurs when multiple unauthorized resellers exist between a publisher and buyer, inflating costs and reducing transparency. In programmatic advertising, this means an ad campaign passes through numerous intermediaries and redundant auction paths before reaching the publisher, resulting in wasted spend and auction duplication. These multi-hop supply paths are...h

Definition & Explanation Vertical fraud is a category-specific form of ad fraud where bots are programmed to target a particular industry vertical such as health, finance, or education. These verticals are targeted because they typically command higher CPMs, making fraudulent impressions more profitable. Fraudsters create fake sites or spoof domains mimicking high-value vertical publishers, then...h

Definition & Explanation Whitelisting is the practice of only buying ad inventory from a curated list of approved publishers, domains, or placements to reduce fraud risk and ensure brand safety. These sources are vetted in advance to confirm they align with brand values, safety standards, and campaign objectives. Modern whitelists are often integrated with Demand...h

Definition & Explanation MFA (Made For Advertising) sites are websites designed purely to maximize ad impressions and revenue, often filled with low-quality, AI-generated, or clickbait content. These sites rely on traffic arbitrage — buying cheap traffic from paid sources and monetizing it through high ad density. Industry research estimates that MFA sites account for at...h

Definition & Explanation Effective CPM (eCPM) is the revenue earned per 1,000 impressions, calculated across different buying models such as CPM, CPC, and CPA. It is computed by dividing total earnings by total impressions and multiplying by 1,000. Unlike CPM, which is an advertiser-side pricing metric, eCPM is a publisher-side measurement tool that accounts for...h

Definition & Explanation GIVT, or General Invalid Traffic, refers to obvious, easily detected non-human traffic such as known bots, search engine crawlers, and spiders. Unlike sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT), GIVT is typically benign and not intended to defraud advertisers—it is a normal byproduct of automated internet activity. GIVT sources are usually listed on the IAB's...h

Definition & Explanation A Supply-Side Platform (SSP) is ad tech that helps publishers sell their available inventory programmatically. SSPs automate the process of selling ad space by simultaneously connecting publisher inventory to multiple ad exchanges and demand-side platforms (DSPs), enabling real-time auctions that maximize yield. They also give publishers control over pricing, buyer access, and...h

Definition & Explanation IVT, or Invalid Traffic, refers to impressions, clicks, or other ad interactions that are fraudulent or non-human in origin. It encompasses any activity that does not come from a genuine user with authentic interest, including bot traffic, data-center traffic, and hijacked devices. IVT is divided into two categories—GIVT (General Invalid Traffic) for...h

Definition & Explanation SIVT is hard-to-detect fraud that mimics human behavior, including residential proxy bots, sophisticated CTV spoofing, cookie stuffing, and adware-generated traffic. Unlike General Invalid Traffic (GIVT), which includes easily identifiable sources like known bots and data center traffic, SIVT uses advanced techniques to bypass traditional detection systems and requires sophisticated analytics to identify....h