Programmatic TV glossary
Every acronym practitioners encounter in CTV and linear TV advertising — with links to deeper guides.
ACR (Automatic Content Recognition)
Smart TV technology that identifies on-screen content for audience targeting and attribution.
Ad Exchange
A marketplace connecting multiple SSPs and DSPs for real-time programmatic auctions.
Ad Pod
A group of consecutive ad slots within a single commercial break in TV or CTV content.
Ad Waterfall
The priority order in which demand sources are checked to fill an ad break.
Addressable TV
Household-level ad targeting on live linear TV, substituting different ads for different households.
AFAI (Amazon Fire Advertising ID)
Platform advertising identifier for Amazon Fire TV devices.
app-ads.txt
A text file publishers host declaring which companies are authorized to sell their inventory.
AVOD (Ad-Supported Video on Demand)
Streaming model where content is free and monetized through advertising.
Brand Safety
Controls preventing an advertiser's creative from appearing alongside inappropriate or mismatched content.
CPM (Cost Per Mille)
Cost per 1,000 ad impressions — the standard pricing unit in CTV programmatic.
CTV (Connected TV)
Any television that streams internet video content, whether built-in or via an attached streaming device.
Deal ID
A unique identifier in an OpenRTB bid request that ties an impression to a pre-negotiated deal.
DMA (Designated Market Area)
Nielsen-defined geographic region used for local and addressable TV advertising targeting.
DSP (Demand-Side Platform)
Software advertisers and agencies use to buy programmatic ad inventory across publishers and exchanges.
FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV)
Free linear-style streaming channels monetized through advertising, delivered via CTV apps.
Floor CPM
The minimum price a publisher will accept for an impression in an auction.
Frequency Capping
Limiting how many times the same household sees an advertiser's ad within a time window.
GRP (Gross Rating Point)
Traditional TV reach metric: percentage of target audience reached × average frequency.
Header Bidding
Running multiple demand sources in parallel for the same impression instead of a sequential waterfall.
HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)
Apple's adaptive streaming protocol that delivers video as a sequence of small HTTP-downloaded segments.
HouseholdID
Privacy-safe persistent household key for cross-device frequency and audience targeting in CTV.
IAB TCF (Transparency & Consent Framework)
IAB Europe's standard for collecting and communicating user consent for data processing under GDPR.
Linear TV
Traditional scheduled broadcast or cable television, watched live at a fixed programmed time.
MPEG-DASH
An open, codec-agnostic adaptive streaming standard functionally similar to HLS.
OpenRTB
IAB protocol for real-time bidding on digital advertising impressions, including CTV video.
OTT (Over-The-Top)
Content delivered directly over the internet, bypassing traditional cable, satellite, or broadcast distribution.
PMP (Private Marketplace)
An invite-only programmatic auction between a publisher and a curated list of buyers.
Programmatic Guaranteed (PG)
A fixed-CPM, reserved-inventory deal executed through programmatic infrastructure instead of manual trafficking.
RTB (Real-Time Bidding)
The auction mechanism that resolves each individual ad impression in real time as it's requested.
schain (Supply Chain Object)
OpenRTB object that discloses every intermediary between a publisher and the winning bidder.
SCTE-35
Digital cueing standard signaling ad break opportunities in live and linear TV streams.
sellers.json
A public file SSPs and exchanges host disclosing every seller ID they operate on behalf of.
SSAI (Server-Side Ad Insertion)
Stitching ads into HLS or DASH manifests on the server before delivery to the player.
SSP (Supply-Side Platform)
Software publishers use to make their ad inventory available to programmatic demand sources.
UID2 (Unified ID 2.0)
An open-source, email-based identifier standard for addressable advertising without third-party cookies.
VAST (Video Ad Serving Template)
IAB standard XML format for communicating video ad metadata — creatives, tracking events, click URLs — between ad servers and video players.
VAST Wrapper
A VAST response that redirects to another VAST tag instead of containing the ad creative directly.
VCR (Video Completion Rate)
Percentage of video ad impressions where the viewer watched to the end.
Viewability
Whether an ad was actually rendered on screen and eligible to be seen, distinct from completion.
VMAP (Video Multiple Ad Playlist)
XML playlist that schedules multiple ad breaks at specific offsets in long-form video.
Full glossary article: programmatic TV advertising glossary (blog)