Following the Google ad tech antitrust lawsuit that could shake up the most influential company in media and advertising is challenging, especially with all the technical terms that keep popping up. From industry terms like “header bidding” to “AdX” to “DSP” to internal Google terms like “Jedi Blue,” there’s a lot to get to grips with. To help, Digiday has compiled a glossary of terms that may come up during the process.
If we missed any, let us know.
Adsense
Google Ad Network — a proprietary platform that allows publishers to place ads on their sites and earn money whenever users click on them.
AdX
Google’s programmatic marketplace for buying and selling display advertising space, where bidding takes place in real time.
Exchange of ads
A virtual marketplace where advertisers and publishers meet to buy and sell advertising space, usually in real-time auctions.
Ad server
Software that publishers use to manage, sell and serve advertising space on their websites.
Ad stack
A toolkit of ad technologies designed to deliver, target and measure digital ads with precision.
Advertising technique
Short for ad tech, it encompasses all the software and tools used to deliver, target and analyze digital ads.
Authorized buyers
Ad technology that is not owned by Google, but is still licensed to sell in its AdX programmatic auctions.
On-Demand Platform (DSP)
A system that allows advertisers to buy ad inventory from different ad exchanges all in one place using a single interface.
Display & Video 360 (DV360)
Formerly known as DoubleClick Bid Manager, DV360 was Google’s DSP. It had a full suite of tools for planning campaigns, managing ads, organizing audience data, buying ad inventory, and optimizing performance. It was rebranded under the Google Marketing Platform umbrella on July 24, 2018.
DoubleClick
An advertising technology company acquired by Google in 2008 that provided various advertising services and technologies.
DoubleClick DART (or Dynamic Advertising, Reporting and Targeting)
Once DoubleClick’s flagship product, designed to increase advertising efficiency and reduce unsold inventory for publishers. Over time, it evolved into what we now know as Google Ad Manager, Google’s complete ad serving platform for publishers.
DoubleClick for Publishers
Google’s ad server for publishers, which eventually merged into the all-inclusive Google Ad Manager.
Enhanced Dynamic Allocation (EDA)
A DoubleClick for Publishers feature that allows indirect sales to compete directly with direct sales, even those with guaranteed offers.
First price auction
A programmatic auction system where the highest bidder wins and pays their exact bid amount.
Google Ads
This is what Google calls its advertiser-facing tool, allowing businesses to run campaigns on Google’s own platforms and third-party partner sites.
Google Ad Manager
The rebranded version of DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), a comprehensive ad management platform.
Header bidding
Header bidding challenged Google’s dominance in digital advertising by allowing publishers to offer ad inventory to multiple exchanges at once, rather than prioritizing Google’s ad exchange. This increased competition has reduced Google’s preferential access, potentially lowering ad prices and impacting market share.
Header bidding wrapper
A container for header bidding code.
Jedi Blue
The code name for a secret deal in which, in 2018, Google reportedly struck a smart deal with Facebook: In exchange for Facebook abandoning its own header bidding plans, Google would provide information and other perks in programmatic auctions.
Last look
Google’s ad server used to give its own ad exchange a “last look” advantage, which irked publishers and triggered the increase in header bidding. But as of 2017, that advantage is officially history.
Open auction transaction
A digital ad auction where the impression is available and almost all buyers with access to the exchange can participate.
Open bidding
Open Bidding was Google’s answer to header bidding, offering a server-side solution that integrated multiple ad exchanges into Google’s ad server. This allowed Google to streamline the bidding process, reduce page load times, and maintain control over ad inventory, countering the increased competition and transparency introduced by header bidding.
Preferred offer
A direct programmatic offer where a specific buyer receives an impression, but there is no guarantee that they will close the deal.
Private Auction/Private Market
A digital advertising offering in which an impression is offered to a select group of buyers or advertisers chosen by the publisher.
Direct programmatic
A straightforward business with a touch of automation that handles the details.
Guaranteed programming
A direct programmatic offer where a publisher’s inventory is locked and guaranteed to a specific buyer.
The Bernanke Project
In 2013, Google launched Project Bernanke to increase the win rates of its advertiser clients on its ad exchange, AdX, by ensuring that they outperformed competitors using other platforms. While helping clients win more bids isn’t inherently wrong, the problem lies in how Google went about it. By changing the auction process to favor its own buyers, Google may have unfairly suppressed competition and reduced publishers’ AdX revenue.
The NERA project
Google’s alleged code name for a plan to turn the web into a walled garden — something it said was “not owned, but operated.”
The Poirot Project
An internal Google initiative was allegedly designed to sabotage header bidding, which allowed rival ad exchanges to compete more directly. According to the US Department of Justice, Google used Project Poirot to modify its ad technology products so that it would outperform competitors and disadvantage publishers.
Publisher ad server
A tool for publishers to manage and sell their ad space by deciding which ad to show a user and displaying it on their site. Publishers’ ad servers handle both direct and indirect sales, with the final say on how ad inventory is split.
Real-time bidding
A fast impression bidding method, customized to the specifics of the impression, that takes place in the fraction of seconds between when a user lands on a site and the impression is sold.
Reserve price optimization
An alleged ad auction price-fixing scheme highlighted more in the state attorneys general’s complaint than in the DOJ lawsuit.
Second price auction
This is an auction system where the highest bidder wins, but instead of paying their own bid, they pay the amount of the second highest bid. The advantage of a second-price auction is that it encourages bidders to bid their true value, as the winning bidder pays enough to beat the second-highest bidder, not necessarily the total bid.
Supply Side Platform (SSP)
A technology platform that publishers use to manage, sell and optimize available ad space across multiple ad networks.
Take the rate
An industry term for cutting out the ad tech middlemen. For example, if an ad exchange keeps 20% of what buyers spend, the take rate or revenue share is 20%.
Unified prices
A feature that allows publishers to set and unify price limits for all programmatic demand in Google Ad Manager (GAM).
Cascade
A process by which publishers’ ad servers ping different demand sources one at a time to sell an ad impression.
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