Vivvix monitors advertising activity placed directly and indirectly with publishers in Internet Display, Online Video, Mobile Web, and Mobile Web Video digital media in the United States. Data points identifying how media activity was placed are available with data beginning July 2017.
Collection and Processing Procedures
Ads are collected via a spider, as described for each medium. Along with the ads, the spider collects additional page markup and tags, which are subsequently parsed to identify ad tech mediators involved in the buy-sell transactions. New mediators are researched to determine their lines of business; i.e., the role(s) they perform in the transaction and tracking of ads. The sequence of mediators identified between a buyer and seller is known as the deployment chain.
The Transaction Type – how media activity was bought and sold – is determined via a multivariate model that primarily considers the mediator roles in the transaction, along with site and placement information.
Reporting Detail
Transaction Types include:
• Direct: Typically, a traditional insertion order transaction, where there is a direct relationship between the buyer and seller. There were no programmatic or ad network mediators involved.
• Programmatic Direct: Media were bought and sold via a private marketplace (auction) or via an automated guaranteed deal.
• Programmatic RTB (Real Time Bidding): Media were bought and sold through an open exchange, via real-time bidding.
• Ad Network: Media were bought and sold through an ad network where there was not a programmatic mediator involved.
• Programmatic/Ad Network: Media were bought and sold through an ad network where there was a programmatic mediator involved. For instance, an advertiser may have placed a buy through an ad network, and the ad network sourced the inventory through an ad exchange where the publisher had made the inventory available. So each party to the transaction may have a different view on how it was bought versus how it was sold.
• Programmatic Blended: Reflects digital inventory that meets the criteria of a programmatic buy, though the exact type of programmatic buy (i.e. Ad Exchange, RTB, etc.) is not clear from the intermediaries or other detail available.
For reporting purposes, Transaction Types may be grouped into:
• Direct: includes Direct, Programmatic Direct
• Indirect: includes Programmatic RTB, Ad Network, Programmatic/Ad Network
• Unknown: include Programmatic Blended
Mediator Roles include but are not limited to: Ad Exchange, Ad Network, Ad Server, Agency Trade Desk, DMP (Data Management Platform), DSP (Demand Side Platform), SSP (Supply Side Platform), Unknown Mediator Role. The “Other” role includes technologies such as campaign trackers that do not actually play a role in the buy-sell transaction.
“Value” Measures are reported for Mediators or Roles to indicate the full value of the transactions in which they are involved. Value Measures correspond to Units, Dollars, and Impressions estimates. The value is calculated by assigning the aggregated measures for the report row to each Mediator or Role in the Deployment Chain. Every Mediator or Role in each chain receives full credit for the measures associated with that chain. Given that an ad occurrence can have multiple Mediators or Roles, there can be duplication when reporting these metrics, so they should not be summed.
Spend Estimation
Impressions and expenditures are estimated with consistent methodologies and rates regardless of how the media activity was transacted. Please see the impressions and spend estimation methodology of each digital medium for more information.