MOBILE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY GLOSSARY
The mobile advertising industry has like many others is own terms and acronyms to describe what is unique to its business segment. This glossary was created with the intention to help you understand the industry terms and make your life easier. We hope that you find what you're looking for in this list sorted by alphabetic order, acronym and description.

 
For more information please refer to the MMA Global and their detailed online glossary.


Ad Impression
An advertisement impression transpires each time a consumer is exposed to an advertisement.

Ad Space
Any space within an application that has been reserved for the display of advertising. Its dimensions and location within an application typically define an ad space.

Advertisement
Any collection of text, graphics or multimedia content displayed and accessible inside of an application for the purposes of promoting a commercial brand, product or service.

Advertiser
Individual or organization that places a paid promotion within media for the purpose of promoting commercial messages, goods or services.

Application
Software solutions that power the business logic for mobile advertising.

Application Provider
An organization that offers network based software solutions "applications", or downloadable applications that enable the business logic behind mobile marketing initiatives.

ARPU - Average Revenue Per User
A commonly used finacial benchmark to measure the average revenue generated by a mobile carrier, mobile subscriber or user.

Banner Size
The with and length dimensions (typically presented in pixels) of a banner advertisement placed on the mobile web.

Carrier
A company that provides wireless telecommunications services.

Click
The act of when a mobile subscriber interacts with (highlights and clicks on) an advertisement (banner, text link) or other actionable link, that has been served tp their screen.

Click to Call
A service that enables a mobile subscriber to iniciate a voice call to a specific phone number by clicking on a link on a mobile web site. Typically used to enhance and provide a direct response mechanism in an advertisement.

CTR - Click-through
The process that takes a mobile subscriber to a jump or landing page once the mobile subsciber has clicked on a link.

CTR - Click-through Rate
A way of measuring teh success of an online or mobile advertising campaign. A CTR is obtained by dividing the number of users who clicked on an ad on a web page by the number of times the ad was delivered.

CP - Content Provider
A company that creates and offers content, e.g. graphic products, ringtones, games, news, information and entertainment services, etc.

CPM - Cost per Thousand
A metric used to price advertising banners. Sites that sell advertising may guarantee an advertiser a certain number of impressions (number of times an ad banner is served and presumably seen by visitors) and then set the cost based on the guarantee, multiplied by the CPM rate.

Coupon
A ticket, message, and/or document that can be exchanged for a finacial discount on a product or service.

Graphic Banners
A graphic mobile ad represented by a banner featuring an image. Similar to a web banner, but with lower size constraints.

Image
A photograph or graphic that may be delivered to the mobile handset as any of several low resolution image formats, including .png, .gif, .jpg, etc. Images on mobile platform may be classified as mobile content/products (wallpapers, screensavers, etc), assets for a mobile website, or enabled with links to trigger an action.

Image Ad
An image on a mobile web site with an active link that can be clicked on by the wireless subscriber. Once clicked, the wireless subscriber is redirected to a new page, another mobile web site or other destination where an offer resides.

Impressions
A business metric for counting the number of times mobile subscribers have viewed a particukar page, mobile advertisement on a mobile internet site or embedded within a text message or similar mobile medium.

Java
An object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. Programs authored in Java do not rely on an operating system, as long as a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is installed on the destination device on which they are running.

J2ME - Java 2 Platform Micro Edition
A technology that allows programmers to use the Java programming language and related tools to develop programs for mobile handsets. J2ME consists of programming specifications and a special virtual machine (Java Virtual Machine, or JVM) that allows a J2ME-encoded program to run in the handset.

Java Games
Mobile games authored in the Java programming language. The destination/player device must have the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) installed for it to run.

Mobile Advertising
A form of advertising that is communicated to the consumer/target via a handset. This type of advertising is most commonly seen as a Mobile Web Banner (top of page), Mobile Web Poster (bottom of page banner), and full screen interstitial, which appears while a requested mobile web page is "loading". Other forms of this type of advertising are SMS and MMS ads, mobile gaming ads, and mobile video ads (pre, mid and post roll).

Mobile Content
Entertainment, sports and news information and games delivered via any wireless media type in a non-advertising format. Location, delivery, and technology of content is irrelevant and can include bothh on and off deck.

Mobile Content Advertising
This is typically an SMS message that either: a) contains advertising text; or b) points mobile subscribers to a print, web or TV advertisement that promotes mobile ringtones, games, applications, subscription services and other mobile products.

Mobile Games
A game created for and played on a handset or handheld computer. The majoroty of mobile games are downloadable to the handset and played using the basic technologies and controls built into the device (arrow keys, soft key, number keys, etc). Some mobile games are developed to be played using the communications technologies present in the device and/or provided by the service provider/carrier, such as by text message (SMS), multimedia message (MMS) or GPRS location identification. Mobile games are presently authored on the Java, BREW or Symbian development platforms.

Mobile Marketer
All companies within the mobile ecosystem, including: Advertisers, Aggregators/Distributors, Carriers, Content Providers and Publishers.

Mobile Marketing
The use of wireless media as an integrated content delivery and direct responce vehicle within a crossmedia or stand-alone marketing communications program.

MMA - Mobile Marketing Association
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the use of the mobile channel. The more than 600 member companies, representing over forty countries around the globe, include all members of the mobile media ecosystem. The Mobile Marketing Association's global headquarters are located in the United States and in 2007 it formed the North America (NA), Europe Middle East & Africa (EMEA), Latin American (LATAM) and Asia Pacific (APAC) branches.

MVNO - Mobile Virtual Network Operator
A mobile service provider that leases/ uses the network infrastucture of a major mobile carrier. Examples are: Amp'd Mobile, which uses Verizon's network and Boost Mobile, which uses the Sprint/Nextel network.

MMS - Multimedia Messaging Service
Standard for telephony messaging systems that enable the sending of messages that include multimedia objects (images, audio, video, rich text). May or may not include normal text.

On Device Portal
The portal infrstucture is downloadable to the handset, using a technology such as Java or Flash. Some data is cached on device, so no connection is required for the user to browser the basic content set. The user connects to get updated information and the provider can updated the local cache over-the-air when the user is connected.

Page View
Unit of measure that tracks the number of times users load a particular web or WAP site/page.

Privacy
The quality of being secluded from the presence or view of others.

Publisher
A company that provides WAP sites and/or facilitates the delivery of advertising via one or more WAP sites. Also, a publisher of mobile content, such as games and personalization products.

Push Messaging
Any cotent sent by or on behalf of advertisers and marketers to a wireless mobile device at a time other that when the subscriber requests it. Push Messaging includes audio, short message service (SMS) messages, e-mail, multimedia messaging, cell broadcast, picture messages, surveys, or any other pushed advertising or content.

Revenue Share or Rev Share
Each party behind the mobile marketing iniciative splits the revenue derived from the mobile marketing program.

Screen Size
Amount of display space a particular handset offers. Size usually is measure in pixels, inches or millimeters.

S60 - Series 60
A user interface developed by Nokia. It runs over Symbian OS. Phone that use Series 60 are: N-gage, the Fashion Series etc.

Service Provider
A third perform or assists in the performance of a function or activity involving the use or disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information or Non-Personally Identifiable Information on behalf of a Mobile Marketer.

SMS - Short Message Service
A standard for telephony messaging systems that allow sending messages between mobile devices that consist of short messages, normally with text only content.

Smartphone
A handheld device that integrates mobile phone capabilities with the more common features of a handheld computer or PDA. Smatphones allow users to store information, e-mail, install programs, along with using a mobile phone in one device.

Symbian
An advanced open standard operating system for data enabled handsets.

Targeting
Various criteria to make the delivery of a mobile advertisement more precise (age, gender, geographical, day parting househould income, etc).

Text Ad
A static prepended or appended text attached to an advertisement.

Text Link
Creative use for mobile advertisements - represented by highlighted and clickable text(s) with a link embedded within the highlighted text. Usually limited to 16-24 characters.

Tracking
The ability to assess the performance of a mobile campaign.

Unique User
A specific mobile subscriber. Every mobile subscriber has some sort of alpha and/or numeric code (nor personal subscriber data like name or phone number) that is sent with each advertisement request. These unique identifiers are used to determine how many "unique users" view each ad.

Unsubscribe
Process of opting out of a mobile subscription service/application.

WAP Site
A website that is specifically designed and formatted for display on a mobile device.

top