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Appendix: Interactive Advertising

This is a brief appendix that looks at online advertising. Some of it's pretty basic, but it's worth recording nonetheless.

Ad Serving

The process begins when a user requests a page from a site. A process is kicked off that inserts an ad into the page and inserts it into the code, for display on the user's screen. If all goes well, the user sees it, clicks it, and arrives at the destination site. If all goes perfectly, the user completes an action (makes a purchase right away). If all goes superbly, the user becomes a regular visitor and repeat purchaser on the advertiser's site.

Methods of Serving Ads

Methods of Measuring Ads

There are various metrics for advertisements:

Measurement Problems

EN: The author skimmed over this, so most of it is my own notes, not from the book.

These measurements are problematic for advertisers:

These measurements are problematic for sites that sell advertising:

Also worth mentioning, much has changed in the past few years when it comes to Web site advertising. Text ads have replaced banner ads in many sites. There are a small handful of firms that control the majority of the business. Ads are now being embedded in videos and games, etc.