Acronym guide

CPA

Cost per action (or acquisition)

A measure of the cost of an action driven by your ad campaign, calculated by the amount of spend divided by the number of actions. E.g. if CPA is $2.64 for page views, that means it costs you $2.64 for every page view that we were able to drive to your site.

CPUR

Cost per unique reach

A measure of the cost to reach one unique home driven by your ad campaign, calculated by the amount of spend divided by the unique home reached.

CPM

Cost per (mille) thousand impressions

The measure of how much it costs to buy 1,000 impressions, calculated by dividing the media spend by impressions x 1,000. CPM is also a metric used for bidding (i.e. max bid of $35), while an eCPM (effective CPM) is the actualized value after your impressions win and deliver (i.e. eCPM of $30).

CTR

Click through rate

The percentage of times an ad impression is clicked, calculated by dividing impressions by clicks.

CTV

Connected TV

Any TV that allows you to stream videos over the internet. Also called a Smart TV.

DMA

Designated market area

Allows you to target ads in optimal geographical areas. Also called marketing area or marketing region.

eCPM

Effective cost per thousand impressions

The actualized cost of your media buy, calculated by dividing media spend by delivered impressions x 1,000.

FEP

Full-episode player or programming

Professionally produced premium online content that can appear on any device type.

HH frequency

Household frequency

The average, approximate, or exact number of times a unique household was exposed to your ad.

HH reach

Household reach

The total number of unique households that have watched content at least once.

OTT

Over-the-top television

Video content accessed via the internet by downloading OTT apps to smart devices like a Roku player, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire.

ROAS

Return on ad spend

Similar to ROI, ROAS is a marketing metric that measures how much you earned for each dollar spent on advertising. Divide your total ad spend by how much you brought in through conversion.

STB

Set-top box video on demand

On-demand content that's available through a cable provider.

VCR

Video completion rate

The average amount that a digital video is watched all the way through, calculated by dividing completed views by impressions. VCRs can't exceed 100%.

VOD

Video on demand

Allows you to select specific video content and watch it when you want to.

Ad spend

The amount you’re spending on advertising.

Algorithm

In advertising, algorithms are performance drivers that automatically optimize your ad campaigns towards a predefined goal, like page views or unique reach.

Attribution

Attribution is the act of attributing actions (like page views) to ad events (like page views or purchases).

Audiences

A group that's targeted based on gender, age, income, and a series of advanced demographics. You can build a custom audience that tells Roku who to show ads too, or can let Roku optimize toward your advertising objective without setting an audience. Your campaign will be optimized regardless of the audience applied.

Campaign

A targeted action that uses budget, creatives, audience targeting, and bids to promote your product or service.

Connected TV

A TV with integrated internet and interactive Web features, which allows you to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Also known as a Smart TV.

Conversion

An action that's driven by your ad that supports your desired outcome, whether it’s purchases, page views, etc.

Creatives

Media files that are uploaded for your ad campaign, such as a video file.

Dayparting

The process of dividing the TV broadcast day into different blocks of time, or parts, and adjusting advertising strategy based on programming and demographics of viewers.

Dimensions

In reporting, dimensions refer to the variables you'd like to report on. For example, date, campaign, creative, or location.

First-party data

Data collected by you from your audience, like name, address, phone number, interests, etc. See third-party data

Forecasting

The estimated about of reach in your audience or campaign.

Frequency

The average number of ad exposures by unique device, audience, or household.

Location targeting (or geo targeting)

Allows you to specify where you want your ads to be shown, from a broad region to more targeted areas. If you don't select an area, your ad will be shown across the United States.

Household reach

The number of impressions delivered to unique households.

Impressions

A metric used to quantify the number of digital views. Impressions are counted at the start of playback for video ads.

Max bid

This is the highest amount that Roku will bid to win on impressions. You can set a Max bid or let Roku set it for them using Auto bid.

Metrics

When creating your report, you'll select the metrics (or stats) you'd like to analyze.

Pixels

A piece of code placed on a website to gather data on online actions and conversions, build audiences, and power optimization algorithms.

Postal code

An international mailing code that's similar to the US ZIP Code.

Special ad categories

Special ad categories are declared by brands and allow Roku to restrict targeting to prevent discrimination in advertising. The 3 special ad categories are credit, housing, and employment.

Spend

The amount of money you’re spending on your ad campaign.

Targeting

Used to designate who should see your ad and where it should be seen.

Third-party data

Data collected on your audience by a party that’s completely separate from you and your audience. See first-party data

Time zone

US time zones appear as Pacific (PT), Central (CT), Mountain (MT), and Eastern (ET). International markets use UTC.

Total actions

Measures the total number of actions taken by those who saw your ad. This is a cumulative metric across all measured actions (e.g. page views AND sign-ups AND purchases).

Unique reach

Measures the total number of viewers who saw your ad in a unique household and there could be multiple devices within that household.

Video length

Total length of time for a video to reach 100% competition.

ZIP Code

A postal code that's used in the United States with 5 digits, followed by a hyphen and 4 digits in specific locations.