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What are impressions in online marketing?
Examples of impressions
When are impressions counted?

What are impressions in online marketing?

Impressions, also known asad views, are a key term inonlinemarketingandrefer to the number of times an advertisement or content is displayed to a user on a website or in an app.

They measure thevisibilityof anadvertising campaign or content and are an important indicator ofa campaign'sreach. It is important to understand that impressionsdonotmean thata user has actually interacted with the ad; they simply measure the number oftimes the ad has been exposedtousers.

Examples of impressions

Impressions can occur in various formats and across various platforms. Some examples of this are:

  • Display adsonwebsites: Every time a banner or sidebar ad appears on a website, it counts as one impression.
  • Search engine advertising(SEA): The number of times an ad appears in Google or Bing search results.
  • Social mediapostsand ads: On platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, an impression is counted every time a post or ad appears in a user's feed.
  • Video ads: On platforms such as YouTube, the appearance of a video ad before or during a video counts as an impression.

When are impressions counted?

Impressions are counted as soon as the ad or content is displayed to the user. However, there are specific criteria that must be met for an impression to be counted as valid. These criteria may vary depending on the platform and ad format. In general, the following guidelines apply:

  • Ad loading:The admust be successfully loaded on the page or in the app. Partially loaded ads or ads that are not visible due to technical issues do not count as impressions.
  • Visibility:Someplatforms require that a certain percentage of the ad must be visible on the screen for a certain amount of time in order to be counted as an impression.
  • Unique ads:Repeatedad views by the same user can be handled differently depending on the platform and campaign settings. Some systems identify and count repeated views separately.