Depending on the ad format The format of the ad space on the publisher's site. Banner and video are kinds of ad formats., Index Exchange (Index) counts an impression from a publisher The owner of a website or app where advertisements are served. when the impression notification meets the impression counting criteria provided in the following table. The table also includes the Media Rating Council (MRC)'s recommended best practices for each format type.
| Format | Impression counting criteria | MRC counting best practice |
|---|---|---|
|
Web banner |
Index expects to receive the billing notification in the |
The MRC recommendation is that an impression is considered billable when the ad markup (adm) “begins to render” on the user’s browser. For more information about ad impression measurements, see the MRC's Desktop Display Impression Measurement Guidelines. |
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Mobile app banner |
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The MRC’s recommendation is that an impression is considered billable when at least one pixel of the banner is painted in the viewport of the user’s device. As a result, Index strongly recommends that publishers integrate with the OM SDK so that Index can measure impressions using OMID and avoid adm-based notification. For more information about ad impression measurements, see the MRC’s Mobile Application Advertising Measurement Guidelines. |
| Video (instream A video ad that displays before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll), or after (post-roll) video content that the user is consuming. The video ad plays within video content, similar to watching TV with commercials. and outstream An ad placement where the video is not the focal point of the screen and plays with sound-off by default. They can display before, between, or after text, or accompanying streaming content (pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads), as an interstitial ad, or display as a standalone ad such as slideshows or native feeds.) on web, mobile app, and STV Streaming TV (STV). Video content that is shown across any device with an internet connection, for example a Connected TV (CTV). |
Index expects to receive the billing notification from our VAST Video ad-serving template (VAST). A communication standard between ad servers and video players in XML-format that describes the video player's expected behavior.
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The MRC’s recommendation is that an impression is considered billable when the first frame of the video creative A digital ad made available in various creative types, defined by their size in pixels such as 300x250px. is rendered on the player. For more information about ad impression measurements, see the MRC’s Digital Video Impression Measurement Guidelines. |
| Native on web and mobile app |
Index expects to receive the billing notification in the |
Not available |
Index does not count impressions in the following situations:
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When billing notifications don't pass our invalid traffic (IVT Invalid traffic (IVT). Traffic entering an exchange that is attempting to present itself as legitimate traffic but is determined to be fraudulent. For example, bot traffic.) standards. Index uses industry-standard IP address and UserAgent blocklists, as well as proprietary methods and data sets to filter invalid traffic.
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When the same billing notification is sent twice within a given TTL, the second notification will be discarded as a duplicate.
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When billing notifications are sent after Index's TTL timeout value.
