
This article is a WTF explainer, in which we break down media and marketing’s most confusing terms. More from the series →
TV and streaming ads have historically been bought on the basis of how many people are shown an ad. But performance-minded marketers prize how many people did something after seeing an ad, such as visiting an advertiser’s store or purchasing its product.
This emphasis on performance has led some TV network and streaming service owners to offer guarantees based on their ability to deliver against specific business outcomes. As explained in the video below, the ad sellers are not so much pledging to generate a specific outcome count as a relative impact.
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