Report Builder metrics in illumin define how performance data is calculated and interpreted across campaigns, audiences, creatives, and inventory sources. This glossary explains each metric so marketers understand what each value represents in illumin reporting.
Click a link to jump to a category section
Number of times an ad was served and displayed on a user's device. Every valid delivery counts as one impression, whether or not the user did anything with it.
Number of times a user clicked an ad and was taken to its destination URL. illumin filters out invalid and non-human clicks before finalizing the count.
Estimated number of people likely within view of a Digital Out-of-Home ad when it played. The estimate is based on venue traffic and screen visibility data, and not a confirmed headcount.
Total number of conversion events recorded in a campaign. It's the sum of click-through conversions and accepted view-through conversions.
Formula: Conv = CConv + AVConv
Number of times a user clicked an ad and then completed a defined action within the attribution window. Each qualifying event counts as one CConv.
Example: A user clicks a banner ad on Monday and completes a purchase the same day. That's 1 CConv.
Number of times a user saw an ad without clicking, then completed a conversion later within the attribution window.
Example: A user sees an ad on Monday, and doesn't click. The same user visits the site and buys on Wednesday. That's 1 VConv.
A weighted estimate of VConv. illumin multiplies the VConv total by the Post-View Conversion Ratio set in the Open Web Trackers settings to estimate a more conservative conversion count.
Formula: AVConv = VConv × Post-View Conversion Ratio
Total number of conversions recorded for a Primary conversion action, which is the most important event tracked in a campaign, like a purchase or lead submission. It's the sum of primary click-through conversions and primary accepted view-through conversions.
Formula: Primary Conv = Primary CConv + Primary AVConv
Number of click-through conversions tied specifically to the Primary conversion action.
Example: A user clicks an ad and completes a purchase (i.e the Primary action). That's 1 Primary CConv.
Number of view-through conversions tied specifically to the Primary conversion action.
Example: A user sees an ad without clicking and later completes a purchase (i.e. the Primary action). That's 1 Primary VConv.
A weighted estimate of the Primary VConv. It's calculated using the Post-View Conversion Ratio set in the Open Web Trackers settings.
Formula: Primary AVConv = Primary VConv × Post-View Conversion Ratio.
Total number of conversions recorded for a Secondary conversion action, which is a supporting event of lower priority than Primary. Like a newsletter signup or account registration, for instance. It's the sum of secondary click-through conversions and secondary accepted view-through conversions.
Formula: Secondary Conv = Secondary CConv + Secondary AVConv
Number of click-through conversions tied specifically to a Secondary conversion action.
Example: A user clicks an ad and signs up for a newsletter (i.e. the Secondary action). That's 1 Secondary CConv.
Total number of view-through conversions tied specifically to a Secondary conversion action.
Example: A user sees an ad without clicking and later signs up for a newsletter (i.e. the Secondary action). That's 1 Secondary VConv.
A weighted estimate of the Secondary VConv. It's calculated using the Post-View Conversion Ratio set in the Open Web Trackers settings.
Formula: Secondary AVConv = Secondary VConv × Post-View Conversion Ratio
Total number of conversions recorded for a Tertiary conversion action, which is the lowest priority tracked event, like a product page view or video play. It's the sum of tertiary click-through conversions and tertiary accepted view-through conversions.
Formula: Tertiary Conv = Tertiary CConv + Tertiary AVConv
Number of click-through conversions tied specifically to a Tertiary conversion action.
Example: A user clicks an ad and views a product page (i.e. the Tertiary action). That's 1 Tertiary CConv.
Number of view-through conversions tied specifically to a Tertiary conversion action.
Example: A user sees an ad without clicking and later views a product page (i.e. the Tertiary action). That's 1 Tertiary VConv.
A discounted version of Tertiary VConv. It's calculated using the Post-View Conversion Ratio set in the Open Web Trackers settings.
Formula: Tertiary AVConv = Tertiary VConv × Post-View Conversion Ratio
Number video impressions that began playing. illumin records a start when the first frame is successfully rendered.
Counts each time an impression reached the 25% mark of a video ad, including viewers who skipped directly to that point. A useful early signal of whether the opening is holding attention.
Counts each time an impression reached the halfway point, including viewers who skipped directly to that point.
Counts each time an impression reached the 75% mark, including viewers who skipped directly to that point.
Counts each time an impression played to 100%, including viewers who skipped directly to that point.
Number of impressions that were muted. A high mute count can indicate the audio portion is disruptive or unwanted.
Number of impressions that were unmuted. When paired with Video Mute, the ratio indicates how often users chose to re-engage with audio after muting.
Number of video impressions that were skipped. A high skip rate may indicate the creative isn't capturing attention early enough.
Number of video impressions that were paused.
Number of video impressions that were restarted after pausing.
Number of video impressions that were switched into fullscreen.
Number of impressions served by a companion ad.
Number of clicks recorded on a companion ad displayed alongside a video ad.
Number of times an audio ad began playing.
Counts each time an impression reached the 25% mark of an ad, including listeners who skipped directly to that point.
Counts each time an impression reached the halfway point, including listeners who skipped directly to that point.
Counts each time an impression reached the 75% mark, including listeners who skipped directly to that point.
Counts each time an impression played to the 100% mark, including listeners who skipped directly to that point.
Number of impressions that were muted. A high mute count can indicate the audio is disruptive or unwanted.
Number of impressions that were unmuted.
Number of impressions that were skipped.
Number of impressions that were paused.
Number of impressions that were restarted after pausing.
Number of times a companion ad was displayed alongside an audio ad.
Clicks recorded on a companion ad displayed alongside an audio ad.
Percentage of impressions that resulted in a click.
Formula: CTR = Clicks ÷ Impressions × 100
Example: 100 clicks from 10,000 impressions = 1% CTR.
Percentage of impressions that resulted in a conversion. In illumin, CR is impression-based. See also CTC% for the click-based equivalent.
Formula: CR = Conversions ÷ Impressions × 100
Example: 5 conversions from 10,000 impressions = 0.05% CR.
Percentage of clicks that resulted in a conversion. Unlike CR, which is impression-based in illumin, CTC% tells you how well clicks are converting.
Formula: CTC% = Conversions ÷ Clicks × 100
Example: 5 conversions from 100 clicks = 5% CTC%.
Average cost per ad click.
Formula: eCPC = Total Ad Spend ÷ Clicks
Average cost per conversion. Tells you how much you're paying to achieve a defined user action.
Formula: eCPA = Total Ad Spend ÷ Conversions
Average actual cost per thousand impressions served.
Formula: eCPM = (Total Ad Spend ÷ Impressions) × 1,000
View-through conversion rate after applying the Post-View Conversion Ratio set in the Open Web Trackers settings. A conservative version of VTRv%.
Formula: VTRav% = (AVConv ÷ Impressions) × 100
Percentage of impressions that led to a view-through conversion, where a user sees an ad without clicking and later converts.
Formula: VTRv% = (VConv ÷ Impressions) × 100
Measures how much marketers are paying per click based on the inventory cost excluding markups and fees. The key distinction from standard eCPC is that CCeCPC uses clearing cost (i.e. the raw auction or inventory price paid) rather than total spend, so it strips out platform fees, margins, or data costs.
Formula: CCeCPC = Clearing Cost ÷ Clicks
Measures what marketers are actually paying per conversion based on inventory cost excluding markups and fees. The key distinction from standard eCPA is that CCeCPA uses clearing cost (i.e. the raw auction or inventory price paid) rather than total spend, stripping out platform fees, margins, or data costs.
Formula: CCeCPA = Clearing Cost ÷ Conversions
Measures what marketers are actually paying per 1,000 impressions based purely on inventory cost, excluding markups and fees. The key distinction from standard eCPM is that it uses clearing cost (i.e. the raw auction or inventory price paid) rather than total spend, stripping out platform fees, margins, or data costs.
Formula: CCeCPM = (Clearing Cost ÷ Impressions) × 1,000
Measures what marketers are actually paying per click based on inventory cost plus media fees. The key distinction from Clearing Cost eCPC is that it uses media cost (inventory cost plus media fees combined) rather than the raw auction price alone.
Formula: MCeCPC = Media Cost ÷ Clicks
Measures what marketers are actually paying per conversion based on inventory cost and media fees combined.
Formula: MCeCPA = Media Cost ÷ Conversions
Measures what marketers are actually paying per 1,000 impressions based on inventory cost and media fees combined.
Formula: MCeCPM = (Media Cost ÷ Impressions) × 1,000
Maximum price an advertiser offers to pay to show an ad to a specific person at a specific moment. Acts as an automated "offer" in a digital auction that occurs in milliseconds.
Average amount bid per 1,000 impressions across every auction entered by a campaign within a given period. This number reflects what the marketer was willing to pay, rather than what was actually spent.
Formula: Bid eCPM = (Total Bid Amount ÷ Impressions) × 1,000
Total dollar value of purchase transactions attributed to the campaign.
Measures how much revenue marketers generate from purchases for every dollar spent on a campaign. A ROAS of 4 means $4 in revenue for every $1 spent.
Formula: ROAS = Cart Revenue ÷ Total Spend
An audio completion event occurs when an audio ad reaches a specified completion point (e.g. 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of its duration). The completion rate is calculated as the number of completed audio events divided by the total number of audio impressions, expressed as a percentage.
Formula: (Audio Event Completions ÷ Audio Impressions) × 100
A video completion event occurs when a video ad reaches a specified completion point (e.g. 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of its duration). The completion rate is calculated as the number of completed video events divided by the total number of video impressions, expressed as a percentage.
Formula: (Video Event Completions ÷ Video Impressions) × 100
Measures what marketers are actually paying for each completed audio event (e.g. reaching a 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% completion milestone)
Formula: Audio eCPE = Total Spend ÷ Audio Events
Measures what marketers are actually paying for each completed video event (e.g. reaching a 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% completion milestone).
Formula: Video eCPE = Total Spend ÷ Video Events
Cost per audio event based on inventory clearing cost, excluding markups and fees.
Formula: Audio CCeCPE = Clearing Cost ÷ Audio Events
Cost per video event based on inventory clearing cost, excluding markups and fees.
Formula: Video CCeCPE = Clearing Cost ÷ Video Events
Measures what marketers are actually paying for each audio event based on media spend.
Formula: Audio MCeCPE = Media Cost ÷ Audio Events
Measures what marketers are actually paying for each video event based on media spend.
Formula: Video MCeCPE = Media Cost ÷ Video Events
Measures what marketers are actually paying per Primary conversion based on total campaign cost.
Formula: Primary eCPA = Total Spend ÷ Primary Conversions
Measures what marketers are actually paying per Secondary conversion based on total campaign cost.
Formula: Secondary eCPA = Total Spend ÷ Secondary Conversions
Measures what marketers are actually paying per Tertiary conversion based on total campaign cost.
Formula: Tertiary eCPA = Total Spend ÷ Tertiary Conversions
Final price paid by an advertiser for a single ad impression in a programmatic auction. Also known as the clearing price, it is the price at which the ad auction "clears" or closes.
Total cost of running a programmatic ad campaign, calculated as the sum of the inventory cost (clearing cost) and any associated media fees.
Total amount billed to an advertiser, calculated as the sum of the media cost and the journey's margin.
Costs charged by technology providers (e.g. DSPs, SSPs, and ad exchanges) for the tools and services used to buy and sell programmatic ads. This fee covers the infrastructure required to run real-time auctions and manage campaigns.
Cost of programmatic technology expressed as a rate for every 1,000 ad impressions served. This metric reveals the "tech tax" or overhead cost per unit of inventory, allowing advertisers to see how much of their budget goes toward technology versus actual media.
Formula: PTechFee eCPM = (PTechFee ÷ Total Impressions) x 1000
Fees paid to external vendors for tools, data, and services used to enhance campaign targeting, measurement, or safety.
Total fees paid to third-party vendors for technical solutions and services, expressed as a cost per thousand impressions (eCPM).
Formula: 3PFees eCPM = (Total Third-Party Fees ÷ Total Impressions) x 1,000
Third-party technology costs associated with older system integrations or historical contracts. These fees remain active to support existing campaign setups that have not yet migrated to the platform's current billing or tracking standard.
Tells you how much older third-party technology vendors cost for every 1,000 impressions in a campaign.
Formula: L3PFees eCPM = (Total Legacy Third-Party Fees ÷ Total Impressions) x 1,000
Charges from third-party vendors that provide tools to make sure ads do not appear next to harmful, unsafe, or inappropriate content.
Fees paid to verification or targeting vendors (e.g. DoubleVerify, IAS, or Grapeshot) to analyze a webpage’s keywords, sentiment, and topics in real-time. Enables advertisers to serve ads thematically linked to the content a user is currently viewing, ensuring relevance without relying on personal cookies.
Fees paid for brand safety tools that are customized to a specific advertiser’s content rules and brand guidelines.
Charges from third-party vendors for contextual targeting tools that are customized for a specific client. These tools are configured to match ads with webpages based on specific keywords, topics, or content categories chosen by the advertiser.
Fees paid to external measurement vendors (e.g. Moat, IAS, or DoubleVerify) to verify that a digital ad met the minimum industry standards to be considered "seen."
Fees paid to data providers (e.g. Acxiom, Oracle/BlueKai, or Epsilon) to use their pre-packaged audience lists. Instead of targeting everyone, these fees help marketers target specific groups such as "Hiring Managers in Chicago," or "People looking for a new SUV."
Fees paid to identity-graph providers (e.g. LiveRamp, Tapad, TransUnion) to link a single user across their various screens. These tools use a mix of deterministic data (logins) and probabilistic data (patterns) to ensure that a phone, a laptop, and a Connected TV (CTV) are recognized as belonging to the same person.
Fees paid to third-party vendors (e.g. Peer39 or Grapeshot) for the ability to target or block specific individual words on a webpage. This allows advertisers to go beyond general topics and reach users who are reading content containing highly specific terminology related to their product.
Fees paid to third-party verification companies (e.g. HUMAN, DoubleVerify, or IAS) to identify and filter out non-human interactions. These tools ensure that an advertiser's budget is spent on real people rather than bots, data centers, or fraudulent scripts.
The fees charged by illumin to host a client’s ads (creatives) on the platform and deliver them. These fees can vary depending on the ad type.
Fees paid to third-party vendors that provide tools to measure whether people visit a physical store after seeing an ad. These tools help advertisers understand if digital ads lead to real-world store visits or foot traffic.
Fees paid to external vendors (e.g. DoubleVerify, IAS, or Moat) to audit and report on the quality of delivered impressions. Unlike "Pre-Bid" tools which try to prevent bad buys, these tools analyze the data after the ad has served to confirm it met the advertiser's standards for viewability, brand safety, and human traffic.
Fees paid to research vendors (e.g. Kantar, Nielsen, or Lucid) to conduct surveys that quantify the psychological impact of an ad campaign. By comparing a "Test Group" (people who saw the ad) against a "Control Group" (people who didn't), these tools calculate the "Lift" in metrics like brand awareness, favorability, and purchase intent.
Remaining revenue a platform, agency, or vendor retains after deducting the cost of media inventory, data, technology fees, and operational expenses. In programmatic trading, this often represents the "margin" or "markup" between what the client pays and the actual cost of executing the campaign.
Formula: Profit = Revenue − Costs
Percentage of revenue that remains after costs are deducted from profit.
Formula: Profit Margin = (Profit ÷ Revenue) × 100
Average number of times an ad is shown to each unique user during a campaign.
Formula: Average Impression Frequency = Impressions ÷ Unique Reach
Number of unique users who see an ad at least once during a campaign. Each user counts only once, even if they see the ad multiple times.