Glossary: New Media

P2P marketing

See Peer to Peer Marketing.

page rank

Google’s trademarked algorithms for determining a web page’s relative importance, expressed on a 1-10 scale. Although the specific ranking formula is a guarded secret, pages that rank well are designed to highlight keywords, contain a lot of content that is relevant to the keywords and frequently appear as an inbound link elsewhere on the web. Though technically a proprietary term, “page rank” has fallen into general usage as a measure of a web page’s status and significance.

page view

Web analytic used to measure the number of times that visitors loaded a given page in its entirety.

paid inclusion

Practice where websites pay listing fees to content directories and search engines. Payment guarantees that the paid inclusion sites will include the client’s pages in their categorical listings and search results. For still another fee, clients can bump their positioning toward the top of directory listings and search results pages.

pay per click

Advertising model used heavily in search engine marketing where advertisers pay ad networks only for impressions that generate click-throughs. In other words, advertisers pay only for the ads that bring visitors to their sites.

pay per impression

Online advertising model where advertisers pay for the total number of times their ad appeared on a website. See Cost Per Thousand.

pay per lead

Online advertising model where advertisers pay only for qualified sales leads that the website ads generate. Leads may be defined simply as users who click on the ad link, or at premium pricing, as users who complete web forms to request more information.

pay per sale

Online advertising model where advertisers pay only for completed sales that derive from clicks on an ad link.

PDA

See Personal Digital Assistant.

peer to peer marketing

Internet leveraged tactic of helping true believers promote goods and services to friends and colleagues in their virtual communities. Approach often involves creating linked news items or video content that the peer group will share with its membership and beyond. Known also as word of mouth and viral marketing.

permission level

Varying access rights that users confer to wireless content providers for delivering unsolicited marketing messages.

persistent cookie

A website cookie that remains on a visitor’s hard drive even after leaving a website, enabling easier navigation (and occasionally click tracking) during subsequent visits.

personal digital assistant

Small handheld computer—typically using a small pen-sized stylus for data input—that is optimized for basic calendar, messaging and document storage applications. Most contemporary PDAs also support networking and many of those offer text, telephone and internet capabilities (all requiring service subscriptions).

personal identification number

Known to all who frequent automated teller machines, a PIN is a (typically) four digit number required to authenticate permission to access protected content.

personal video recorder

A PVR is a set top box that interfaces with the source of a TV signal to record programming to an internal hard drive. Subscribers can record entire shows, entire seasons of shows or simply “pause live TV” by clicking a remote control button and returning later to watch the video directly from the hard disk.

personalization

Targeted marketing technique that automatically merges database information with a standard message template to make email and direct mail appear to be individually addressed and composed. Tactics range from a simple name field merge (“Dear Tim”) to one that incorporates behavioral or purchasing histories (“we know you enjoy travel”).

phishing

Identity theft scheme that utilizes fraudulent HTML email messages that resemble legitimate messages from banks and e-commerce sites. Phishing messages characteristically claim that its recipient’s personal information has already been compromised, and provides a link to a website where the user can presumably initiate corrective action. The website, however, is also a fake, and exists solely to steal personal information and credit card details.

PIN

See Personal Identification Number.

pixel

A single point of light on a computer display that combined with its neighboring pixels form the colorful graphics with which people interact. Most ad units carry specific dimension recommendations, such as 468 x 60 pixels for a banner ad.

pixel tag

Also known as an invisible GIF, web beacon or web bug, the pixel tag is a link from a website or email that displays a nearly invisible graphic (a single pixel). When the end user’s computer retrieves the image from the link, the link’s host trolls cookie files to track browsing behavior. Commonly used to monitor email opening rates or aid spyware.

pixting

Slang term for Picture Text Messaging, the practice of mobile phone text messaging that also incorporates images and sound.

plain text

A type of email message format that includes no formatting information. Most email clients include a “plain text only” option for reading email. When enabled, it protects viewers from HTML features such as tracking-enabled web beacons and executable program code. Email marketers must remember that many recipients read their messages in plain text, and thus write ad copy that stands on its own.

plug-in

A small application that adds new functionality to a web browser. The Flash plug-in, for instance, allows browsers to display interstitial ads and other Flash-encoded animations.

podcast

Audio content distributed regularly via XML syndication feeds—such as RSS or Atom—that subscribers download automatically to podcast clients. Subscribers can play back podcasts directly from the client, or transfer them for future listening onto iPods and similar portable media devices.

pointer file

Text file that identifies a streaming media source file’s internet location and name.

polling

Using web forms, interactive TV overlays and mobile phones’ dial-then-text functions to conduct real time surveys and votes.

pop-under ad

Online display ad format that conceals new advertising windows below the currently open web page. Perceived as less intrusive than pop-ups because they don’t interfere with viewing current content, viewers don’t see them until they have exited content already. Also known as a pop-behind ad.

pop-up ad

Early online ad model that suddenly introduces unsolicited display ad windows on top of current web page content. Pop-ups became so unpopular that a cottage industry sprang up to create software that blocks their appearance—a function now common to most web browser menus.

port

Communication interface used to transmit information between computers. Specific types of traffic occur on specific ports (for instance, port 80 for web browser traffic and port 25 for email). When online applications fail, a common explanation is that a hardware- or software-based firewall has blocked the necessary communication port.

portable people meter

Portable ratings measurement device that Arbitron created to respond to an increasingly fragmented media market. The cell-phone-sized meter picks up and records audio signals—imperceptible to the human ear—embedded into popular media content. By remaining with randomly selected participants, the PPM can track the location and the duration of engagement with all forms of media, whether broadcast at home or downloaded at work.

portal

Web page designed to serve as a one-stop information center and access point to other online destinations. Some portals provide information based on location (determined by the client computer’s IP address), and others encourage users to create personal customizations—adding links to current stock prices, email, sports scores, weather forecasts, news crawls, favorite comics, RSS feeds and so on.

positioning

Practice of search engines and directories to analyze web pages to determine their relative placement in categorical directory listings and search engine results pages.

post launch marketing

In an online context, includes following up an e-commerce website launch with complementary offline promotional activities: direct mail, news conferences and ad campaigns for print, TV and radio.

post-roll ad

Ad that plays at the end of on-demand video content.

potential audience

The number of consumers who subscribe to a content delivery service or who possess the hardware required to receive advertising messages.

PPC

See Pay Per Click.

pre-caching

Online multimedia delivery method in which a web server sends an entire file to the receiving computer’s onboard memory (RAM) or hard disk cache before launching it, thus ensuring smooth uninterrupted playback.

pre-existing business relationship

Legal concept wherein a past purchase, information request or phone call entitles businesses to initiate email marketing. Best practice recommends that this relationship be recent, that the marketing email be permission-based, and that all correspondence include an easy opt-out procedure.

pre-roll video

Ten-to-thirty-second video that plays immediately before on-demand content, virtually assuring viewer engagement.

preview pane

A window in many email clients that automatically displays a portion of an email message. Email marketers often code an HTML message according to what’s most likely to appear in a preview pane.

privacy policy

Statement that explains how a website handles the personal data it collects when visitors interact with it. Clear privacy policies clarify whether or not the site may sell personally identifying information, and how that information might be used. A surprising number of visitors read these statements, which can persuade reticent shoppers to become trusting customers.

privacy seal

Emblem that illustrates a website’s compliance with privacy protection safeguards. Privacy auditors such as TRUSTe and BBBOnline monitor websites for responsible privacy protection practices, and award seals that certified sites can display to prove good intentions and histories.

product placement

Marketing technique where companies pay TV and film production companies to display somewhere in the final cut a product (Coca-Cola), logo (the Nike swoosh) or iconic image (Macy’s). The placement may be prominent or subtle, depending on the fee. Many marketers embrace this technique for its branding power in an environment where consumers view commercials with suspicion.

profiling

Monitoring a consumer’s web browsing and viewing habits to identify topical interests and behavior patterns. Such information enables targeted and behavioral marketing initiatives.

progressive download

Online download protocol that allows audio and video playback to begin before the file has finished downloading. Similar to streaming, but different in that progressively downloaded files remain available on the hard drive.

pull technology

Content provisioning model where provider automatically sends out news, updates or programming without the recipient actively soliciting the transaction. For example, subscription TV providers could automatically push down a five-minute program detailing new PVR features.

PVR

See Personal Video Recorder.