Eskimi Metrics: Formulas and Terminology

This page explains the metrics and formulas you see in Eskimi DSP reports: what each metric counts and how each rate is calculated, so you can read campaign results and compare them with other tools.

Formulas

• VTR (view-through rate) = (Video views / Impressions) x 100
• VCR (video completion rate) = (Completed views / Video starts) x 100
• cVTR (completed view-through rate) = (Completed views / Impressions) x 100
• CPV = Total Ad Spend / Video views
• CPCV = Total Ad Spend / Completed views
• CTR = (Number of Clicks / Number of Impressions) x 100
• CVR = (Number of Conversions / Number of Clicks) x 100
• CPC = (Total Ad Spend / Number of Clicks)
• CPM = (Total Ad Spend / Number of Impressions) x 1000
• eCPM = (Total Earnings / Total Impressions) x 1000
• Fill Rate = (Number of filled ad requests / number of total ad requests) * 100
• Win rate (WR) = (number of won auctions / number of auctions participated in) * 100

VCR and cVTR both count completed views but divide by different numbers. VCR divides by video starts; cVTR divides by all impressions. Not every impression starts playing, so cVTR is always lower than VCR. Example: 1,000 starts, 800 completed views and 8,000 impressions give a VCR of 80% but a cVTR of 10%. If two report tables show very different completion figures, check whether one shows VCR and the other cVTR.

Terminology

Bid Request

A bid request in ad tech is a signal sent by a website or app to potential advertisers, asking if they want to place an ad in a specific spot and how much they’re willing to pay. It happens in real time and includes details like the user’s demographics, device type, and browsing behavior.

CTR

CTR (click-through rate) shows how often people who see your ad click on it: clicks ÷ impressions × 100. For example, 5 clicks from 1,000 impressions is a CTR of 0.5%.

A good CTR depends on the ad format, placement and market, so compare it with campaigns of the same format in the same market. CTR can also be set as the campaign's optimisation goal.

CPC

CPC (cost per click) is spend ÷ clicks. Eskimi DSP buys on CPM, so CPC is a result of the campaign, not a price paid per click.

To bring CPC down, set CPC as the campaign's optimisation goal with a target value.

CPA

CPA (cost per action or acquisition) is spend ÷ conversions. Conversions are counted only when the Eskimi pixel or a mobile measurement partner is set up on the advertiser's website or app.

Set CPA as the campaign's optimisation goal to have Eskimi DSP favour the apps and sites that bring conversions at or below your target.

CPM

CPM (cost per mille) is the cost of 1,000 impressions: spend ÷ impressions × 1,000. Eskimi DSP buys all inventory on CPM. You set a CPM bid for the campaign, and spend is counted per impression served.

Eskimi DSP has no CPC, CPA or CPV buying. These are results you see in the report and goals you can optimise the campaign towards, while the campaign itself is always bought on CPM.

Optimisation Goals

A campaign can have one optimisation goal: CPC, CTR, CPA, VR (viewability rate), VCR, CPCVV (cost per completed video view), ER, CPE (cost per engagement), VVR (video viewability rate), SR (session rate) or CPS (cost per session). Which goals you can choose depends on the campaign type and the country.

With a goal set, Eskimi DSP compares apps and sites against your target once they have collected enough impressions or spend, and stops buying the ones that miss it.

CPV

CPV (cost per view) is spend ÷ video views. Video campaigns are bought on CPM like all other campaigns, so CPV is a result, not a price paid per view.

To pay less for each completed view, set CPCVV (cost per completed video view) as the campaign's optimisation goal.

Impressions

An impression is counted each time your ad is served on an app or site. Not every impression is seen by the user; see Viewable Impressions below.

Viewable Impressions

There are instances where an impression might be shown, but not considered as "viewable".

• An ad is counted as "viewable" when at least 50 percent of your ad shows on screen for one second or longer for display ads, and two seconds or longer for video ads.

Viewability

This metric is expressed as a percentage and represents the percentage of ad impressions that are actually seen by users.
The standard formula for calculating viewability rate is (total viewable impressions / total impressions) x 100. By IAB standard - for display ad - 50% of the ad for at least 1 continuous second and for video 50% of ad for at least 2 continuous seconds.

Attention

We extend the standard Viewability metric by introducing "Attention" — defined as the ad being continuously in view for at least 2.5 seconds with at least 50% of its pixels visible. This applies to both display and video ads equally.

Total and Average In-View Time

We build on the Viewability standard by measuring the entire duration an ad remains in view on the user’s screen (with at least 50% visibility). Whenever a user scrolls to the ad, away from it, and then back again — we track all these in-view moments and accumulate the time.

• The Total In-View Time is the sum of all such viewable durations across all users.

• The Average In-View Time is calculated by dividing the Total In-View Time by the number of viewable impressions.

Clicks

When someone clicks your ad, Eskimi DSP counts that as a click.

• A click is counted even if the person doesn't reach your website, maybe because it's temporarily unavailable. As a result, you might see a difference between the number of clicks on your ad and the number of visits to your website.
• Clicks can help you understand how well your ad is appealing to people who see it. Relevant, highly-targeted ads are more likely to receive clicks.

Companion Impressions & Clicks

Some ad formats, such as video and audio, may be accompanied by a companion banner.
These companion banners can present as a 5s end card for video, or as a banner shown with the audio ad. 

When Companion Banners are included, the campaign will report "Companion impression" and "Companion clicks" metrics under the “Event metrics” part.

ER (Engagement Rate)

A metric used to measure the level of user engagement with a specific ad or campaign, calculated as the percentage of users who interacted with the ad divided by the total number of Viewed impressions.

Conversions

• Total conversions: number of conversions our client has registered, irrespective of where they came from.
• Attributed conversions: number of conversions attributed to some marketing channel, e.g., Eskimi.
• Post-click conversions: number of attributed conversions that happened after user clicked an ad.
• Post-view conversions: number of attributed conversions that happened after user has seen an ad. If the user clicks after seeing an ad, the conversion will be attributed to post-click.
• Conversion attribution window: time between click and conversion, or impression and conversion. Common settings are 28 days for clicks and 7 days for views, but windows differ by platform, so check the window used before comparing results.
• Post-click/post-view conversion rate: number of attributed conversions divided by ad interactions (clicks).
• Cost per conversion: total campaign cost divided by total attributed conversions.

Conversions in Eskimi:

1. Post-click conversion - a conversion that occurred within a set post-click attribution window. This number of conversions counts into the total amount (in Conversions report). Also, it is included in Custom conversions report as Post-click.
2. Post-view conversion - a conversion that occurred within the set post-view attribution window. This number of conversions counts into the total amount (in Conversions report). Also, it is included in Custom conversions report as Post-view.

Rich Media Creative Events

Default metrics, which should be present in every Rich Media solution released by Eskimi platform:

• Main Event - Templated and Custom Rich Media banners have regular added events to track actions like mouse-over, touch and first interaction with the banner. Those events are used in all Rich Media banners and they don't change.

  • Main and first event trigger (swipe, drag, shake), whatever the main interaction of the ad is - that's where the "main" interaction of the Rich Media ad is placed. There, you will be able to see the "Main" event metric.

• Side Event - Custom Rich Media banners can have individually added events to track certain custom actions in the banners. Sometimes, the ads will have default side interaction metrics. But usually, if you want to see any additional metrics of your Rich Media banner performance, you can request adding these metrics on top.

• Other Events - The user has placed his mouse over the ad and touched the ad with his finger. Any usability events. These are not calculated towards the "main" engagement rate.

Main events examples:

Main - Triggered when the user first interacts with the RM. Should be triggered only once.
Mouse_Over - Triggered the first time the user moves the mouse over the RM (desktop).
Touch - Triggered the first time the user touches the RM with a finger (mobile devices). In Eskimi templated Rich Media, Mouse_Over and Touch are counted once per ad view, and only whichever happens first. A touch is not a click: it does not open the landing page and is not counted in clicks, CTR or the engagement rate.

Side events examples:
CloseAd - Triggered when user closes an ad. Typically, floating and takeover Ads.
Swipe_Right - Triggered when user swipes right. Typically carousel or draggable Ads.
Seen_frame_[number] - Triggered when ads have multiple frames and the user navigates through them.

Summary

Eskimi DSP buys all inventory on CPM; CPC, CPA, CPV and the other cost metrics are results and optimisation goals. Most report rates divide one count by another, so check the denominator before comparing two figures: CTR, VTR and cVTR divide by impressions, VCR divides by video starts, and CVR divides by clicks.

Rich Media events such as Main, Touch and Mouse_Over measure interactions with the ad itself. Only Main counts towards the engagement rate, and none of them is a click.