Impression

An impression is a single instance of an ad or content being displayed to a user.

Why it matters

Helps measure the reach of a campaign.
Essential for calculating cost metrics like CPM.

How to measure

Count each time an ad is loaded on a device.
Typically measured in real-time or daily intervals.

Details

In mobile advertising, impressions are a fundamental metric used to determine how often an ad is displayed to users. This metric is crucial for advertisers and developers to understand the reach and visibility of their campaigns. Impressions are counted each time an ad is fetched and displayed on a user's device, regardless of whether the user interacts with it.

For mobile engineers and growth teams, understanding impressions is key to optimizing ad placements and ensuring effective audience targeting. Impressions can be tracked through various analytics tools integrated into mobile applications, providing insights into user engagement and ad performance.

Examples & formulas

For example, if an ad is displayed 1,000 times, it results in 1,000 impressions. This data can be used to calculate CPM (Cost Per Mille), which is the cost per 1,000 impressions.

CPM = (Total Ad Spend / Total Impressions) * 1000

Common mistakes

Confusing impressions with clicks; impressions only measure display, not interaction.
Overlooking ad viewability; ensure ads are actually visible to users when counted as impressions.