A single instance in which an advertisement, post, or other piece of content is displayed to a person.
A measure of exposure that does not indicate whether the content was noticed or acted upon.
Short and sweet:
A single instance in which an advertisement, post, or other piece of content is displayed to a person.
A measure of exposure that does not indicate whether the content was noticed or acted upon.
See also: Reach, Ad Impression, Frequency
An impression is counted every single time an ad or piece of content is displayed on someone’s screen, regardless of whether that person actually noticed it or the same individual saw it multiple times, which makes it the most basic and least discerning measure of visibility available. Because impressions accumulate so easily, especially with automated or programmatic buying, they’re rarely used alone to judge success and are instead paired with rate-based metrics like click-through rate that reveal how many of those impressions actually led to any action. Rising impressions without any corresponding increase in engagement or conversions usually points to a message that’s being shown widely but isn’t resonating with whoever sees it.
A banner ad that loads on a news site counts as an impression the instant it appears on screen, whether or not the reader actually glances at it before scrolling past.
Billboard companies estimate one of these every time a car drives by a sign, a rough count that says nothing about whether the driver actually looked up and read it.
An Instagram post might generate 10,000 of them in a day, a number that simply reflects how many times it loaded in someone’s feed, regardless of likes or comments.
