Advertiser

Advertisers fund campaigns across search, social, display, video, and app channels. Day to day they:

• Set goals (awareness, traffic, installs, purchases).
• Choose audiences, creatives, and bids.
• Monitor delivery and efficiency in dashboards.
• Reallocate budget toward what works.

They may buy directly from publishers, through DSPs, or via ad networks — but the role is always: pay for attention that should create value.

Buyer-side metrics answer how much did we spend and what did we get back:

• CPC / CPM — unit cost of clicks or impressions.
• CTR — did the creative earn engagement?
• CVR / CPA — did clicks become conversions, and at what cost?
• ROAS / ROI — return relative to spend.
• AOV / LTV — value of the customers acquired.

A healthy advertiser view pairs volume (impressions, clicks) with efficiency (CPA, ROAS).

Upstream of the auction, advertisers (or their agencies) brief creatives and budgets. Downstream they depend on:

• Publishers for inventory quality and brand safety.
• SSPs / networks and exchanges for access to that inventory in real time.
• Measurement partners for attribution and fraud checks.

When a metric looks “wrong,” ask whether you are reading a buyer number (cost, ROAS) or a seller number (fill, eCPM).

• Optimizing only CTR while ignoring CPA or ROAS.
• Comparing CPM across channels without matching viewability or audience quality.
• Treating last-click attribution as full truth.
• Raising bids to fix volume without checking win rate and margin.