Basics · also called IO
Insertion order (IO)
An insertion order (IO) is the signed contract between an advertiser or agency and a publisher or vendor, specifying what ads run, where, when, in what volume and at what price.
An insertion order is the purchase order of advertising. The name dates back to print, when advertisers "inserted" ads into newspapers. It lists the campaign name, flight dates, placements, targeting, formats, impression or spend goals, price (CPM, CPC, flat fee), billing terms and which ad server counts are used for billing.
IOs are used for direct-sold advertising campaigns, sponsorships, managed service programmatic buys and many programmatic guaranteed deals. In the US, many IOs reference standard terms and conditions developed by the IAB and the 4A's, which cover issues like cancellation notice, make-goods and discrepancy thresholds between publisher and advertiser counts.
For ad ops teams, the IO is the source of truth for trafficking and pacing a campaign. Disputes about under-delivery, invalid traffic refunds (refunds and clawbacks) or which numbers to bill on are usually settled by what the IO says.
Think of it like this
An insertion order is like a catering contract: number of guests, menu, date, price and what happens if the food arrives late are all written down before anyone cooks.
An example
An IO for a Canadian bank: 10 million impressions, 300×250 and 728×90, finance section, 1–31 March, US$12 CPM, billed on the advertiser ad server count, total US$120,000.
Related terms
Direct-sold advertising
Direct-sold advertising is ad space sold by a publisher straight to an advertiser or agency through a negotiated deal, usually with a fixed price and guaranteed volume.
Ad operations (ad ops)
Ad operations (ad ops) is the technical team and set of processes that set up, deliver, troubleshoot and report on ad campaigns, on either the publisher or the advertiser side.
Pacing
Pacing is how evenly (or deliberately unevenly) a campaign spends its budget or delivers its impressions across its flight dates, so it neither runs out early nor under-delivers.
Campaign
A campaign is an organised set of ads with a shared goal, budget, audience and time period, run across one or more channels and measured against defined KPIs.
Discrepancy
A discrepancy is the difference between numbers reported by two systems for the same campaign, such as a publisher's and an advertiser's ad server counting different impressions or clicks.