Glossary A–ZLetter A
Ad play
An ad play is a single showing of a piece of content or an advert on a screen.
If a spot runs twelve times an hour in a loop, that is twelve plays. The number is counted by the player and reported to the management system.
The ad play is the one figure the system itself knows for certain. For advertising on screens, it is therefore often the basis for booking, reporting and billing: the advertiser books a certain number or frequency, and the operator then shows how often the creative actually ran. If a device failed, the plays for that period are missing from the report.
It says nothing about whether anyone was nearby or looked at the screen. Separate metrics such as impressions cover that, and they rest on measurements or estimates. Operators should keep a clear line in offers and reports between figures that are counted and figures that are estimated. A preview in the management system is not an ad play either and must not feed into billing.