Definition

A physical page torn from a publication proving an ad ran as purchased, or its digital equivalent screenshot. The receipts that media buyers clutch when things go wrong.

Example Usage

The magazine swears our ad ran, but the tear sheet shows it printed on page 47 next to obituaries instead of the fashion section we paid for.

Origin

Print advertising terminology dating back over a century when pages were literally torn from publications

Fun Fact

Digital tear sheets are easily faked, leading to entire industries built around third-party ad verification and monitoring.

Source: Print and media buying terminology

Related Terms

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display advertising

Visual banner ads served across websites and apps, ranging from tasteful rectangles to screen-dominating monstrosities that make you question humanity. The descendants of magazine ads, but with the added benefit of following you everywhere online.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
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content calendar

A schedule planning what content to publish and when, designed to bring order to the chaos of content marketing and typically abandoned by February. It's the New Year's resolution of marketing planning.

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brand ambassador

Someone hired to represent and promote a brand through their networks and platforms, embodying the company's values and identity. They're paid friends who enthusiastically recommend your product to anyone who'll listen.

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impression share

The percentage of times your ad was shown divided by the total number of times it was eligible to appear, typically in paid search or display campaigns. It measures how much of the available opportunity you're actually capturing.

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lookalike

In digital advertising, an audience segment created by finding people who resemble your existing customers like some kind of algorithmic clone army. It's Facebook's way of saying "we found more people just as gullible as your current buyers." Marketers love these because stalking one customer base apparently wasn't enough.

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product feed

Structured data file containing your product catalog information that feeds into shopping platforms and dynamic ads. The spreadsheet that launches a thousand SKUs into the digital marketplace, assuming you formatted everything correctly.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

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