Glossary

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) A technique used to upgrade ordinary phone lines to enable broadband services.
Advertorial A commercial in the form of a TV programme designed to promote sales of a product. It is usually longer than a conventional ad, and governed by specific rules.
AFP (Advertiser Funded Programme) A programme funded by an advertiser rather than a broadcaster.
Analogue TV Wavelength-based broadcasting technology, due to become obsolete in the UK after 2012.
Astra The TV satellite system covering the UK and Europe.
BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) UK’s television audience measurement system and trading currency (see page 96).
Broadband High speed data communication, typically 1mb per second and above.
Bumpers Short (usually 5 or 10 second) branded sponsorship credits appearing at the beginning and end of a sponsored programme, and either side of a commercial break.
Cable Penetration Either the proportion of cable subscribers to all TV homes in the area, expressed as a percentage; or more commonly in the UK, the proportion of cable subscribers to homes passed and marketed.
Channel Reach The number or percentage of a potential audience who watch a channel at all over a particular period of time (typically one day, week or month).
Channel Share The percentage of the viewing audience watching one channel as opposed to any other channels, over a given period of time.
Churn The number or percentage of disconnecting subscribers.
Commercial Impacts/Impressions/Messages See Impacts.
Commercial Minutage The number of minutes on television during which commercials (as opposed to programmes, trailers etc.) are broadcast.
Consolidated Viewing Live viewing plus video playback of programmes recorded and watched within seven days of transmission.
Conversion The relative efficiency of a channel, programme or campaign in reaching a sub-audience compared to a broad audience, normally expressed as an index.
Coverage The proportion of a target audience seeing an advertising campaign.
CPT (Cos The Contracts Rights Renewal (CRR) was put in place by the Competition Commission in 2003 following the merger of Carlton and Granada to form ITV plc. CRR is intended to protect the advertising market by guaranteeing that advertisers and media buyers are no worse off following the merger of Carlton and Granada.
DAL (Dedicated Advertiser Location) When pressing the red button during an ad allows viewers to enter an advertiser environment away from the broadcast stream, with room for more product information and branding.
DRTV (Direct Response Television) A commercial that carries a call to respond, usually by telephone.
DTH (Direct To Home) Satellite transmissions received into the home via a dish, as distinct from satellite transmissions relayed via a cable system.
DTT Digital Terrestrial Television (see page 6).
Daypart A section of the viewing day.
Demographics The definition of people by e.g. age, sex and class.
Digital TV TV transmission standard which relays signals in a series of 0’s and 1’s – bits.
EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) On-screen listings guide available on digital platforms.
FreeSat Free-To-View Digital TV channels via Digital Satellite equipment.
Freeview Digital TV platform service that allows viewing of digital TV channels via your TV aerial and a Freeview set-top box.
Frequency/OTS The number of times the target audience has the opportunity to see (OTS) a campaign expressed over a period of time.
Guest Viewing Measured by asking the visitors in a panel home to register their presence and basic demographics.
HDTV (high definition television) TV broadcasts made up from 720+ lines instead of the current standard 625. Viewers must have a compatible set to benefit from HD broadcasts.
IA (Interactive Advertising) Advertisements broadcast on digital TV with an overlay prompting the viewer to press the red button on the remote for more information, a competition, sample etc.%
i-ad% An interactive advertisement.
idTV (integrated digital television) A television set with in-built capability to receive digital broadcasts.
iTV (interactive Television) A catch-all word used to describe digital TV viewers’ ability to interact with the TV, for services including home banking, home shopping, advertiser and programme information.
Impacts An impact is one person’s viewing of one commercial spot. They are aggregated to assess the performance of TV channels in reaching target audiences.
Impulse Response Simple call to action overlay on the screen, whereby the viewer can press the red button to request a brochure, call-back, sample or further information from an advertiser during an interactive ad.
Index The efficiency of a particular time period/programme/ad break in reaching a certain sub-category audience, in relation to a main audience valued at 100.
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) The delivery of digital television and other audio and video services over high speed broadband connections.
Microsite Similar to an impulse response ad, it offers an interactive overlay with the TV screen still shown quarter screen. This is used for information, data-capture, call-back and branding.
Multichannel Homes Homes that receive more than the 5 analogue terrestrial channels.
OTS Opportunity to see an advertisement.
Page Impression Advertising currency recording the serving of a web or DTV page to an individual user.
Pay-TV TV service bought by subscription rather than the licence fee.
Pay-per-view Payment for specific programmes as opposed to subscription for a whole channel or group of channels.
Penetration The percentage of all homes which subscribe to either satellite or cable TV; or, the percentage of cable homes passed which actually subscribe.
PVR (Personal Video Recorders) TV technology allowing impulsive manipulation of TV programmes including recording and instant replay, e.g. Virgin Media’s V+ box, and Sky+.
Profile Composition of audience showing percentage of the total accounted for by each subdemographic, e.g.: age group.
Ratecard Published airtime costs, often including a range of incentives, for example volume or expenditure.
Rating see TVR.
Reach (coverage) The proportion of an audience who have watched a channel or seen an ad campaign.
Response Rate The number of respondents to an i-ad as a percentage of those who saw it.
Shufflecast/Staggercast An additional channel showing identical content to its parent channel at a later time (usually +1 hour).
Simulcast Identical output being shown simultaneously on different channels or media.
Spot An individual occurrence of a commercial.
Sub-Categories, Sub-Demographic Groups The division of the main category audience or population (of individuals/adults/ men/women / children / housewives), usually by age and/or social grade.
Terrestrial Viewing Analogue terrestrial viewing to any of the following channels: BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1 (including GMTV), Channel 4 (including S4C) and Five.
TiVo A company behind PVR technology, allowing impulsive playback of broadcast programmes.
TVR (Television Rating, also known as GRP - Gross Rating Point) The currency of the TV industry, which measures the popularity of a programme, daypart, commercial break or advertisement, by comparing the audience to the population as a whole. 1TVR = 1% of the potential audience (universe).
UGC (User-Generated Content) Content that is produced by viewers/internet users as opposed to broadcasters and commissioned production companies.
Universe The total number of a target audience who receive a particular channel or TV platform.
VOD (Video-On-Demand) A service that allows viewers to select a programme from a menu, and watch it immediately. VOD variants: sVOD – Subscription VOD; nVOD – NearVOD, ie with a short time delay.