Adwanted UK’s jargon busting glossary for all things media

(The) Web The World Wide Web or WWW consists of graphic and text documents published on the Internet that are interconnected through clickable "hypertext" links.

1/8th Inch See “3.5mm.”

12 Certificate No longer exists for cinema but does apply for video & DVD.

12A Certificate Children under the age of 12 will be able to see a '12A' film at the cinema if they are accompanied by a person of 18 years or over. The adult must watch the film with the child or children and not just pay for the ticket.

15 Certificate Passed only for persons of fifteen years and older.

18 Certificate Passed only for persons of eighteen years and older.

1G First generation mobile telephony systems using analogue signals, but with the digitisation of the control link between the mobile phone and the cell (transmission) sites.

2.5G Extension of 2G systems through use of 2.5G protocols providing additional features such as GPRS packet-switched connections and enhanced data rates.

2G Second generation mobile telephony systems offering better quality at lower costs to the consumer through the digitisation of the signal and supporting voice, low speed data connections and short messaging services. GSM is the most widely used 2G standard.

3.5 mm The size of the plug for consumer headphones, but everyone calls it “1/8th Inch.”

3D TV A television set that employs techniques of 3D presentation, such as stereoscopic capture, multi-view capture, or 2D-plus-depth, and a 3D display - a special viewing device to project a television program into a realistic three-dimensional field.

3G (of telephone technology) third-generation.

4G (of telephone technology) fourth-generation.

A/B copy Facility offered by certain national newspapers whereby different advertisements are printed in alternate issues of the paper. Often used to test the effectiveness of different creative approaches, egs couponed versus non-couponed, different headlines, etc.Typically incurs a 10% rate premium.

AA Advertising Association - Umbrella group representing agencies, advertisers and the media. It provides information including statistics and lobbies on major advertising issues. Its aim is to promote and protect the advertising business.

AAAA (American Association of Advertising Agencies) An organisation representing the interests of advertising agencies in the US. Also known as “4A’s”.

AAC (Advance audio codec) From MPEG-4. Is a successor to MP3. The very high popularity of MP3 and its incorporation into a large number of players, including CD and DVD players should, however, ensure MP3 longevity for years to come.

AB High status individuals.

AB Deadlines Advanced Booking deadlines: the deadline by which a TV campaign must be booked ahead of transmission. The deadline varies from broadcaster to broadcaster, though seven weeks is usually the minimum.

Abandon When a user does not complete a transaction.

ABC Audit Bureau Of Circulation - An independent body supported by advertisers and agencies, which issues audited circulation figures for member publications.

ABCe Data Audit Bureau of Circulation audited counts of online website traffic

Above the Fold An ad viewable as soon as a web pages loads, that the visitor can see without a need for scrolling.

Above the Line Forms of marketing that involve mass-market advertising, e.g. using TV, Press, Radio and Posters

ABS (Australia) Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian government’s official statistical organisation responsible for conducting the census.

Acceptance/ installation rate Percentage of homes out of the approached sample that is successfully recruited, installed and participates in the peoplemeter panel. In the case of addresses taken from an establishment or other survey, the acceptance/installation rate is calculated by multiplying the acceptance/installation rate from the approached sample (or "recruitment pool") by the response rate to the survey from which the addresses were taken. Precise operational definitions of the acceptance/installation rate can vary appreciably across different peoplemeter panels.

Access Channel A channel which a cable operator makes available to community groups, local charities and individuals. Facilities are usually made available at cost, or no charge.

Access channels US term for dedicated 'public service' channels set aside by cable companies for non-discriminatory access to the network by the public, government agencies or educational institutions.

Access Panels Access panels are made up of a large number of households who have agreed to take part in research. Online access panels have now largely superseded more traditional mail panels.

Acorn A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods. Using published census statistics, it classifies consumers according to the type of residential area in which they live. There are 38 different neighbourhood types, which take into account 40 variables including demographic, housing and employment characteristics. The 38 types are themselves aggregated into 11 neighbourhood groups. Available on the TGI and via CACI.

ACR Automatic Content Recognition captures and identifies content (both ads and programming) across internetconnected devices via audio or video fingerprints.

Activator Motor & feedback system to drive a motorised multi-satellite antenna.

Active peoplemeter measurement Peoplemeter measurement that registers viewer presence by means of remote control push-button handsets, where panel members are instructed to press at the beginning and end of each viewing session. Each person (family member) belonging to the panel is assigned their own button for purposes of individual identification, whilst additional buttons on the remote control handset are reserved for recording guest viewing. Today, all peoplemeter panels collecting audience data for TV advertising and programme purposes employ active measurement.

Active Reach The number of unique persons visiting a website and/or using an application one or more times, expressed as a percentage of the total current internet population for specified reporting period.

Active/Passive (A/P) Meter The Active/Passive Metering system actively reads video and audio codes embedded in the programme and is capable of producing audio signatures as a secondary identification method or as a back up.

Actively Purchased Circulation A term used broadly to describe those copies purchased by an individual at a minimum price. The Actively Purchased figure is the sum of the copies claimed as Paid Single Copies (retail and single copy sales) and Paid Subscriptions categories (individual single copy subscriptions and all you can read sales) excluding free and multiple copies.

Actuality Tape recorded on location.

Ad (Internet) This can be a banner, button, pop-up etc.

Ad Blocker Software on a user's browser which prevents ads being displayed.

Ad blocker (Online) User software that prevents Internet ads from being displayed.

Ad Click A Click on an Ad Impression served in the period being measured.

Ad Click Arrival A User arriving at a site as a direct result of having clicked on an ad (made an impression) served on behalf of that site (made an Ad Click).

Ad Click Rate The percentage of Internet users that, after seeing an advertisement, click onto it. This also know as clickthrough

Ad download (Online) Advertising that is downloaded to the user’s browser.

Ad Exchange This is a marketing software that enables buyers and sellers to communicate in real-time. This enables publishers and advertisers to exchange data, set their prices, and then serve the ad.

Ad Fraud Ad fraud is advertising that is said to have been served but has never been heard by the intended audience, however has still been collected against the impression in order to collect revenue. Examples of this include, creative fake ad traffic, geo masking, domain spoofing, etc).

Ad Impression The number of ad banners served in the period being measured.

Ad impression (Online) (1) Any form of Internet advertisement that is successfully served to a user’s browser. (2) Unit of measurement of Internet advertising. The total count of ad impressions denotes the number of responses from an ad delivery system to requests from user browsers, ideally recorded as late as possible in the delivery to the user’s browser in order to be closest to actual OTS (opportunity to see). A basic distinction exists between requests that are “server initiated” and requests that are “client initiated”. Server initiated requests proceed from the publisher’s Web content server, while client-initiated proceed from the user’s browser. Recommended procedures for ad counting differ in either case.

Ad Impression Arrival A User arriving at a site having been exposed to an ad served on behalf of that site.

Ad Network A service company that connect advertisers and media owners. The primary role of an Ad Network is to aggregate available ad space across a large collection of publishers, all in one centralized location. is matched with advertiser demand. They pool inventory of unsold ads from publishers and sell them to advertisers. Their ad servers then power ad targeting, tracking and reporting.

Ad Occurance Data Sometimes called “as-run logs,” ad occurrence data is an audit of what spot ran, where it ran and at what time. The file typically consists of asset ID, market, channel and time stamp information.

Ad recall The estimated number of people likely to remember your ads within days of being exposed.

Ad request (Online) Request for an advertisement coming directly from a user’s browser, as recorded by the ad server.

Ad server This is the specific software that is solely designed not only to serve the ad but also which ad should be played at a given moment. The software is also used to track clicks and other useful performance data. specialisation enables the tracking and management of advertising related metrics.

Ad Serving Refers to the mechanisms developed to facilitate ad delivery on the World Wide Web or Internet.

Ad stream (Online) Series of ads displayed during the user’s visit to a Web site.

Ad Tag HTML on a webpage that would contact an ad server and ask for an ad, this is sometimes referred to as being a 1x1 pixel ad or a VAST tag.

Ad Targetting This is the term used to describe what happens when a campaign is set up with the intention to attract or target a certain type of people.

Ad Tech Ad tech refers to various software that is built solely for the advertising world, its designed to improve media effectiveness and increase operational efficiencies. Ad tech can be a number of different softwares such as; demand-side platforms (DSPs), data management platforms (DMPs), supply-side platforms (SSPs) and ad exchanges

Ad Unique Browser The total number of unique combinations of a valid identifier contributing to the Ad Impressions served. Clients may use (i) IP+UserAgent, (ii) Cookie andor (iii) Registration ID.

Ad Unique User A unique device (e.g. a computer, PDA or mobile phone) that has made a request for an Ad Impression served in the period being measured.

Ad Unit Any defined advertising vehicle that can appear in an ad space inside of an application. For example for the purposes of promoting a commercial brand, product or service.

Ad View An ad view or impression is a single ad that appears (usually in full view without scrolling) on a webpage when the page arrives at the viewer's display. A webpage may offer space for a number of ad views. In general the term impression is more commonly used.

Ad view (Online) Actual viewing of an ad by the user. It is not directly measurable today, but inferred from the measurement of ads called for display on the user’s computer.

Address Either the address of a user of a system, as in e-mail address (required so the message can be sent directed to a particular person) or the address of a site on the Internet.

Address (Online) Unique identifier for a computer or online site, usually a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for a Web site or an e-mail address.

Addressable Ability of a service provider to signal from the headend or hub to a specified subscriber. The addressable functions include the ability to change a subscriber's level of service for premium channels, PPV, etc.

Addressable Advertising Addressable or Targetted Advertising is a type of advertising whereby advertisements are placed so as to reach consumers based on various traits such as demographics, purchase history, or observed behavior.

Addressable On-Screen Display (OSD) Image superimposed on a screen picture that provides specific information about the display, such as channel number, channel logo or time of transmission.

Addressibilty The facility by which the subscriber's home equipment may be controlled remotely by the cable operator in order to allow disconnection, the provision of pay-per-view, or changes in the level of service.

Adex Advertising expenditure.

Adfast AdFast provides a managed system for the delivery of artwork to newspaper and magazine titles published in the UK

Adjacency A commercial time period that is scheduled immediately preceding or following a scheduled programme on the same station in which a TV commercial spot can be placed. Opposite of an in-programme placement. Also called a break position.

Adjustables ‘Adjustables’ are an online TV ad format technology which enables ads to float inside an online video. In most cases advertisers insert a brand logo into the video playback. The logo can be clicked on and links through to an external advertiser site.

ADM Admissions Base

ADS Artwork Delivery System

Adshel High quality, perspex covered, 6 sheet poster sites situated in bus shelters.

ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) - A technology that transforms a normal copper telephone line into a high-speed digital line. This technology gives you always-on access to telephone services and the Internet at the same time.

ADSL (Asymmetrical digital subscriber line) A variant of DSL, ADSL is a data communication technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. It does this using frequencies that are not used by a voice telephone call.

Adspeak An expression used for jargon used in the advertising trade. typified by bold claims and optimistic encouragement.

Adspend Shortened version of 'advertising expenditure'. The amount spent by an organization on advertising, usually per year. Can be used in connection with expenditure by one, many or all advertisers. Has technical overtones when used in advertising research, eg tracking studies.

Adstock The measure of the prolonged or lagged effect of advertising on consumer purchase behavior is adstock.

Adult Probability For a given publication, reading probabilities are calculated for people falling within each claimed reading frequency group.

Adults In British media measurement surveys, adults are usually defined as persons aged 15

Adults Individuals aged 16 or over are classified as Adults within the BARB service

Advan Originally the brand and product name of a company specialising in providing mobile poster sites, ie poster panels affixed to vans, which are driven and displayed as required by advertisers who book space on them. The expression has taken on a more generic meaning (cf. biro) to describe any such mobile poster facility.

Advanced TV This is a catch-all term for the improvements TV advertising has made across data, technology and targeting. It encompasses all non-traditional TV, including OTT, CTV, addressable and data-driven linear.

Advergame Advergaming is the practice of using video games to advertise a product, organization or viewpoint. The term "advergames" was coined in January 2000 by Anthony Giallourakis who purchased the domain names Advergames.com along with Adverplay.com. (Wikipedi

Advertainment Advertainment As live' advertising whereby graphic overlay technology is used to update a commercial message throughout a programme or a series of live interactive promotions are run where viewers can participate

Advertiser Also called Merchant, Retailer, Eretailer, or Online Retailer. Any website that sells a product or service, accepts payments, and fulfills orders. An advertiser places ads and links to their products and services on other websites (publishers) and pays t

Advertising agency An organisation acting as an agent for a producer of goods or services (an advertiser) devoted to developing and placing advertising in order to further the acceptance of a brand product, service or idea.

Advertising Artwork There are a small, but increasing number, of artwork formats. GIF and JPEG are the two most popular. New formats like Java may not yet be compatible with some of the systems publishers use to deliver adverts.

Advertising clutter Volume of advertising to which viewers are exposed. In the case of television, advertising clutter may refer to the volume of advertising spots carried by a broadcast channel. Or, it may refer to the average amount of time (typically minutes per hour) during the day/daypart in which viewers are exposed to advertising spots. (see also Promotional Clutter)

Advertising spot A unit interval (e.g. 10-second, 15-second, 20-second, 30-second, etc.) containing a commercial message supplied by an advertiser for insertion in the transmissions of a TV channel.

Advertising Targeting (Internet) The web allows adverts to be targeted primarily in three ways. 1 By web publication - which allows advertisers to target campaigns based on the simple level of the known demographics of a publication. 2 The choice of content within a web publication. This is particularly important in large online publications such as Electronic Telegraph, which may contain pockets of content targeted at certain groups - for example medical news pages being read by doctors and consumers interested in health issues. 3 Dynamically targeted adverts which deliver different adverts to different groups of readers while they are reading the same page. New software which is being adopted in 1997 by some of the main UK new media publishers is opening up the direct marketing potential of the web. There are two types of dynamic targeting. The first, and simplest, allows adverts to be targeted from information which is carried to the website by the users browser. Typically this will include the type of browser and computer, a generalised statement of what country they are reading from (unfortunately this is based on domain names and often fails) and information about which websites they have visited. The second method is only open to sites like the Telegraphs Electronic Telegraph which have a registered base of users for which they know certain characteristics. In theory an advert could be targeted based on any of the data captured in the questionnaire such as age, gender, occupation.

Advertising Value Equivalent The cost of the ad space an article occupies.

Advertising:editorial ratio (ad:ed ratio) The ratio of advertising to editorial pages in a print medium, eg 60:40 would indicate 60 per cent of all pages are advertising.

Advertorial Hybrid advertisement feature in which advertising and editorial material are combined to mimic a medium's editorial style. Advertorials may be produced either by the publication or by the advertiser, but will normally come under close scrutiny by the medium in question to ensure that its editorial control and/or integrity is not being compromised.

Aerial reception Reception of off-air terrestrial transmissions by means of a collective aerial (MATV) or an individual household aerial that may be located (a) externally (e.g. on the roof), (b) internally and attached to the TV set or (c) internally and built in to the TV set. In some countries with large commercial MATV networks, MATV may be included under cable reception.

AF Abbreviation of Average Frequency.

Affidavit A notarised statement from a broadcast station that confirms the commercial actually ran at the time shown on the station's invoice.

Affiliate A regional/local TV broadcast station bound by a contractual relationship with one or more networks to carry an agreed quantity of network-originated programmes and commercial announcements in parts of the schedule allocated for network programming.

Affiliate Marketing An affiliate (a web site owner or publisher), displays an advertisement (such as a banner or link) on its site for a merchant (the brand or advertiser). If a consumer visiting the affiliate's site clicks on this advertisement and goes onto perform a specified action (usually a purchase) on an advertisers site then the affiliate receives a commission.

Affinity A conversion figure between the base audience rating and the target audience rating. E.g. An index of 126 for target audience Adults 15-34 against a base audience of Adults 15+ means 15-34s obtained a 26% higher rating than the base average across all Adults 15+.

AFP Advertiser Funded Programming: TV programmes that are funded by an advertiser rather than by a broadcaster.

AFP (Advertiser funded programming) (see also ASTV (Advertiser supported television))

AGB AGB Nielsen Media Research, wholly owned by Nielsen Media Research as at Nov 2008.

AGB National Weather Model A model designed by AGB to explain the effect of the weather on viewing levels.

Agency Commission This is the discount given by the publisher to recognised advertising agencies, expressed as a percentage.

Agency Trading Desk A dynamic way to purchase audiences, allowing media to be purchased in real time rather than from pre-procured inventory.

AGF (Germany) Arbeitsgemeinschaft Fernsehforschung: Group of four (formerly six) TV station families underwriting TAM contract in Germany. AGF includes joint industry representation on the board and in the supervising committees.

Aggregated viewing data Processed viewing data that have been converted into total viewing estimates (e.g. programme, commercial break, advertising spot, second-by-second, minute, 5-minute and quarter-hour etc.) and no longer contain information about specific individuals/panel homes (i.e. cannot be used for direct calculations of reach/frequency).

AGP see: Audience Guarantee Plan

AIDA Attention, Interest, Desire, Action

Aided Recall Where the respondent's memory is prompted via a visual aid (eg lists of programmes in TV audience research).

AIR Abbreviation of Average Issue Readership.

Air Dates Scheduled dates that an advertisement is expected to be broadcasted.

Airing cost The cost to air/broadcast a programme.

Airing date The date of programme to be aired/broadcasted.

Ajax Ajax (Asynchronous Javascript and Xml) is a group of inter-related web techniques used for creating interactive web applications

AJAX Impression An HTML page that AJAX content is embedded into.

Alcohol Advertising Alcohol Advertising has been regulated successfully and responsibly by the CAA for the past eight years. Alcohol may be advertised under the following conditions: no more than 40% of commercial minutage is made available to alcohol advertiser; Alcohol commercials can only be shown where the audience profile will be 75% aged 18 or over. These films are called 'non proscribed'.

ALF ALF is an online business development tool for companies seeking to target UK advertising spenders.

Algorithm The set of rules a search engine may use to determine the relevance of a web page (and therefore ranking) in its organic search results. See also organic search results and Search Engine Optimisation

All 4 All 4 is a video on demand service from the Channel Four Television Corporation

All You Can Read Sales (Digital Edition only) (ABC) A Digital Edition copy that a consumer has purchased and viewed as part of a multi-publication package.

All4 Video on-demand brand operated by UK broadcaster Channel 4, previously called 4oD.

AM Amplitude Modulation. The waveband on which most 'Gold' stations broadcast. Also known as Medium.

AM (Amplitude modulation) The transmission of audiovisual signals in which the amplitude of a transmitting wave is modulated as a function of its intensity.

Amazon Alexa Amazon Alexa, also known simply as Alexa is a virtual assistant AI technology developed by Amazon. It is capable of voice interaction, music playback etc

Amazon Fire TV Amazon Fire TV is a media player that streams video, music, and games to your TV

Amazon Music Unlimited Amazon Music Unlimited is a premium music subscription service

Ambient Media A catch-all phrase used to describe all 'out-of-home' advertising that does not fit within established media definitions.

Ambush marketing Sponsorship tactic in which a company or companies which is/are not sponsors of a sponsored event attempt to capitalise on it via actions which suggest that they are sponsors of it.

AMOL (Automated measurement of line-ups) Term used in the USA to refer to unique programme codes. (see also Embedded Signal)

Amount of viewing (daily/weekly average) Total amount of live or consolidated viewing across all channels/other sources included under total viewing.

Analog Recording/processing without a computer. Often mytholigized by music producers, there is no “all analog” workflow in podcasting.

Analogue Television platform using analogue signal wavelengths

Analysis Sample Those respondents identified as being eligible to be interviewed or questioned for a survey.

Android An operating system based on the Linux kernel, and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers

Animated Gif These are frequently used on the Internet to draw attention to a Web page.

Announcement Another term for Advertising spot or Commercial. (see also Advertising spot)

Antenna Any device to pick up and deliver satellite microwave signals to the receiver.

AOP Association of Online Publishers

AOR (Agency-of-record) An advertising or media buying agency belonging to a group of agencies serving the same advertiser that has a privileged status in terms of being awarded special contracts or assignments that cover the group (e.g. media buyer negotiating commercial airtime deals with TV stations on behalf of all agencies within the group, who may have a restricted role in supplying the advertiser with supporting media planning services only).

AOV Average order value

APA Association Of Publishing Agencies

API (Application programming interface) Set-top box interface that enables the display of EPG's and other interactive applications on the TV screen.

Apple Music Apple Music is a music and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing, curated playlists

Application Service Provider (ASP) An online network that is accessible through the Internet instead of through the installation of software. It is quickly integrated with other websites and the services are easily implemented and scalable.

Appreciation Data Data which shows viewers' or listeners' reactions to the programmes they have watched or listened to.

Appreciation Index An appreciation index is a measure of enjoyment used to evaluate TV and radio programmes.

Apps Apps is an abbreviation for application. An app is a piece of software, which can run on the Internet, on a computer, or on a phone or other electronic device, including TVs.

APS UKOM APS is a media industry measurement of UK consumers’ online activity, specified by UKOM Ltd and delivered by Nielsen

AQH (Average quarter hour) ratings Term used by some data suppliers that denotes the average audience across quarter-hour unit intervals.

AR Augmented reality

Areas BARB divides the UK into ITV, Sky digital reception areas and BBC editorial regions. Audiences are currently reported for 13 ITV areas and 14 BBC regions (see also Macro Region).

ARF (Canada / USA) Advertising Research Foundation: National trade association for advertising research in Canada and in the USA.

Arianna Arianna is the television ratings analysis tool of AGB Nielsen Media Research, helping broadcast researchers, agency planner/buyers and managers around the world navigate the complexities of TV ratings data within a single software environment. Arianna has been developed by AGB Nielsen Media Research, based on more than a decade of experience as a provider of proprietary television ratings analysis software. Expert understanding of, and experience in TAM, ensures comprehensive delivery of support to thousands of global users across 5 continents, in more than 30 countries.

ARPU (Average Revenue per User) Measure of customer revenues generated by rental and other pay services in a given period (e.g. annual, quarterly or monthly). Widely used for telephony and Internet applications, ARPU is also a standard measure employed by pay-TV services, covering channel and other (e.g. equipment, betting, etc.) subscriptions, PPV and paid for on-demand services.

Arts Screen Buying Route Advertising to a particularly discerning upmarket audience in specialised art houses around the country.

Artwork There are a small, but increasing number, of artwork formats. GIF and JPEG are the two most popular. New formats like Java may not yet be compatible with some of the systems publishers use to deliver adverts. There are not yet and globally allied standards to web advertising sizes. Typical banner measurements may be 30 pixels deep by 560 pixels wide.

ASA Advertising Standards Authority

ASCII Abbreviation of American Standard Code for Information Interchange.

Ascription The systematic adjustment of figures in analysis to levels deemed to be more appropriate for the purposes of the survey than those obtained by the standard interviewing methods. Can be used to estimate missing data values.

ASO (Analogue switch-off) Mainly used in connection with terrestrial broadcasting, analogue switch-off denotes the cessation of analogue broadcasts, to be replaced by digital broadcasts. In Europe a number of governments have set target analogue switch-off dates between 2008 and 2012. (see also Digital Switchover (DSO))

Aspect In outdoor research, the consideration of a position of a poster panel in relation to the road - angled, parallel or head on

Aspect ratio The dimensions of a display screen’s image expressed as a ratio of the horizontal width to the vertical height.

ASR (Automatic spot recognition) A proprietary solution for the automatic recognition of spots integrated in the AGB Nielsen Media Research TV Events system. The ASR engine scans real time the emissions digitalised from the Grabbers and stores the results in a database of recognitions. ASR works with both video and audio proprietary algorithms, to maximise the level of recognition.

ASR Log The AGB Nielsen Media Research TV Events interface to insert the automatically recognised spots into the TV Events database.

Astra The satellite system specifically designed to broadcast television and radio programmes across Europe.

ASTRA (Australia) Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association: Industry body representing the interests of its members by providing a unified voice on issues affecting subscription television. ASTRA represents satellite services, narrowcast television services, programme channel providers, subscription television operators, communications companies and other associate members.

ASTRA Panel A selection of cable and satellite homes used to acquire audience viewing data.

Astra Population The population on which Astra Satellite Panel reports are based, this is all individuals aged 4 and over in UK private households able to receive broadcasts from at least one channel other than those defined as terrestrial channels. Such households are referred to as "Non Terrestrial Households".

Astra Viewing Astra Viewing is viewing to over 40 specified multi channels. These include the SKY branded channels (Sky One, Sky Movies, Sky Sports etc) as well as channels like Bravo, Discovery, Disney Channel, Eurosport, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Cartoon Network, UK Gold, UK Living, VH-1 etc.

ASTV (Advertiser supported television) US term for original TV programming that is syndicated to supported independent TV stations for a reduced or zero fee on the television back of financial support from one or more advertisers, in return for which the advertisers are granted commercial space within the programmes offered to the TV stations. The principle is similar to programme barter.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line see ADSL

ATD Agency Trading Desk - a dynamic way to purchase audiences, allowing media to be purchased in real time rather than from pre-procured inventory.

ATM Abbreviation of Asynchronous Transfer Mode. A digital technology used for the high-speed transmission of data over a standard telephone line.

ATS (Average time spent viewing) Total sum of all recorded time spent viewing (e.g. minutes) across a given period (e.g. day, week) divided by the number of individuals in the universe/population being measured. More commonly known as ATV. (see also ATV (Average time viewed))

Attention Value Likelihood of an advertisement being noticed. The amount of attention paid to a TV set during a commercial break.

Attenuation The decrease in amplitude of a signal between any two points in a circuit. Usually expressed in decibels. Attenuation is the opposite of amplification.

Attitude Research Qualitative or Quantitative Research that examines the values, perceptions, motivations or attitudes of respondents and their opinions about products, companies, media, their lifestyle, and so on.

Attribution Tying TV ads back to a performance-based metric/outcome, such as online/offline sales, web visits, app downloads, etc.

ATV (Advanced television) Term used by FCC (Federal Communications Commission) in the USA for digital television (DTV). (see also DTV (Digital television))

ATV (Average time viewed) Average of the total minutes viewed divided by the total individual universe.

ATVSI (Indonesia) Asosiasi TeleVisi Swasta Indonesia: An association whose members are Privately Owned TV stations in Indonesia.

Auction Service A service through which buyers may purchase inventory through Real Time Bidding.

Audacity Free audio editing software, a common first DAW. Audacity users either wish they had time to learn something more fully featured, or wish everyone would stop suggesting they learn a different DAW.

Audience The population or target group: a) reading a publication or a group of publications b) listening to a radio programme/station or a selection of radio programmes/stations. C) viewing a television programme/channel or a selection of television programmes/channels. D) seeing a poster or poster campaign. E) exposed to an advertisement or advertisement/ commercial or advertising campaign.

Audience accumulation Reach measure denoting the total number of different people (or homes) exposed to a medium over a specified period; such as a half-hour TV programme broadcast.

Audience appreciation (AA) data Supplementary data collected by some TAM systems that quantify viewer appreciation of programmes on a simple scale (e.g. from 1 = very poor to 10 = very good). TAM systems that produce AA data nearly always collect them from the installed panel sample via the meters, although they could also collect them from independent survey samples using other methods.

Audience Categories The classification of the viewing audience. The main categories are Individuals ( the total audience), Adults, Men, Women, Children and Housewives. Children are those aged between 4 and 15, Adults, Men and Women are those aged 16 or over. Viewing for children aged between 0 and 3 is not recorded.

Audience Category An audience category is a classification of the viewing audience into a specific group. The following audiences are sometimes referred to as main categories - Homes, Individuals, Adults, Men, Women, Children and Housewives. Sub-categories are more detailed breakdowns of the main categories - by age groups, social grades etc

Audience Composition The profile or number of different population sub-groups that comprise the audience to a given medium/media group.

Audience Factor In TV planning in the UK, a factor based on the number of commercial TV adults, housewives etc. per commercial TV home is applied to estimates of net commercial TV homes to achieve an estimate of audience when only homes data are available.

Audience Guarantee Plan (AGP) Buying Route (Cinema) As the name suggests, an AGP offers advertisers a guaranteed level of admissions. The cost of a campaign is based upon a fixed cost per thousand with a seasonally adjusted weekly admissions base. It is the most cost-effective way of achieving rapid cover build of the core cinema audience. AGP advertisers are ensured exhibition across a wide cross-section of films, including the major releases, with a commercial suitable for universal, or U Certificate exhibition. Campaign Admission guarantees are calculated at the time of booking and are monitored using EDI admissions data. Although the AGP is not film selective, admissions generated by children's and Disney films maybe excluded by overall guarantee (up to a maximum of 10% of total admissions) in order to maximise the all adult profile. AGPs are only available on the basis of a minimum exhibition of four weeks.

Audience Impression A unit of measure that includes the total number of people with an opportunity to see (aka traffic), notice, and dwell time, calibrated to the media’s spot length.

Audience Interests Similar to target audience. More focused on lifestyle choices than basic demographics.

Audience Profile (Audience Composition) The audience profile shows how a main audience category is divided into its subcategories (such as age, social grade or sex) in percentage terms. For example, if a programme achieves an Adult AB profile of 10%, this means that 10% of adult viewers were AB, while the other 90% were C1/C2/DE Adults. An audience profile can be compared with the equivalent population profile to produce an index.

Audience Share Channel or Audience Share is calculated by comparing the average minutes viewed/listened for each channel/station in a given time period.

Audience suppression Removing certain segments from a campaign audience is done to ensure only the required audience sees the ad.

Audience turnover The ratio of the cumulative audience to the average audience across a given period (e.g. programme, daypart).

Audio This term in a multimedia context is used to describe digital files that can produce sound.

Audio Book A recording of a narrator reading a book. The internet loves to argue about how many sound effects it takes to turn an audio book into an audio drama. The definitive answer is that all definitive answers are wrong.

Audio comparison method Technique of signal identification in which the meter collects sample audio data from images displayed on the TV screen, which it matches against an array of known signals from a central reference source in order to establish the identity of the measured signals.

Audio description Spoken commentary for the benefit of visually impaired viewers that describes what is taking place on screen.

Audio Engineer Anyone who claims they know how to use sound equipment/software with lots of buttons and knobs. Examples include a sound recordist, audio editor, audio mixer, mastering engineer.

Audio matching (see also Audio comparison method)

Audiotrack Audiotrack is the dedicated radio audio distribution service created by Mediatel and powered by J-ET, the radio industry's trading system.

Audit Normally used in one of three contexts: 1) Audited circulations (see ABC). 2) In-home audit: counting the household stock or consumption of goods (see TCA). 3) Retail audit: check on display, stockholdings or purchase at retail outlets.

Audited Circulation Circulation that has been verified, usually by an independent company as opposed to publishers' claims of circulation

Auditel (Italy) Joint industry committee responsible for TAM data supply in Italy.

Audition Adobe’s DAW. Subscription only.

Auditor (TAM) Individual or company who evaluates the TAM system and its data quality.

Authenticated Audience This is a group of audiences that has gone through a validation process. For example, this might be a user sign-in via a website or streaming service. For linear TV, this must be supplied by the MVPD that has the identifying information.

Automated Page Impression A request which a User's browser software made automatically for a site's content in the period being measured. Often found on live game reports, scorecards, share pages etc.

Automation In a DAW, the ability to automatically change an attribute over time, such as dipping the volume, or panning a sound from left to right, or any other attribute you’d like to change. See “envelope.”

AV Audio Visual. Equipment for all aspects of TV and radio.

AV Play A file request by a valid user for AV content.

Avail Availability of a commercial position/time slot in a scheduled commercial break on a given TV channel/network that is available for purchase by an advertiser.

Avatar A picture or cartoon used to represent an individual in chat forums, games or on a website as a help function

Average Audience Calculated by adding together the audience for each individual minute of the programme, and dividing it by the programme's total duration ( in minutes ).

Average Audience (Radio) The average number of listeners in a given time period, such as half-hour, or a programme.

Average Audience (television) In terms of television research, this is the audience that is most similar to the commercial spot audience.

Average Frequency Estimate of the average number or times the audience had an opportunity to see an advertisement (in print of TV). Another name for Average OTS.

Average Hours Per Head The total hours of listening to a station each week averaged across the total population of the UK/area.

Average Hours Per Listener/Viewer The total hours of listening or viewing to a station averaged across all those listening or viewing the station.

Average Issue Readership An estimate of the number of people who read or looked at an average issue of a publication.

Average Listening Hours The total hours of listening to a station during the course of the week averaged by head or by listener.

Average minutes per person (Avg Min/Pn) The average minutes viewed per person belonging to a specified target universe/population across a selected time period. (see also ATS (Average time spent viewing))

Average minutes per viewer (Avg Min/Vw) The average minutes viewed per person belonging to a specified target universe/population across a time interval, calculated against only those who viewed at all during that period. In contrast to average minutes per viewer, this measure covers all members of the population; i.e. viewers and non-viewers alike.

Average OTS The term "opportunity" recognises that while everyone who reads/looks at an advertisement could see that advertisement, not everyone does so.

Average Page/Spread Traffic Average Page Traffic is the average of the page traffic scores for each of the pages in a publication.

Average Weight of Speed Amount spent on a category in a given time-frame.

AVI Windows PCs digital video format. AVI files use the extension ".avi"

AVI (Audio video interleave) Multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of the Video for Windows technology. AVI files contain both audio and video data in a standard container that allows simultaneous playback.

AVOD Advertiser VOD is free to consumers, but the content carries advertisements. Examples include YouTube, Tubi, Hulu and Roku. Most of the AVOD players use the data they generate to build digital-like ad targeting capabilities.

Awareness The extent consumers are familiar with a brand or product.

AWOP Average Weight of Purchase. % of units purchased in a given time-frame.

B Corp Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. ‘Born Online’, the IAB’s research into Direct to Consumer brands, found that being B Corp certified and taking an ethical approach to marketing is a priority among many digital-first brands.‘Born Online’, the IAB’s research into Direct to Consumer brands, found that being B Corp certified and taking

B2B (Business to Business) Business to business service.

BACC Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre: the body that is responsible for examining and clearing television adverts for transmission.

Back channel A return communications pathway between users and content providers, such as an Internet connection using a modem.

Back-lit Describes a poster display in which the advertising message is illuminated from behind with fluorescent bulbs. Posters used in such displays are often printed on translucent plastic.

Backhaul (1) Backbone telecommunications pathways used for transporting traffic from central site(s) to distribution sites (viz. local exchanges) to end users, and vice versa. (2) One-to-one uplink feeds to satellite for sending broadcast TV signals to the studio.

Backing Up The process of creating a copy of a computer file for security.

Balanced A type of analog connection that uses three wires instead of two to remove some types of interference.

Bandwidth A measurement of the volume of data that a modem or communications device is capable of receiving. Bandwidth is measured in hertz or bits.

Bandwidth/ Bandwidth capacity Measure of transmission capacity that specifies the complete frequency range over which a circuit, transmission channel, or electronic system is allocated to function. Transmission channels requiring large capacity, such as digital TV channels with high picture quality, are sometimes described as "bandwidth hungry". Bandwidth may also refer to maximum channel throughput for different types of connection (measured in kbit/s or Mbit/s).

Bang Tail A detachable extension to the back of an envelope, having a perforated edge and special marketing information or an order form on it.

Banner The generic term for the typical space available to web advertisers. Usually banners will run across the top of a web page. Typical banner measurements may be 30 pixels deep by 560 pixels wide.

Banner Ads A banner is traditionally a GIF or a JPEG which positioned on the top or bottom of a webpage.

BAR (ABC) Broadly the standard undiscounted rate at which the publisher sells a 1 year subscription to a publication. It is used as a reference on the certificate to show whether subscriptions are sold at a discounted rate.

BARB BARB is the Broadcaster's Audience Research Board: the joint industry committee, funded by television companies, advertising agencies and advertisers, responsible for quantitative and some qualitative television audience research in the UK. BARB achieves this by awarding contracts to independent research companies which maintain panels and collect, process and disseminate the data on behalf of BARB.

BARB (United Kingdom) Broadcasters' Audience Research Board: Joint industry committee responsible for TAM data supply in the United Kingdom.

BARB Region The 12 large segments of the country used in media planning. These are defined by where TV transmitters are. The whole country is covered.

Barring The ability to stop certain types of broadcast channels or phone calls.

Barter Generally, the exchange of goods and services without the use of cash; in the media market, the acquisition of media time or space in exchange for merchandise.

Base The Unweighted Base (in a research survey) refers to the number of individuals, households, etc. that were interviewed, either in total or by demographic sub-group.

Base Audience The standard population of given survey area, used as a starting reference point. Usually All Adults 15+ in Radio but be can lower in the podcast world (i.e Persons 13+).

Base unit Meter installed on all TV sets within the home, generating statements of what source is being tuned to when the TV set is on, and which persons in the home have registered their presence as viewers. (see also Slave Meter)

Baseband The name given to a satellite TV signal before it is converted into a signal that is suitable for a TV.

Basic cable Collective term for TV and radio channels featuring in the basic entry channel packages offered by cable operators to their customers for a low subscription charge. It excludes mini-pay TV channels on more advanced tiers as well as premium pay-TV channels and other services (e.g. PPV/paid for on demand services).

Basic Cover Price (ABC) The Basic Cover Price is the standard published price for an issue against which circulation is reported.

Basic Service The minimum package of channels that are available to cable and satellite subscribers for a set monthly fee. These channels do not include premium channels that are only available at an extra charge. A 'basic channel' is one included in the basic service.

Baud Rate The speed per second at which data is transmitted and received over a network.

BBC iPlayer The BBC iPlayer is an Internet TV service from the BBC. Formerly called the iMP (interactive media player), and launched fully on the 25th Dec 2007, it provides users with 7-day catch up services for the BBC's TV and radio channels.

BBFC British Board of Film Classification - http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

BBM Canada (Canada) Non-profit making tripartite co-operative originally established by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA). It conducts its own audience measurement surveys for television and radio. Organisation originally known as The Bureau of Broadcasting Measurement, changing its name to BBM Canada in 2001.

BBP British Business Press

BBS Bulletin Board System. Allows you to talk to other users.

BCP (ABC) Basic Cover Price - ABC defines the BCP as the price at which a single copy of the Publication may normally be purchased, in contrast to a special price for a limited period.

BDP Bulk Distribution

Beam Satellite transmission pattern; wide, narrow or spot.

Bearing The angle at which a poster is oriented in relation to its environment.

Behavioural Targeting A form of online marketing that uses advertising technology to target web users based on their previous behaviour. Advertising creative and content can be tailored to be of more relevance to a particular user by capturing their previous decision making b

Behavioural targeting (Internet) Marketing tool employed by online advertisers for improving the efficiency of their campaigns, which involves determining which ad messages to send to a user on the basis of information collected about the user’s past web browsing behaviour.

Behavioural Targetting A form of online marketing that uses advertising technology to target web users based on their previous behaviour. Advertising creative and content can be tailored to be of more relevance to a particular user by capturing their previous decision making behaviour (eg: filling out preferences or visiting certain areas of a site frequently) and looking for patterns.

Below the Line Forms of marketing that do not involve conventional mass market advertising, e.g. direct mail, special promotions

Benchmarking This is the comparison of results to a norm or average, often within a specific advertiser category or type of media.

BER (Bit error rate) The fraction of bits transmitted that are received incorrectly.

Beta test Trial test of a software product or application in the field prior to its final release, aiming to verify that the product or application performs the functions it is supposed to in a real world environment.

Beta Testing The provision of software and hardware free of charge to selected people for their conditional use in order for them to report back any problems or errors.

Betacam SP Analogue videotape format of broadcast quality.

Between programme break Commercial break placed between two different programmes. Also known as End Break (EB).

Bid Request The inventory offered by sellers to buyer using an auction service.

Bid Response The information, specifications and rules submitted to Sellers by Buyers in response to a bid request.

Big data Big data is the term for a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications.

Billboard Airtime awarded to a programme sponsor at the beginning/end of a sponsored programme or at the beginning/end of commercial breaks within the programme for showing the sponsor credits. Also known as Break Bumper or Sponsorship Bumper in the UK.

Billets/ebiquity Collect and analyse competitor creatives and advertising spend data from over 70 countries. Provide MediaTel with television sponsorship data.

BIMA The British Interactive Media Association. An industry body representing the digital industry in the United Kingdom

Binaural While all headphones are technically binaural, in the podcasting world it usually means a type of recording and/or processing that allows a 3D sound space to be conveyed over headphones.

Binaural Audio Two different channels of audio, recorded on either side of a human or artificial head, preferable in the ears

Bird Colloquial description of a satellite.

Bit Unit of measurement of data transmitted in digital form. Hence the measurement of the capacity of a cable system to carry information will be in terms of kilobits or megabits per second(Kbits/s,Mbits/s). (See also Bandwidth).

Bit Depth How precise an audio sample can be. Because of [science], higher bit rates have a wider difference between the quietest sound they can record, and the loudest sound, and therefore allow you to record at lower levels. 16-bit is CD quality, 24-bit is preferred for recording, 32-bit float theoretically never clips, but uses lots of disk space. See “Headroom.”

Bit Rate How much disk space is used per second of audio, which are measured in bits, even though everywhere else we measure files in bytes (8 bits = 1 byte). In compressed audio formats like mp3, the Bit Rate is the best number we have to gauge audio fidelity, because the compression scheme causes phrases like “sample rate” and “bit depth” to lose all meaning.

Bit rate The speed at which a digital file is transferred expressed in bits per second, eg 1 Bps. Bit rate is defined in video streaming to indicate interuption free viewing.

Bitrate/Bit rate Transmission speed expressed as the number of bits per second (b/s or bps), but more often expressed as multiples (e.g. 1 kbps = 1,000 bps; 1 Mbps = 1,000,000 bps; 1 Gbps = 1,000,000,000 bps). Bitrates denote the amount of information that can be transferred in a given time interval. Video applications are highly bitrate intensive. The required bitrates depend on a number of factors, such as desired picture quality, sampling rate of original material, compression algorithms, method of encoding, amount of information contained in the samples (e.g. very high for sports, lower for studio interviews). Typical present day requirements are 1Mbps for VHS, 5 Mbps for DVD and 15 Mbps for HDTV.

Bits and Bytes A 'bit' is the smallest unit of data transmitted on computers and is represented by either a '1' or '0'. A byte is created from a string of eight bits and is the data needed to store one character, such as a letter or number.

BitTorrent A peer-to-peer file sharing protocol commonly used for the illegal sharing of digital files.

Bleed Pages This is applicable to advertisements in which printed matter runs off the cut edge of the page (trim). The cost of bleed pages is expressed either as a fixed charge or as a percentage extra above the price of the display rates.

Blimp A type of windscreen that entirely covers a microphone and looks like blimp. Sometimes called a Zeppelin.

Blinkbox A video-on-demand (VoD) service available on computers, games consoles, tablet computers and Smart TVs.

blinkbox blinkbox is a UK-based video-on-demand (VoD) website that allows users to legally preview, buy and rent thousands of full length premium movies and TV shows online.

Blocks Letterpress printing surface made from etched metal. Camera ready artwork. Copy prepared to a standard which can be photographed for plate making.

Blog An online space regularly updated presenting the opinions or activities of one or a group of individuals and displaying in chronological order.

Blog (Blogging) Web site on which Internet users make regular entries. Most blogs are based around a particular theme, with readers encouraged to add comments. Blogs typically contain a number of pages of related topics, along with links to other blogs and web sites. Forms include text, video (vblog), photographs (photoblog), or audio (podcasting). Authors of blog sites are known as bloggers.

Blog/Blogging Also Weblog- a website on which internet users make regular entries or "posts", with the most recent ones appearing on top. Personal blogs are written by an individual, often daily.

Blu-ray Disc Ultra-high-density optical disc format for the storage of digital media, including high-definition video. Sony’s Blu-ray Disc has emerged as the accepted global standard after a lengthy battle with Toshiba’s HD DVD format.

Blu-ray Disc/ BD Blu-ray disc is the next generation of optical disc format used for high-definition video and data storage. Blu-ray discs are the same size as CDs and DVDs but can store up to 50 gigabytes (6 times the capacity of DVD) of information. Blu-ray can be played on blu-ray disc players on Sony's Playstation games console.

Bluetooth a standard for the short-range wireless interconnection of mobile phones, computers, and other electronic devices. This is done using short-range radio waves.

BMRC British Media Research Committee - A body composed of representatives of the six publishing houses and other sponsors who guarantee the funding of the British Business Survey.

Body programme Programme content only, without commercial break.

Bongo Ties A brand of cable tie. A really nice rubberband wrapped around a bongo-shaped piece of wood. Great for when you need to hold a cable in place with something grippy. See “Cable Tie.”

Bookmark A function in a Web browser that enables an Internet user to save addresses (URL) of their favourite Web for future reference.

Booster/Boosted Sample Used to provide larger samples of certain groups of people than representative sampling would give.

Bounce What ProTools used to call rendering. Back in the day, ProTools could only bounce files in real time, meaning you could spend $100,000 on a system that still required an hour to export an hour-long show. See “Render.”

Bound-in Inserts Insert stitched into magazine spine.

Bouquet French term referring to the selection of general and thematic TV channels that are offered as a package to subscribing households.

BPA Business Publications Audit Of Circulation Inc

BPS (Indonesia) Biro Pusat Statistik: Indonesian Government’s official statistical organisation.

BRAD British Rate and Data: compendium of basic British media data - rates, copy dates, addresses, etc .

Brand (Internet) A brand may be a branded subsidiary or a brand of a property that has a consistent collection of branded content of the internet. The brand's individual identity must be conveyed consistently or prominently throughout the brand as well as all channels and domains, which are in its consolidation. A brand may consist of channels, domains and URL's.

Brand Equity Brand equity is the sum of attitudes, feelings, imagery, associations and emotions that consumers feel towards a brand.

Brand lift A measurement of an advertising campaign’s effectiveness in driving a positive shift in customer awareness and perception of a brand.

Break A break in television or radio transmission during which advertisements are transmitted. An end break is broadcast at the start or end of a programme, while a centre break is broadcast within a programme.

Break Bumper A quiz or competition that is broadcast at the beginning of the commercial break with the answer being associated with the commercials shown in between.

Break position Position of a commercial spot within a break; e.g. first in break/last in break.

Break-Length The break time between when an advert is shown once before being shown again.

Broadband A telecommunications term used to describe any transmission system that can transmit voice, video and data faster than a standard telephone line (narrowband).

Broadband (Cable & Satellite) Cable with the capacity to carry a large number of television channels, i.e. 30 or more. Same meaning as wideband.

Broadband cable Cable networks with high bandwidth capacity for delivering multiple TV channels and other electronic interactive services, such as cable telephony and Internet access.

Broadband services Term widely used to denote on-screen two-way interactive services offered by broadband systems, such as e-mail and Internet access.

Broadcast Broadcast is the term used to describe the process of distributing a signal, such as TV or radio, from a single source or transmitter, to many destinations, such as viewers' homes.

Broadcast coverage area Geographic reception area within which a broadcast TV channel can be received according to set technical criteria of signal quality. The broadcast coverage area is also referred to as the technical reach of the broadcast TV channel.

Broadcast Relay Broadcast Relay systems are often called communal aerial systems. They exist to provide BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to a number of homes from a master aerial.

Broadcaster Company/organisation broadcasting one or more TV channels.

Broadcasting Over-the-air distribution of audio and/or video signals (programmes) to a large number of recipients ("listeners" or "viewers") within the technical reach of the signals. The main types of broadcast transmission include satellite, terrestrial and MMDS distribution.

Broadsheet National or local/regional newspaper which is approximately 56cms in depth, compared with the 36cms depth of 'tabloids'. In the national press sector, the broadsheet format is used nowadays only by some quality ('upmarket') newspapers.

Bromides Photographic light sensitive paper reproducing a positive image.

Browser Software that allows Internet users to view Web pages and navigate the Web.

BT TV UK based digital TV platform operated by BT. Known as a Freeview/IPTV hybrid service, it is a combination of a Freeview set top-box, a digital television recorder (DTR), and also incorporates a broadband connection to provide subscribers with a large library of on-demand programming. Subscribers are able to view all of the Freeview channels, and record up to 80 hours worth of programming.

Buffering When a streaming media player saves portions of file until there is enough information for the file to begin playing.

Bulk Sales Bulk Sales (sometimes referred to as ‘Multiple Copy Sales’) are copies sold in bulk to a third party usually for onward free distribution to individuals

Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) Originally a system on an individual computer that users or members would dial into to leave and read messages. These tended to be closed systems, where members would have to know the individual phone number to dial into and the number of concurrent users would be limited by the number of phone lines into a particular board. Now the term is sometimes used to describe a notice board or chat area of a Web site, most commonly known as a Forum.

Bumper in/bumper out A term used for a short duration advertisement (usually 5 second) that is placed before a programme begins (bumper in) and after the programme ends (bumper out).

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.

Bundling The offer of several products as a single product or package (e.g. in the marketing of triple play offers involving broadband, telephony and television). Bundling can assume many forms in relation to the design and marketing of pay-TV packages.

Burn The process of transferring information to a CD-ROM.

Burn a CD/DVD Act of recording audiovisual content on a CD or DVD.

Burnt-In Ads Burnt-in advertisements are those which are inserted and coded into on-demand content by the broadcaster, before it is sent to the platform.

Burst A period of concentrated advertising activity

Business to business classifieds Classified advertising that is directed towards business customers.

Business-to-business (B-2-B) Expression describing a type of advertising campaign or medium by means of which businesses communicate with other businesses. This type of advertising contrasts with consumer advertising, as the prime targets of business-to-business media and campaigns are companies or individuals with certain responsibilities within companies.

Button A square online advert usually found embedded within a website page. See also Universal Advertising Package, embedded formats.

Buttons A square online advert usually found embedded within a website page. See also Universal Advertising Package, embedded formats

Buyer An agency representing advertisers buying ad inventory.

Buzz Marketing Marketing activity using word of mouth communication

BVOD BVOD stands for broadcaster video-on-demand, which is the content and programming made available on-demand by the TV broadcasters

BVS (Bulk Verification Services) Procedure to certify distribution of publications delivered in bulk to predetermined distribution points for onward transmission to readers. Subsidiary of ABC.

Byte A byte is created from a string of eight bits and is the data needed to store one character, such as a letter or number.

CAA Cinema Advertising Association - Trade association of cinema advertising contractors operating in the UK and Eire. Its main functions are to promote, monitor and maintain standards of cinema advertising exhibition as well as commission and co-ordinate research into cinema as an advertising medium including the co-ordination of weekly cinema admissions and the annual CAVIAR surveys.

CAANZ (New Zealand) Communication Agencies Association of New Zealand (www.caanz.co.nz).

Cable Multiple wires wrapped inside a single casing, used for connecting equipment to other equipment. Good cables are vital for reliable sound recording, and are almost always forgotten about when budgeting for new equipment. See “XLR,” “Balanced,” “Unbalanced,” “Quarter Inch,” “3.5mm.”

Cable This refers to services that are transmitted over wires or fibre-optic cable rather than over the airwaves.

Cable franchise area Geographic area in which a cable operator has been licensed to install a cable system.

Cable Modem A device that allows Internet access using cable.

Cable network (see also Cable television system)

Cable operator Company/organisation running a cable network.

Cable Operators The company that lays cable, owns and operates a cable system. Companies that own more than one system are called Multiple Systems Operators (MSOs), eg. Virgin Media.

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 (see Cable & Satellite).

Cable Provider Company licensed to install and maintain cable systems.

Cable reception Reception of television transmissions, from whatever originating source (i.e. whether terrestrial, satellite or cable) by a wired cable television (CATV) system serviced by a cable operator. TAM systems may sometimes classify MATV and/or SMATV as cable reception depending on local market structural distinctions that are found to be most relevant.

Cable television system Wired transmission system serviced by a cable operator, who receives television transmissions centrally and relays them to subscribers via a cable headend across a cable network.

Cable Tie Usually made of velcro, these devices are the key to keeping your cables in good shape. See “Bongo Tie.”

Cable TV Remarkably similar to commercial podcasting, but with better pay.

Cable-cutting See cord-cutting

Cache A term used on the Internet. Browsers keep the data they download from a page in storage on the local computer, which speeds up access to the next page- for example, caching the logo image so that it does not have to be downloaded again.

Cache Busting A method to prevent computers from serving content from their cache, to ensure more accurate visitor statistics.

Cache Memory Used to store web pages you have seen already. When you go back to those pages they'll load more quickly because they come from the cache and don't need to be downloaded over the internet again.

Caching The copying of a web element (page or ad) by a website visitors computer for later reuse.

Call to Action (CTA) A statement or instruction, typically promoted in print, web, TV, radio, onportal, or other forms of media (often embedded in advertising), that explains to a mobile subscriber how to respond to an opt-in for a particular promotion or mobile initiative,

Callback In survey research: 1. When an interviewer returns to a previous informant to elicit further data. 2. A repeat call when the listed person was not available for interview on previous occasion.

CAM (Conditional access module) Electronic hardware facility, usually incorporating a smart card slot, that makes it possible for a set-top box or other equipment to display encrypted, conditional access content.

Campaign A campaign is the term used to describe a an agreement between a advertisers and publisher, typically created to accomplish a particular goal or promote a specific product or service.

Campaign Period The duration of a promotional effort.

Campaign planning software Predictive software used by media planners to estimate the audience for a schedule of advertising spots.

Campaign Reach the number of different individuals who are exposed to any part of a schedule of commercials.

Cancellation date One of the terms of business of most media, whereby a space or airtime booking must be cancelled on or before a certain fixed date or time period before the appearance or transmission of an advertisement.

CAP The Committee of Advertising Practice was set up in 1961. It is the executive and policy-making body responsible for making sure that the self-regulatory system continues to operate effectively. Representatives of all the major trade and professional bodies for advertisers, agencies and the media sit on it. It is CAP that writes the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion and provides the majority of the sanctions to enforce this system of self-regulatory control.

CAPI Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing - Interviewers carry a laptop computer which presents each question on the screen, and interviewers directly key in the respondents' replies.

CAPI (Computer assisted personal interview) Method of conducting face-to-face interviews with the use of a personal computer for prompting questions and recording answers.

Carbon Calculator A carbon calculator is a service or tool used for the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions. AdGreen is a carbon calculator supported by Ad Net Zero, which is focused on improving production practices. For media agencies, GroupM has made its carbon calculator open source. When it comes to digital media, it is important that companies are aware of the various factors that should be taken into account when calculating the carbon footprint of their advertising. These include format, screen, country, dimensions, internet connection, player, pages and visits.

Carbon Disclosure Rating A carbon disclosure rating is a measure of the environmental sustainability of a company, based on voluntary disclosures by the company itself. The practice is intended to help investors who wish to incorporate environmental, social, and governmental (ESG) factors into their investment decision-making process.

Carbon Negative This is when the amount of CO2 emissions removed from the atmosphere is greater than the CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere. Being carbon negative has a positive impact on the environment.

Carbon Neutral vs. Net Zero While carbon neutrality is a positive step, the digital ad industry’s ultimate goal is to achieve net zero, where carbon emissions are reduced to zero [see entry for net zero].

Carbon Neutral This is when the amount of CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere is equal to the amount of CO2 emissions removed from the atmosphere, meaning the impact on the environment is neutral.

Carbon Offsetting Carbon offsetting is the practice of funding activities that reduce carbon emissions to compensate for your CO2 output. For example, by planting trees to absorb carbon in the atmosphere, or by delivering energy-efficient cooking stoves to communities in developing countries.

Carbon Reduction This is when an organisation, country or person directly reduces greenhouse gas emissions through efficiencies. For example, when it comes to digital advertising, decreasing the file size of ads or reducing the number of failed bids in the supply chain can reduce emissions.

Cardioid A microphone pick-up pattern that is most sensitive to sounds in front of the microphone.

Carlton Screen Advertising Now DCM- One of the UK's cinema contractors - http://www.dcm.co.uk/

Carriage fee Small monthly fee per subscriber, which is normally paid by pay-TV service providers/platform operators to the channels they carry, although the reverse can also apply depending on available capacity, channel demand and conditions of service pricing, which vary greatly from country to country.

Case rate A method for setting advertising budgets (also known as 'per case allowance') according to which a fixed sum for advertising is arrived at based on a forecast of unit sales over the next year.

Cash discount A discount granted by the media supplier to an advertiser for payment within a certain period of time - e.g., a 2 percent discount if payment is made within ten days of invoice. Also referred to as prompt payment discount.

CASI Abbreviation of Computer Aided Self-Completion Interview.

Catch up Catch up is VOD (video on demand) in which TV shows are available for a period of days after the original broadcast.

Catch Up TV See Catch-Up TV

Catch-up Catch up is VOD (video on demand) in which TV shows are available for a period of days after the original broadcast.

Catch-up TV Catch up TV or Replay TV is a type of Internet TV in which TV shows are available through the Internet for a period of days after the original broadcast. The shows are made available by the broadcasters themselves, and also by aggregator sites. Examples in the UK are iPlayer, All4 and ITV Hub.

Cathode Ray Tube Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). Used in most television sets built to date, it is an electronic display device in which a beam of electrons is focused on a glass viewing screen to produce an image

CATI Abbreviation of Computer Assisted Telephone Interview.

CATI (Computer assisted telephone interview ) Method of conducting interviews over the telephone with the use of a personal computer for prompting questions and recording answers.

CATV CATV (originally "community antenna television," now often "community access television") is more commonly known as "cable TV." In addition to bringing television programs to those millions of people throughout the world who are connected to a community antenna, cable TV is an increasingly popular way to interact with the World Wide Web and other new forms of multimedia information and entertainment services.

CATV (Community antenna TV) Another term for cable television system or cable network. Key defining criteria are that the CATV system must relay cable transmissions to multiple dwellings on multiple premises and is serviced by a cable operator who charges a monthly per subscriber fee.

CATV (Conditional access TV) Security technology used by pay TV operators to ensure that only authorised subscribers are able to access their content. Conditional access involves encrypting the transmissions and providing programmable regulation of their decryption , typically via smart cards.

CAVIAR HISTORIC: Cinema And Video Industry Audience Research. Now known as FAME, CAVIAR was the most comprehensive survey into film viewing in the UK, providing valuable trend data and detailed information on the cinema visit and films seen, also additional data has added an extra dimension.

CAWI Abbreviation of Computer Aided Web Interview.

CAWI (Computer assisted web interview) Similar piece of software as CAPI/CATI but as a Web-authoring version. Respondents can answer the questions either at home or in their workplace, even with several interruptions. . (see also CAPI (Computer assisted personal interview), CATI (Computer assisted telephone interview))

CB (Centre break) (see also Within programme break)

Cbb (Closing break bumper) (see also Obb (Opening break bumper))

CCA HISTORIC: Cable Communications Association

CD-ROM Abbreviation of Compact Disk Read Only Memory.

CDN Content delivery network or content distribution network; CDN operators work on behalf of VOD services, broadcasters and media companies to deliver the content to their audience of end-users.

CDN (Content delivery network) Network of computers acting in co-operation in order to deliver content to end users over the Internet.

Cell panel control Panel control consisting of two or more interlocking variables.

Cell-matrix panel control Panel control consisting of two or more interlocking panel variables.

Cell-matrix weighting Method of weighting that employs a single matrix of interlocking variables for adjusting the actual sample profile to the target sample profile.

Cells In survey analyses, mutually exclusive sub-groups.

Cellular interface Meter interface with cellular phone connection.

Census The process of collecting vital information on the social, economic and housing characteristics of every member of a population. In contrast to sampling where information is only obtained from a subset of a population.

Central processing base Term sometimes used to refer to the central data collection, storage and processing system at the offices of the data supplier.

Chain break The time between network programmes when a network affiliated station identifies itself to viewers and during which commercial announcements are aired. (see also Commercial Break)

Channel A discrete input or output. A four channel input can take four signals at once.

Channel An outlet used to distribute ads to an audience.

Channel coverage Number of individuals/TV homes that can receive a TV channel within its broadcast coverage and/or other (e.g. cable, DSL network) distribution area, as defined by set technical reception criteria. Channel coverage is often expressed as a percentage of the total survey population. (see also Broadcast coverage area)

Channel frequency map List of TV channels/other signal sources and their associated frequencies that are found and recorded for each monitored TV set in the home during an exhaustive tuning check by the panel technicians and later used to identify signal transmission sources in meter systems that measure frequencies.

Channel Mapping A feature found on some televisions, video recorders and set top boxes.

Channel penetration Estimated percentage of TV homes within the survey universe that (a) can receive and (b) have one or more of their TV sets tuned to a given TV channel. The definition may include stipulations about acceptable picture quality.

Channel reach Channel reach (or patronage) is the absolute percentage of people who watch a channel at all over a particular period of time (typically one day, week or month). It is a key measure for both broadcasters and advertisers.

Channel reception TV channels that can be received by a given TV set or TV home, as determined by an exhaustive check of tuning frequencies.

Channel Share Channel share gives the percentage of the viewing audience watching one channel as opposed to the other channels, over a given period of time. The calculation is made minute by minute and an average is then taken. For example, if ITV achieved a channel share of 38% in January, this means that of all individuals watching television in an average January minute, 38% were watching ITV while the other 62% were watching BBC1, BBC2, Channel 4 or satellite channels. Channel share should not be confused with TVR. Channel share is often referred to as 'audience share', 'share of viewing' or 'percentage share', especially when the subject is a particular programme's share rather than a channel's in general.

Channel tuning/ viewing via satellite receiver Selection of satellite TV channels via the tuner belonging to the satellite receiver.

Channel tuning/ viewing via VCR Selection of TV channels during viewing by means of the VCR tuner.

Channel viewing repertoire Average number of channels that viewers within a selected population (e.g. satellite TV homes, multichannel TV homes, etc.) watch at least once during a specified interval (e.g. day, week, month).

Chat Live or "real time" discussion between people online, in an environment often known as a chat room.

Chat Impression (HTML) A file, or combination of files, sent to a valid User while the User is involved in an interactive Chat session (i.e. a Page Impression generated by a Chat URL.). Chat URLs show the input of one or more concurrent Users, visible to each other, updated fre

Checkerboarding The standard method of scheduling programmes in prime time by offering different programmes in the same time period every night. This is the opposite of "strip" programming, in which the same series airs different episodes in the same time period every day. Strip programme scheduling is the prevailing form for all other dayparts except prime time.

Chief Income Earner The household member who is mainly responsible for the financial support of the household.

Chief Shopper The member of the household (male or female) who is solely or mainly responsible for the household's shopping.

Children's Club Buying Route (Cinema) Running predominantly across the school holiday periods and incorporating those films targeted at older children.

Chrominance Part of a TV signal carrying the colour information of the picture

Churn Turnover of subscribers/number of disconnections. Churn is usually quoted as a percentage.

Churn (rate) Index of turnover applied to commercial pay-TV systems as a whole or to channel packages, especially premium pay-TV services. It is an important indicator of pay-TV service performance, which may be defined in several ways. The usual method of estimating churn is to divide the number of subscriber disconnections during a set period by the average number of subscribers during that period or the number of subscribers at the beginning of that period. This produces a result representing an annualised percentage.

Churn Rate A measure of subscriber turnover (new subscribers/disconnections) applied to Pay TV.

CI (Completed interview) Interview with eligible survey respondent that has been successfully completed and validated.

CIM (Belgium) Centrum voor Informatie over de Media/Centre d'Information sur les Médias: Non-profit-making joint industry committee overseeing circulation audits for press, Internet sites and outdoor posters as well as being responsible for all audience measurement to do with the display advertising media.

Cinema Media Formerly known as RSA Advertising, Cinema Media was then rebranded as Carlton Screen Advertising, and now DCM (Digital Cinema Media).

Circulation In Print research it is the number of copies of a publication sold, sent to subscribers, sent free of charge to specified people or addresses, or otherwise distributed to readers.

Circulation Area Areas in which magazine and newspaper titles are distributed.

Circulation Audit Circulation that has been verified, usually by an independent company as opposed to publishers' claims of circulation.

Claimed weight of viewing Panel classification variable based on separate establishment survey data that record claimed weight of household viewing. Some TAM systems use claimed weight of viewing for a panel control as a precaution against sample bias due to differential acceptance/installation rates amongst heavier and lighter viewing households.

Classified Rates These are adverts which appear under publishers' classification headings. These will be mono prices unless otherwise stated. Series discounts are given. The classification will be given along with the size (often scc or lineage). Semi-display classified adverts appear boxed or in some way enhanced. Strict definition is at the publishers discretion. Display classified adverts are display advertisements appearing under classified headings.

Cleaning AGB Nielsen Media Research's TV Events quality control procedures to ensure top quality programme, break and spot database.

Click The act of clicking the 'mouse' when using the World Wide Web to activate a link.

Click fraud Form of Internet crime, where a person, automated script or computer programme clicks on an Internet advertisement in order to generate a charge-per-click.

Click to Call A service that enables a mobile subscriber to initiate a voice call to a specified phone number by clicking on a link on a mobile internet site. Typically used to enhance and provide a direct response mechanism in an advertisement.

Click-Through When a user interacts with an advertisement and clicks through to the advertiser’s website.

Click-through Rate is a ratio showing how often people who see your ad or free product listing end up clicking it. Click-through rate (CTR) can be used to gauge how well your keywords and ads, and free listings, are performing. CTR is the number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown: clicks ÷ impressions = CTR. For example, if you had 5 clicks and 100 impressions, then your CTR would be 5%.

Clickthrough When visitors click on a banner advertisement, taking them to the advertiser's site.

Clickthroughs The number of times visitors viewing an ad click on that ad.

Clickthru This is the number of times a banner ad at a site is clicked on by a visitor. When ad's are clicked on, the user is usually brought to another location or site for more information.

Client Another term for a web browser as in client-server technology where a user's client reads web pages stored on a publisher's server.

Client initiated ad impression (see also Ad impression (Online))

Clip A brief segment excerpted from a broadcast stream. In AGB Nielsen Media Research's TV Events the term usually refers to the commercial spot stored in a separate video file.

Clip Art Collections of digital images used in multimedia productions.

Clipping When an audio signal crosses above the upper limit, the waveform has it’s top cut off and it causes distortion.

Closed Captioning Closed captioning is a term describing several systems developed to display text on a television or video screen to provide additional or interpretive information to viewers who wish to access it, including those with hearing disabilities.

Cloud Networked online storage for file-hosting services.

Cluster Statistical technique for grouping the people researched by a survey not by single criteria like age, sex, etc but by a large number of their characteristics.

Cluster Samples The grouping together of individuals for sampling purposes - usually geographically reduce time and cost of interviewer's travel.

Clutter Visual or audible stimuli that draws attention away from the advertising message, often caused by different advertisements competing for the viewers' or listeners' attention

CLV Customer lifetime value

CMS Content management system

Co-channel interference Interference on a channel due to another signal on the same channel.

Co-viewing Defines the condition where members of a reference target are the focus of an analysis only if they are watching TV together with other members, chosen according specific demographics. An example of a Co-viewing target is Females watching with Children.

CO2e Carbon dioxide equivalent is used to measure and compare emissions from greenhouse gases based on how severely they contribute to global warming, i.e. how much a particular gas would contribute to global warming if it was CO2. Gases other than carbon dioxide are generally expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents.

Coaxial Cable Two concentric tubular copper conductors with an insulator in between, able to carry many different channels simultaneously. Each channel is modulated at a different frequency, and a timer at the receiver sorts out the required signal.

COBA COBA (the Commercial Broadcasters Association) is the UK industry body for digital, cable and satellite broadcasters and on-demand services. Its members include major non-public service broadcasters, as well as niche services.

Codec A codec (Coder-Decoder) is a piece of hardware or software for encoding and decoding digital audio and video signals.

Coder Device for converting a signal from one form into another (digital form), to meet the requirements of a particular form of communication.

Coffee time Commercial airtime daypart, with slots scheduled for late morning, loosely defined as being from about 11.00am to noon.

Cold-set Printing in which the ink is allowed to dry on an absorbent paper without heat.

Collotype Gelatine coated plates producing continuous tone reproduction.

Colour Rates Full colour refers to the four colour process. Separations into the four process colours (black, magenta, cyan and yellow) by filters are required, resulting in four films to make printing plates. These may be listed as a percentage extra, ot total cost above the cost of mono display rates. Series discounts may be given.

Comb filtering When two versions of the same sound play at slightly different times (measured in milliseconds) and certain frequencies cancel out, usually creating an undesirable effect. In podcasting, this is most common when two microphones record the same voice, such as when one guest is speaking and the other is listening, and can be fixing by lowering level of the listener’s mic. Also called “phasing.”

Commercial Advertisement, announcement, spot or message aired on television, radio or cable which is paid for by an advertiser.

Commercial & Programme Logs List of all commercials and programmes transmitted, sent to AGB five times a week by TV companies. This information is matched to data collected from the panel to indicate who watched what. Commercial logs are provided in computer format; AGB processes more than 100,000 occurrences of commercials per week. Programme logs are provided on paper except Channel 4 which is provided in computer format.

Commercial airtime quota Airtime minutage allowance that is available for advertising according to international and national rules that vary greatly across different countries. The rules may also vary for different types of TV stations within the same country. For example, public service stations that receive mixed public and advertising funding may be subject to stricter quotas than other channels. Likewise, licensed terrestrial commercial analogue services are often subject to more stringent quotas than other cable and satellite channels as a condition of their licences. Lastly the rules will often additionally specify the distribution of commercial minutage by time of day, the frequency and positioning of commercial breaks within and between programmes, the duration of commercial breaks and other requirements, such as the obligation on some TV channels to sell all their airtime in order to limit TV channel manipulation of advertising demand and consequent airtime prices.

Commercial and programme logs Record of all commercials and programmes transmitted by TV channels. The information may be provided by the TV channel itself or by an independent source and is matched against processed individual viewing statements so as to permit viewing figures for specific commercials and programmes. The logs may contain additional information, such as programme genre codes, which can be used to estimate and report audiences for different kinds of programming.

Commercial Break A break in television or radio transmission during which advertisements are transmitted. An end break is broadcast at the start or end of a programme, while a centre break is broadcast within a programme.

Commercial impact (see also Impact)

Commercial Impacts The impacts achieved by a campaign are the total number of times that campaign is heard. Calculated by a campaign's reach in thousands x OTH.

Commercial Minutage Number of minutes on television during which commercials (as opposed to programmes, trailers etc.) are broadcast.

Commercial ratings Audiences for advertising commercial spots. Different TAM systems employ different algorithms for computing commercial ratings/GRPs for minute by minute or second by second GRP measures. (see also GRP (Gross rating point))

Commercial TV Profit-making TV channels/services that rely on commercial advertising, pay-TV or other (e.g. telephone voting) payment revenues from their audiences.

Commission An amount of income received by a publisher for some quantifiable action such as selling an advertiser’s product and/or service on the publisher’s website.

Common interface Hardware and software interface that may be embedded in TV sets or set-top boxes to permit the addition of other components, such as conditional access modules for pay-TV applications, for enhancing the functionality of the TV set.

Communications Satellite Low power satellite that may be used either for relaying TV channels or for electronic data transmission, such as video conferencing or telephony, which is received by large dish receivers.

Community Antennae Television CATV systems are cable networks, often servicing an entire town or city, where an operator at the headend of the cable system controls which channels are relayed down the cable to subscribers connected to the system. Satellite-delivered TV channels are currently being picked up by CATV cable operators with a large dish receiver at the headend of the cable system and relayed down the cable to the subscriber.

Community television Television services owned and operated by "communities" rather than governments, business or television industry professionals. They may be funded through government grants or subsidies, sponsorship, membership, or a combination thereof.

Companion ad A Companion Ad will run adjacent to an ad unit and/or programmed content.

Companion ad unit orientation Referred to as either Companion Landscape or Companion Portrait.

Companion Banners/ad(s) are image ads that run at the same time as other video or audio ads. In audio advertising, companion banners are displayed while listeners hear your audio ad playing on a device that has a screen, for example on a mobile device or a PC.

Competition mapping A mapping of the performances of competing TV stations.

Completed Download A request for a file, typically audio or video, which can be used offline, where the size of the file transferred is greater than 95%.

Completed Podcast A completed request for a file, typically audio or video, which can be used offline, following the receipt of an automated notification of the file's availability.

Completion Rate The rate at which viewers watch a specified portion of a given video. Used interchangeably with "play-through rate".

Composition The percentage of a TV/radio programme's audience or a publication's readers who fall into a given target group.

Compress A digital picture manipulator effect where the picture is squeezed (made proportionally smaller).

Compressed Digital TV Future TV standard which involves converting the signal to a digital data stream and compressing it by removing repeated information. With a special receiver it enables several channels to use just one satellite transponder.

Compression Digital process that reduces the space taken by data allowing it to be stored and transmitted more efficiently.

Compression (file) Very different from sound compression. File compression reduces file size. Some formats need to be manually unzipped before you can use the files. Others can be extracted in real time, sometimes with a loss in audio quality. See “mp3.”

Compression (sound) Very different from file compression. See “Compressor.”

Compression/Data compression Encoding technology for improving the transmission rates and/or decreasing the bandwidth requirements of digital TV services that entails reducing the digital data files (i.e. reducing the number of bits) through removing redundant information, thereby enabling multiplex operators to squeeze more channels on to a single carrier frequency that would have originally carried just one analogue TV channel. Present day more advanced compression (e.g. MPEG-4) and other broadcast transmission technologies are making it possible for single carrier frequencies to carry ten or more digital TV channels; although digital terrestrial broadcast systems typically carry six to eight digital channels per carrier frequency.

Compressor A device or plugin which automatically lowers the volume when the it goes above a set threshold. In music, it can be used to dramatically change the quality of a specific sound. In podcasting/radio, it’s mostly used to shave off the loudest peaks of speech, but can also even out the loudness overtime. See “Macrodynamics” and “Microdynamics.”

Computer Bureaux Companies conducting computer analysis of survey databases.

Concentration index A number indicating a percentage difference between one value and a benchmark value for comparison. The benchmark value, however defined, is fixed at 100. Accordingly, an index of 110 indicates a positive absolute difference to the benchmark value of 10 percentage points (or 10% relative difference); whilst an index of 90 indicates a negative absolute difference of 10 percentage points (or a -11% relative difference).

Concept Testing Concept testing is the process of using quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate consumer response to a product idea prior to the introduction of a product to the market.

Concurrent Viewing In TV audience measurement, the viewing of the same individual in relation to two or more TV sets at the same time.

Condenser A microphone that turns sound into electrical signals via wiggling capacitors (or something like that). Requires a small amount of power to operate, either from a battery or from the recorder, but output louder signals, and can also be small enough to fit into a lavaliere. Hated by podcasters with untreated rooms. See “Phantom Power,” and “Dynamic (microphone).”

Conditional Access The name given to the technology that allows authorised users to access digital television services by encrypting the transmitted content that is then converted by a decoder.

Conditional buy-through Common form of pay-TV pricing where the purchase of premium content is conditional on buying one or more other services. The most common example is the requirement by many pay-TV operators to buy a basic subscription package in order to be able to subscribe to a film or sports package.

Cone of vision The field of view for an individual. Also known as the area of sight. It extends from the subject as a 120° cone.

Confidence interval Term used in parametric statistics to specify the margin of error associated with a particular survey estimate for a given level of significance. For example, 95% confidence interval denotes the range of values surrounding the survey estimate within which there is a 95% probability that the true population value will lie. Depending on the level of certainty required, higher or lower probability values may be used to specify the confidence interval.

Confidence Limits Confidence limits are an estimate, derived from statistical theory, of the ranges of values within which the "true" figure is likely to lie.

Connected consumer The term connected consumer captures the on-line and off-line behaviors enabled via mobile and social media channels that are influencing brand and product choices in all categories.

Connected TV Integration of the internet into modern television sets and set-top boxes, as well as the technological convergence between computers and these television sets / set-top boxes. These new devices most often also have a much higher focus on online interactive media, Internet TV, over-the-top content, as well as on-demand streaming media.

Connectivity Widely employed general term for designating the interoperability and ability of TV, PC and other video/audio equipment to communicate with one another in the home or over a network (e.g. P2P file sharing). (see also File-sharing)

Consideration The extent a consumer will consider a brand for purchase.

Consolidated audience The consolidated audience is the sum of the live and timeshift audiences.

Consolidated Viewing Consolidated viewing includes live viewing and video playback, which is recorded and watched within seven days of programme transmission. All data within the Yearbook is consolidated unless otherwise stated.

Constant viewing Long viewing session without any change in registered set use or viewer presence. Constant viewing is used by some TAM systems as a quality control during data validation.

Consumer classifieds (All other listings) Classified adverts relating to any category beyond recruitment – e.g. automotive. Reported revenues should relate only to the direct cost of listing the advert rather than money generated from additional services.

Consumer classifieds (Jobs & recruitment) An advertiser pays for space to display a classified ad relating to jobs and recruitment. Although some of these may include images, we think of classifieds as being listings rather than graphical adverts, in a way that mirrors the classified adverts you

Consumer experience The way the Primary Ad unit is experienced by a person watching the screen.

Consumer generated media Materials posted by users on the Internet. At first, the term was mainly used in connection with Internet forums, blogging sites and wikis; but has subsequently widened to cover new multimedia, video and social networking applications.

Consumer Publication A publication designed for a general consumer or special interest markets e.g. photography, gardening.

Content Information or entertainment produced by an advertiser or media company for use in a Web site or similar environment.

Content aggregator Company or organisation that gathers material for distribution to end users after acquiring the necessary rights.

Content Delivery Network (CDN) A content delivery network or content distribution network is an interconnected system of servers deployed in multiple data centres with the goal to serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance by reproducing the content on multiple servers and directing the content to users based on proximity. A CDN operator gets paid by content providers such as media companies for delivering their content to their audience of end-users. In turn, a CDN pays ISPs, carriers, and network operators for hosting its servers in their data centres.

Content protection General term for protection of copyright, whether via conditional access and encryption of broadcast signals or DRM measures relating to digital networks.

Content Provider The group or company responsible for online content.

Content provider/supplier Company or organisation responsible for creating content, whether movies, TV programming or interactive games applications, etc.

Content sponsorship Advertiser sponsorships of content areas (e.g. entire website, homepage or a specific channel) to include the total value of the package including any embedded or interruptive formats. This category also includes revenue related to email advertising or p

Content Tracking System In TV audience measurement, a system used to identify which channel is being viewed and also to identify time shift viewing.

Contention ratio Ratio of the potential maximum demand to the bandwidth available on a network. The greater the number of users, the higher the ratio. During periods of peak demand this can result in lower effective bandwidth. In the case of on-demand TV services, the contention ratio is the ratio of total subscribers to the peak number of unique simultaneous streams.

Contextual Advertising Advertising that is targeted to the content on the Web page being viewed by a user at that specific time.

Continuous Sample A continuous sample is defined to be the group of panel homes from which a valid record of viewing is obtained for every day in a specified set of days. All individuals resident in the continuous sample of homes themselves form a continuous sample of individuals provided that their residence persists for the whole of the period in question.

Contract period Period of data purchase/delivery as agreed between the data supplier and its clients. Formal JIC or MOC industry contracts typically run from five to ten years, with extension options included.

Contract specification Technical terms of survey content, data delivery and terms of purchase as laid down in TAM contracts between data suppliers and their clients.

Contracting party(s) Parties such as JIC, MOC and TRCC organisations that contract TAM services from one or more data suppliers.

Contractor Data supplier contracted by an industry body/organisation to supply TAM data as specified by the contract.

Control Surface Any device that allows you to make adjustments in your DAW using actual buttons and knobs, such as a Faderport. See “Interface.”

Controlled Free Circulation Copies sent free to a defined group of individuals.

Convergence The delivery of several types of content to a single receiver, e.g. a TV set able to give access to digital, interactive, audio or other services.

Conversational Show A show where the audience listens to a recorded conversation. Can feature revolving guests, or have the same people on it every week. People who don’t listen to podcasts think all podcasts are conversational shows.

Conversion A specific action an advertiser wants a user to take after coming across their ad

Conversion factor An assumed scaling factor that may be used for converting a measure classified by one criterion (e.g. household rating) into a measure classified by a different criterion (e.g. Adults 25-44).

Conversion Rate Conversion rate is a metric calculated by dividing the number of total conversions by the total number of visitors to a website

Conversion Rate The rate at which visitors are converted from viewing an ad to buying a product/service.

Conversion window Number of days after exposure where a vendor will attribute visits to a campaign. This can vary by business and category.

Converter Decoders are supplied to cable and satellite subscribers to enable them to receive signals to their television sets. Also known as a Converter or Set Top Box.

Cookies Identifiers attached to a browser in order to track the sites visits. browser is a cookie. It can also be used to remember information that a user previously entered, such as names and credit card numbers. As such, it’s been under scrutiny from a privacy and security perspective. The cookie will be phased out from browsers in 2022.

Copy (n) Words that are written to be read outloud. A narrator’s script is filled with “copy.”

Copy Instruction Form (CI) A document detailing key information about a radio campaign and how the commercial should be aired

Copy Length The length of time a piece of audio attched to the Copy Instruction form will play for.

Copy Protection A way of stopping copyright theft from DVDs and CDs.

Cord-cutting TV subscribers cutting off their cable subscriptions as content is now available through the internet

Core Audience The core audience is the percentage of people who watch the whole programme, from the first minute to the last minute.

Corporate campaign A corporate advertising campaign addresses general company objectives and targets a broad audience, rather than focussing on specific sales or awareness requirements.

Cost efficiency Financial performance measure of a schedule of advertising spots that is calculated by dividing the price paid by the audience delivery with reference to the target audience(s) of the advertising campaign. The principal measures of cost efficiency are Cost per rating point (CPR) and Cost per thousand (CPT or CPM).

Cost efficiency factor Representing the value of a station in reaching a specific target group. CEF is expressed as a CPT and is calculated as (CPT x Adult Hours) divided by Target Hours.

Cost Efficiency Factor The value of an advertising schedule, or one advertisement in a single publication or TV spot in relation to its cost.

Cost Per Click A pricing model used in which app advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their in-app ad. CPC = advertising cost / clicks

Cost per Click (CPC) The amount paid by an advertiser for a click on their sponsored search listing. See also PPC.

Cost per lift store visit The advertising price per exposed user visiting the store that can be attributed to the advertising campaign. This can be found by taking Ad Spend divided by Lift Store Visits

Cost per mile (CPM) A metric used to measure the price of an advertisement per one thousand impressions or clicks. Also known as CPT

Cost per Mille (CPM) / Cost per Thousand (CPT) Online advertising can be purchased on the basis of what it costs to show the ad to one thousand viewers (CPM). It is used in marketing as a benchmark to calculate the relative cost of an advertising campaign or an ad message in a given medium. Rather th

Cost Per Rating Point A measure of cost efficiency of advertising campaigns as alternative to Cost per Thousand.

Cost Per Thousand The cost of reaching 1000 listeners with a given campaign. Traditionally the 'average station price' and is used by buying agencies and media owners when negotiating the cost of airtime. Also known as cost per mile (CPM).

Cost Rank List of candidate media ranked by Cost Per Thousand to show the relative efficiency with which each reaches the target audience.

Cost-effectiveness Cost-effectiveness is a measure or expression of the extent to which some advertising activity has achieved its goals, per unit cost. Cost-effectiveness should not be confused with cost-efficiency.

Cost-efficiency Cost-efficiency is a comparative measure of audience delivered per unit of cost (eg a TV spot costing £1000 seen by 100,000 housewives delivers a cost-per-thousand of £1000/100 = £10.00). It is typically used in inter- or intra-media comparisons of costs-per-thousand (usually abbreviated to 'cpt' - 'cpm' in some countries).

Couch Potato A name given to individuals who watch large amounts of television.

Cover Abbreviation of Coverage

Cover Rates Covers include outside front (or front page), outside back (or back page), inside front, inside back, and specified positions or sizes on any of these. These will be mono unless otherwise stated. Series discounts may be given.

Coverage The proportion (expressed in percentage terms) of a target audience having an opportunity to see/hear advertising. This is sometimes broken down further: eg 1+ cover is the number of people who have seen at least one spot in the advertising campaign, 3+ cover is the number of people who have seen at least three spots in the advertising campaign etc.

Coverage (NRS) The age/social breakdown (which was selected) as a % of the population.

Coverage area rating The estimated audience size of a TV channel/programme within its coverage area, expressed as a percentage of the total potential audience.

Coverage Rank List of publications ranked by their coverage of a specified group or target group.

Coverage/Coverage area Number of individuals/homes that can receive or are exposed to a medium. (see also Channel coverage)

CP (Campaign period) (advertising) Interval spanning from the first to the last days of a campaign schedule of advertising spots.

CPA Cost per action/acquisition. The cost incurred when a visitor performs a desired action after viewing an ad e.g. buying a product, registering an email address.

CPA (Cost-per-action) Cost of Internet advertising based on the number of visitors taking some specifically defined action in response to an ad, divided by the money paid.

CPC Pricing model for online advertising charging advertisers per click on their advertisements.

CPC (Cost-per-click) Cost of Internet advertising based on the number of clicks an ad receives divided by the money being paid. CPC’s vary according to the search engine being used.

CPE (Consumer premises equipment) Equipment that subscribers to a service must install in their homes in order to receive it (e.g. set-top Box with PVR functionality, wireless router, etc.).

CPH Cost Per Hundred - The average cost of achieving 100 TVRs against a specified audience.

CPI (Cost-per-impression) Cost of Internet advertising based on the number of ad impressions divided by the money paid.

CPL Cost per lead, the cost of acquisition of customers’ contact information

CPP/CPRP (Cost per Rating Point) The average cost of achieving one commercial rating point (i.e. advertising GRP) with a 30 second advertising spot (or other standard unit of airtime) for a given target audience. CPP's are widely used as a measure of the cost efficiency of advertising campaigns or for comparing price differences across different TV stations. The alternative widely used measure of cost efficiency is Cost per thousand (CPT or CPM).

CPT Cost Per Thousand - Cost of reaching 1000 readers/viewers/ listeners with a given advertisement. In television the cost per thousand is also known as 'average station price' and is used by buying agencies and television contractors when negotiating the cost of airtime.

CPT Impacts Cost per Thousand. The cost of achieving 1000 impacts.

CPT/CPM (Cost per thousand/Cost per mille) (1) Television: The average cost of achieving 1,000 commercial impacts against a specified target audience, and usually adjusted to a 30 second advertising spot length. CPTs/CPMs are widely used as a measure of the cost efficiency of advertising campaigns or for comparing price differences across different TV stations. The alternative widely used measure of cost efficiency is advertising Cost per rating point (CPR or CPRP). (2) Internet: Cost of achieving 1,000 ad impressions.

CR Conversion rate

CRCA Commercial Radio Companies Association - ceased existence in July 2006, when it was merged with the RAB to form the Radio Centre

Creative The different forms of created advertising: banners, buttons, pop-ups etc.

Creative Ageny (CA) It is a company that offers a combination of strategy, design, technology and advertising services to clients.

Creative Commons A copyright designation where creators allow others to use their work for free, but often with some restrictions.

Criterion of viewing Instruction to survey respondent on when to record himself/herself as a viewer. In peoplemeter measurement, this equates with the instructions of when panel members or their guests should register their presence as viewers (e.g. "In the room with TV set on and watching", or "in the room with TV set on", etc.).

CRM Customer Relationship Management.

CRO Converstion Rate Optimisation

Cross Media Measurement Audience measurement across different types of media (print, TV, radio, online etc)

Cross Tabulation Most tables in standard survey reports are cross tabulations. They provide large amounts of information about target markets or readers of publications in a relatively compact format.

Cross-border overspill Overspill of domestic TV station signals into neighbouring countries.

Cross-platform Ad measurement across all forms of content delivery, including publisher platforms, apps, STBs, TV manufactures and other inventory sources that enable advertisers to quantify incremental reach, and determine how to effectively find and reach the right audience to drive KPIs, including sales, brand lift and offline outcomes.

Cross-screen This refers to the ability to track and measure viewing across all screens – from smart TVs to laptops and mobile devices.

Cross-sectional data analysis Analysis of aggregated data, that is based on sample estimates of audience size/volume and composition per unit time interval. Key output measures are audience ratings, amount of viewing and audience share.

CRR 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: a) by guaranteeing that advertisers and media buyers are no worse off following the merger of Carlton and Granada; and b)by putting in place an automatic ratchet which reduces the amount advertisers have to commit if ITVs audience shrinks. The CRR sets out a number of rights that advertisers and media buyers have when buying advertising time from Carlton/Granada, and in particular, gives advertisers and media buyers the right to renew their contracts on a rolling annual basis, adjusted for changes in ITVs audiences, with no reduction in the discounts they receive. Until the remedy is no longer necessary, the share of revenue committed by advertisers/media buyers on television advertising to Carlton/Granada need not increase above 2003 levels.

CRT (cathode ray tube) Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). Used in most television sets built to date, it is an electronic display device in which a beam of electrons is focused on a glass viewing screen to produce an image

CSA Now DCM- Carlton Screen Advertising - Carlton Communications acquired Cinema Media renamed the new division Carlton Screen Advertising. It was decided that the company would benefit from being branded under the same umbrella as its parent company. See MediaTel's Cinema Database

CSS (Content scramble system) DRM scheme used on some DVDs. (see also DRM (Digital rights management))

CSV (Coincidental study of viewing) Parallel surveys of viewing for checking the accuracy of the main survey. CSV's are either "internal", based on the same sample as the main survey, or "external", being based on a separate independent sample. External CSV's are rarely used in TAM research, but most peoplemeter panels employ internal CSV's (usually once or twice a year) as a systematic quality control for checking (a) the accuracy of key panel classification variables that are liable to change (e.g. household size, number of TV sets) and (b) the accuracy of viewer registration through comparing the CSV claims with contemporary meter records.

CTA Cable Television Association - The UK trade organisation representing the interests of cable operators, installers, equipment providers and programme providers.

CTR Percentage of times an advertisement is clicked, divided by the number of times it is seen.

CTR Click through rate, the percentage of click-throughs in relation to ad impressions

CTR (Click-through rate) Unit measure of online advertising defined as the number of clicks on an ad on a web page divided by the total number of times the ad was delivered (ad impressions). An alternative definition sometimes used is to define CTR as the number of users that click on a web page divided by the total number of times the ad was delivered.

CTS In TV audience measurement, a system used to identify which channel is being viewed and also to identify time shift viewing.

CTS (Content tracking system) Content identification technology based on comparison of audio signatures used for a variety of TAM applications. Its principle of operation includes generating signatures from the unknown content's audio track and comparing those signatures against identical signatures generated for all measured content streams (e.g. "TV channels").

CTV See ConnectedTV

Cume (Cumulative) rating Cumulative total of ratings across a target audience over a given period, such as an advertising campaign, or fixed time interval (e.g. week month).

Cumulative Audience The proportion of a target group who have an opportunity to see or hear one advertisement from a campaign at a specified time.

Cumulative Cover The increased cover resulting from taking space in more than one issue of a particular publication.

Cumulative Readership The Net Reach achieved by a given number of insertions in a single title or schedule.

Currency Route data is known as a currency. There is a currency for each advertising medium (e.g. BARB for television). By creating a common measure of all formats equally, and giving a specific value to each, media space may be planned, traded, evaluated and reported based on the currency.

CX Customer experience

Cyber From the Greek Kybernetes, meaning steersman or governor. Now a prefix to be applied to any word to signify a particular cultural familiarity with new media.

D-MAC/D2-MAC Two variants of the Mac TV formats.

D2C Direct to Consumer

DAB Digital Audio Broadcasting, or Digital Radio. A system of broadcasting which produces near perfect sound quality and has the capacity for data transmission.

DAB (Digital audio broadcasting) International transmission technical standard for digital radio services.

DAB-IP DAB-IP (Digital Audio Broadcasting ? Internet Protocol) is a technology used in transmission of mobile TV, using a revised DAB signal that is able to transmit mobile television via internet protocol. DAB-IP is currently the only standard for true IP-based mobile broadcast that can be deployed commercially in the UK, and is essential for BT Movio

DAC See “Digital Analog Converter.”

Daily reporting sample (see also Net daily reporting sample (in-tab sample))

DAL Dedicated Advertiser Location: this is accessed via the red button and allows viewers to enter an advertiser environment outside the broadcast stream. This is only available on digital platforms.

DAR Abbreviation of Day-After-Recall.

Data accessibility Degree to which client users can access data generated by a TAM system. Different users may enjoy different levels of access. The degree of access is partly a function of the data which Users are permitted to examine and partly a function of the software options for analysis.

Data availability Availability of TAM data to different interest groups: not just the primary users comprising advertisers, media buyers and media owners, but also secondary users comprising software houses/computer bureaus, market research companies, trade press and other potential interest groups.

Data compression A technique that provides for the transmission or storage, without noticeable information loss, of fewer data bits than were originally used when the data was created.

Data entry Entering data into computer, which includes keyboard entry, scanning and voice recognition. In relation to AGB Nielsen Media Research's TV Events, it is the user interface module for entering detailed broadcast information into the database stored on the TelePad Server.

Data Fusion Statistical technique of combining data of two or more surveys.

Data Integration The system of combining different data sources or surveys with each other, often involving statistical fusion techniques.

Data Management Platform (DMP) A system that allows the collection of audience intelligence to buyers, thereby allowing better ad targeting in subsequent campaigns. The data stored may include customer information, demographics, and mobile identifiers or cookie IDs

Data reporting threshold Threshold of acceptable sample size for permitting data access. There are wide variations in practice across different TAM systems. Within Europe, about half the TAM systems employ thresholds for warning users when sample sizes for analysis are low and consequently unstable. Slightly fewer employ blocking thresholds that prevent access when sample sizes are considered unacceptably low for analysis.

Data supplier Market research company engaged in the collection and production of TAM data for delivery to the market.

Data-Driven Linear DDL is based on impressions and enables 1:1 deterministic matching between viewership data and ad delivery, all tied to the household level. With DDL, advertisers can achieve precise measurement, attribution and insight into who was reached and who took an action.

Datacasting Broadcasting of information and other data services via digital TV, often as a supplementary offering to enhance the appeal of digital TV channels.

DAW Short for “Digital Audio Workstation,” it’s the software you use to edit and mix your audio. No one actually knows if it’s pronounced “daw” or if you say the letters D-A-W, so it’s best to avoid saying the word out loud until someone else says it first, then you can just say whatever they say.

Day after recall Method of collecting audience data in interview surveys or self-completion questionnaires that ask respondents to recall their viewing or other activities on the previous days. Surveys may employ a recall period of more than one day (e.g. two-day recall or up to seven-day recall), or they may use past 24 hour recall as an alternative to day after recall.

Day-after recall (DAR) DAR is a way of measuring TV viewing, and is similar to press research, which is also based on recall but covering longer periods. Respondents are asked what they watched yesterday, prompted either by time or programmes, and the data from many days are aggregated together and reported as average quarter-hour viewing of individual channels.

Daypart A section of the viewing day. For example, Weekday Breakfast Peak is 06:00-10:00, Mid Morning is 10:00-13:00, Afternoon is 13:00-16:00, PM Drive is 16:00-19:00, Evening is 19:00-24:00, Overnight is 00:00-06:00.

Db Abbreviation for decibel

DB (Delayed broadcast) A network TV programme that is delayed for airing in a given market at a different time than the time it airs nationally.

DBS Direct Broadcasting by Satellite. The use of a satellite to transmit highpower television signals for reception direct to homes. DBS services will be carried on cable systems.

DBS (Direct broadcasting by satellite) Hangover term coined during the eighties to refer to WARC (World Administrative Radio Conference) international provisions for direct broadcasting by satellite. The WARC plan envisaged allocating each country five K band frequencies for high power analogue satellite transmissions that would permit nationwide reception with dishes no greater than 90 cm in diameter. Several national projects were developed during the early eighties; however, the DBS projects were rapidly superseded by major technological advances that created room for a far greater number of TV channels to be broadcasted by medium power satellites using a different part of the radio frequency spectrum and at much lower costs.

DCAB Digital Cable

DCD Dynamic Copy Delivery

DCM (Digital Cinema Media) Digital Cinema Media is a joint venture between ODEON and Cineworld providing over 2,300 screens and over 420 sites for advertisers.

DCS Desktop Colour Separation

DCT (Digital cable TV) Digital television services transmitted via cable.

De-emphasis Filtering introduced by a receiver at transmission to reduce audio noise.

De-Esser Something that automatically controls sibilance in recordings, usually a plugin.

Deadlines Deadlines are for advertisement copy only. Different copy or cancellation dates may apply to different types of advertisement within a publication.

Deadwood address Deadwood address is a term that refers to addresses issued on random probability surveys being ineligible.

Deal ID A piece of code containing the agreed-upon terms (negotiated pricing, for example) between an advertiser and publisher that allows the advertiser to access the publisher’s inventory.

Decibel A measure of a sound’s volume in a physical space. For convenience, “levels,” “gain,” and “LUFs” are also measured in/coorelated with db. A 3db increase in Gain will raise the Level by 3db, increase Loudness by 3 LUFs, and it will (theoretically) sound 3db louder when it comes out of the speakers. Can be pularized, “Three decibels.” See “Db.”

Deck See “Pitch Deck.”

Decoder Decoders are supplied to cable subscribers to enable them to receive signals to their television sets. Also known as converters. Decoders may also convert the television set to an interactive terminal.

Decoder interface Interface between a meter and a set-top decoder that permits the monitoring of signals passing through the decoder.

Dedicated Banner An Internet advertising banner that does not rotate and is seen by every visitor to the Web page that the advert is displayed on.

Dedicated Line A telecommunications line that is permanently connected to the Internet.

Deep-Linking Advert Linking beyond a home page to a page inside the site with content pertinent to the advert.

Definitive viewing (data) Final complete set of viewing statements from which quantitative estimates of viewing are generated.

Delay The elapsed time between the instant when user information is submitted to the network and when it is received by the user at the other end.

Delivered play The number of times a creative (with a defined spot length) plays fully.

Delivery Point (DP) This is station whether linear or digital where the ad/copy is sent to.

Delivery Rate The percentage of auctions won that were delivered to a listener with recorded impressions.

Deloitte Deloitte is one of the largest professional services organisations in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG.

Demand 5 The brand name of video on demand services offered by Channel 5

Demand Five Catch-up service offered by Channel Five

Demand Side Platform (DSP) A DSP is software where buyers are able to purchase and manage their ad exchange and data exchange accounts using one platform.

Demographic Demographic data collected on surveys including sex, age, social grade, household income, terminal education age, working status, home ownership, tenure in current home, size of household, marital status etc.

Demographic variable Population variable for classifying individuals or households in terms of personal or family characteristics. Examples include Region; Type of settlement; Household size; Age; Sex; Social grade/Socio-economic level; Work status; Occupation; Education; Presence of children; Life stage.

Department for Transport (DFT) The government department responsible for traffic, transport, congestion and so on. The DfT run the National Travel Survey which is included in some of Route’s work.

Descrambler An electronic circuit that restores a scrambled video signal to its standard form.

Design Factor The amount by which the Standard Error of a survey is greater than that of a perfectly random sample.

Device Graph A device graph is a map that links individuals to all the devices they use (laptop, work computer, smartphone, etc.). Instead of counting each device as the behavior of a different person, a device graph counts them as one person, so there’s no duplication. Device graphs play a critical role in deduplicating audiences, as well as not overstating reach or understating frequency metrics.

Device Targeting The act of targeting audience by Devices (i.e. iPod, Android, Tablet, etc.) or Consoles used (i.e. PlayStation, Apple TV, Roku, etc.)

Device Type Breakdown of targetted listening device: smartphone, smartspeaker, tablet, pc, TV, etc

DFM Abbreviation of Direct Frequency Measurement.

DFM (Direct frequency measurement) TAM methodology that identifies channels through metering their frequencies and comparing their records against the channel map for the TV set or other input source being monitored.

DHTML Advanced HTML code used by developers to create greater animation and interactivity in ads.

Dial up Access A way of accessing the Internet through the public telephone network using a modem.

Dial-up Method of Internet access that involves hooking up the PC to a telephone network using a modem and telephone line. Also known as narrowband. Dial-up was the early form of Internet access and is significantly slower than broadband, which is now superseding it.

Diaphragm The part of microphone that gets wiggled by sound and turns it into electrical signals. See “Dynamic” and “Condenser.”

Diary A log kept by members of a consumer panel to record their viewing, reading, listening, purchase, consumption or whatever is being measured.

Diary measurement Family of TAM methodologies in which survey respondents record their viewing in diaries. Diary samples may be discrete or they may constitute short or long term panels. TAM diaries normally consist of booklets with one page, or a double-page spread, for each day of the week. There is considerable scope for variation in terms of format, unit intervals of measurement (e.g. quarter hour/five minute), criteria of viewing selection of sample (i.e. household or individual), instructions on when to fill in and methods of administration and collection. National diary TAM systems have given way to national peoplemeter TAM systems in most countries, but diaries are still commonly used in larger countries for regional/local audience measurement or for collecting data from rural areas.

Digital Recording/processing with a computer. Audio signals are broken into numerical values, the computer/digital recorder does whatever it’s going to with them, and then the numerical values are turned back into analog audio signals for playback. See “Digital Analog Converter.”

Digital Advertising frames that have a digital screen, displaying moving or rotating images.

Digital Advertising Digital advertising is an advertising strategy designed to promote businesses, products, and services through online channels.

Digital Analog Converter DAC. A piece of hardware that turns an analog signal into numerical values, and vice versa. Anything that connects a microphone to any type of computer has a DAC, including Digital Audio Recorders, Microphones Interfaces, and even the USB port on your computer.

Digital audio player Device for playing, storing and organising digital music files.

Digital Broadcast System The technology used by home satellite-dish owners to receive digital signals that have CD-quality sound and laserdisc quality images.

Digital compression (see also Compression/Data compression)

Digital Editions (ABC) A digital edition is an edition of the print publication published electronically as a unit.

Digital File Formats Audiovisual files can be formatted in various file types using different standards and codecs, such as Windows Media and MPEG 4.

Digital Media Any video and audio material that have been digitised into 1s and 0s.

Digital Media Adaptor A digital media receiver (DMR), also commonly referred to as a media extender, media streamer, or digital media adapter (DMA), is a home entertainment device that can connect to a home network to retrieve digital media files (such as music, pictures, or video) from a personal computer or other networked media server and play them back on a home theater system or TV.

Digital Media Receiver A digital media receiver (DMR), also commonly referred to as a media extender, media streamer, or digital media adapter (DMA), is a home entertainment device that can connect to a home network to retrieve digital media files (such as music, pictures, or video) from a personal computer or other networked media server and play them back on a home theatre system or TV.

Digital Radio Digital Radio, or Digital Audio Broadcasting. A system of broadcasting which produces near perfect sound quality and has the capacity for data transmission.

Digital Radio Development Bureau Industry body set up in partnership by the BBC and Commercial Radio to promote digital radio in the UK.

Digital Radio Multiplex These are transmitters used by digital radio stations to broadcast digital.

Digital set-top box A device which accepts digital encoded television broadcasts and converts them to display on an analogue television set. New boxes with added functionality provide local storage of programming on hard discs, and Internet access.

Digital Stations These are stations which fall under banner of digital stations

Digital Switchover The government is switching off all the analogue broadcast wavelengths for television (see Digital TV). There is a timetable in place for digital switchover with regions being switched over in turn from 2007 through to 2012.

Digital switchover (DSO) Process of replacing analogue with digital TV broadcasts, for which prior analogue switch-off is a prerequisite condition.

Digital TV With digital TV, sound and pictures from the broadcaster are converted into 'bits' of information and sent through an aerial, satellite, telephone line or cable. This digital signal is then turned back into sound and pictures by a digital box or a digital television set. This offers new ways to experience TV: extra TV channels as standard, Improved picture quality and new features, Including on-screen TV listings, true widescreen picture and red-button interactivity

Digital TV Switchover The digital television switchover was the process in which analogue television broadcasting converted to digital television. This was completed in the UK in 2012.

Digital Video This refers to any type of video that is produced and published on a digital platform. Unlike cross-platform TV, digital video is not necessarily professionally produced and thus does not offer the same level of brand safety to advertisers. YouTube videos uploaded by users are arguably the most popular form of this.

Digital Video Broadcasting Also known as DVB. This refers to an organisation with over 220 members in 25 countries worldwide, which devised a set of standards for digital broadcasting by satellite, cable and terrestrial infrastructures.

Digitisation The process of converting analogue material into a digital format.

Dimensions (Press) Sizes are given in millimetres, with the exception of some Irish publications which quote sizes in Imperial measurements.

Dipstick Survey Tailor-made research to RAJAR specifications to provide listening levels. Often used by smaller stations who do not subscribe to RAJAR.

Dipstick Surveys Any survey that provides a single measure.

Direct Broadcasting Satellite DBS comprises a satellite transmission delivered direct to any viewer within the satellite footprint, who possesses his own dish aerial receiver. This term contrasts with point-to-point distribution, which involves a central receiving station.

Direct Mail Delivery of the advertising message direct to people's homes via the letterbox.

Disaggregated viewing data Same as Elementary or Respondent level viewing data - Processed viewing data held at the level of individual respondents. The basic components of disaggregated viewing data are individual viewing statements consisting of complete time records across each broadcasting day of all viewing sessions by every family member and guest on all metered TV sets in the home. (see also Individual viewing statements)

Discrete Choice Modelling A discrete choice model predicts a decision made by an individual as a function of any number of variables.

Dish Parabolic shaped antenna used to receive DBS signals. Also known as an earth station.

Dish antenna A high-grain antenna, shaped like a dish, which is used for the transmission and reception of ultra-high-frequency and microwave signals.

Disney Buying Route (Cinema) Running predominantly across the school holiday periods and incorporating high profile Disney releases and other children's animated films.

Display Each and every time a video is loaded in a browser and displayed to the viewer.

Display Advertising Embraces TV, Radio, Posters, Online (excluding Search Marketing) - anything which is 'displayed'.

Display advertising on email Advertising that appears around the unrelated editorial content of email newsletters. This can take the form of embedded formats like banners, or as sponsorship, and includes both optin (sent to customers specifically requesting it) and optout (sent to c

Disproportional sampling Sampling in which different sub-populations have different probabilities of selection, resulting in over-sampling/under-sampling of some groups compared with others. Disproportional sampling by selected region(s) is quite common in TAM research.

Disproportionate Sampling Deliberate selection of a sample that is not in proportion to the population.

Distribution 1. Delivery of samples, pamphlets, etc ie door-to-door distribution. 2. Availability of a product in retail outlets, the percentage of shops which stock the product. 3. Spread of data along a scale or spectrum. See Frequency Distribution.

Distribution (Gross) The total number of emails sent as part of a single campaigndistribution to all (SMTP) addresses on the distribution list.

Distribution (Net) The total number of emails successfully sent as part of a single campaigndistribution to all (SMTP) addresses on the distribution list.

Distribution Ended The date and time expressed in hours and minutes (GMT) when the last email in a campaigndistribution was sent to the last address on the distribution list.

Distribution platform Operating system for distributing TV services to viewers. Distribution platforms are typically classified according to whether the signals are in analogue or digital and delivered to the viewer via satellite, cable, terrestrial, DSL, FTTH reception. Further distinctions may be made according to whether the services are free or pay, and whether packaged or delivered by a particular platform operator, which markets its TV services as a single entity.

Distribution Started The date and time expressed in hours and minutes (GMT) when the first email in a campaigndistribution was sent to the first address on the distribution list.

DivX Video codec created by DivX, Inc. (formerly DivXNetworks, Inc.), which has become popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.

DLP (Digital light processing) Rear-projection technology developed and owned by Texas Instruments for projecting video images on a large screen by means of a matrix of microscopically small mirrors on a semi-conductor chip. DLP currently competes with Plasma Display and LCD technologies fro large-screen HDTV. (see also Large-screen television)

DM Direct mail or Direct message on Twitter

DMA Designated Market Areas are geographic regions in the U.S. for the measurement of local TV. There are 210 local regions across the U.S.

DMB Abbreviation of Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. The digital radio transmission system for sending multimedia content to mobile phones etc

DMB (Digital multimedia broadcasting) Digital radio transmission system capable of operating in the VHF, UHF and L-Band frequency bands and based on the Eureka 147 DAB standard for sending multimedia (TV, radio and data) content to mobile devices, such as mobile phones. DMB services launched in South Korea in 2006, and shortly after in Germany, but since withdrawn.

DMCA (Digital millennium copyright act) A US copyright law which criminalises production and dissemination of technology that can circumvent measures taken to protect copyright, not merely infringement of copyright itself, and heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.

DMIS Direct Mail Information Service

DNS (Domain name system) Stores and associates many types of information with domain names, but most importantly, it translates domain names (computer hostnames) to IP addresses. It also lists mail exchange servers accepting e-mail for each domain. In providing a worldwide keyword-based redirection service, DNS is an essential component of contemporary Internet use.

Docking station Recharging device into which participants in portable peoplemeter research place their meters overnight.

DOCSIS (Data over cable service interface specification) An international standard developed by CableLabs that defines the interface requirements for cable modems involved in high-speed data distribution over cable television networks. The latest revised version, DOCSIS 3.0, released in August 2006, provides significantly faster upstream and downstream speeds than earlier versions and in excess of 100 Mbit/s.

DOG (Digital on-screen graphic) Channel identification logo, usually appearing in top left or right corner of the screen.

Domain A group of unique sites or web pages that end with "domain name*", where "domain name" is the name of the domain and "*" is com, net, etc.

Domain Name The unique name of an internet site eg. www.iabuk.net

Domestic TV channel Any TV channel whose programmes and/or advertising are specifically targeted at national, regional or local audiences within the country of reception. The definition is independent of the point of origin of the broadcasts. At the same time the same TV channel may be broadcast as a domestic service to more than one national market.

DOOH Digital Out of Home. Refers to digital media used for marketing purposes outside of the home.

Dot Gain The term 'dot gain' describes an increase in the dot-size that can occur when printing takes place. Normally the dot on the film can be reproduced at almost exactly the same size on the metal printing plate, but in the printed version the size may have increased. This is a result of various factors, including the blanket, the machine, the inks and paper being used. The reproduction house must therefore allow dot gain in the reproduction and proofing process. This is done by, in effect, purposely making the dot on the film smaller than it 'should' be as to allow for the gain that will take place at the printing stage.

Double crown Poster size in portrait shape, the equivalent of a quarter of the size of a 4 sheet.

Double Ender See “Tape Sync”

Double Opt-In Confirming your wish for your email address to be held on a mailing list both by subscribing and by sending a conformation email as a reply to the list owner.

Double-Blind Match This is the process by which two parties share data with personally identifiable information, using a third-party for matching. It is considered compliant with privacy rules and policies.

Down Converter Device which converts a television or other signal at one frequency to another eg. from a VHF channel to a UHF channel.

Downlink The signal's path from the satellite to the receiving antenna.

Download The transfer of electronic files to the user's computer.

Download-to-Own/DTO Online sale of digital video, where files are downloaded for multiple replays.

Downloading The technology that allows users to store video content on their computer for viewing at a later date. Downloading an entire piece of media makes it more susceptible to illegal duplication.

Downloads A key metric for measuring a podcast’s success.

Downstream Term used widely in interactive TV (iTV terms) to refer to the signal pathway from the service provider (e.g. cable operator) to the home. This will usually have higher bandwidth demands than the upstream return path from the home to the service provider. Opposite of Upstream.

Downtime A period of time that a computer system is not functioning.

DPA Directory Publishers Association

DPS Double Page Spread

DPS Display Double page spread of advertising

Drip Continuous low intensity advertising over an extended period, usually aimed at giving regular reminders to viewers.

Drive time The morning and afternoon hours of radio broadcasting - "morning drive" is generally agreed as being 0600-1000am, "afternoon drive" as 1500-1900pm.

DRM Digital Rights Management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices.

DRM (Digital rights management) Sum of technologies employed by rights owners/content providers for authorising access and limiting use of content transmitted over a digital network in accordance with the copyright terms. DRM applies primarily to IPTV content. One of the key aims is to prevent unauthorised duplication of content and transmission to other parties via file sharing or portable storage items such as CDs.

DRM/Digital Rights Management Allows publishers to control access to, and facilitate payment for, their content.

Drop To publish an episode online. “The season finale drops tomorrow.”

Drop-down menu On-screen text menu offered by interactive digital TV channels that viewers can call up with their remote control handsets.

Dropped Call The ending of a mobile telephone call due to a weak signal.

DRTV Direct Response Television: a TV commercial which carries a response mechanism, usually a telephone number or website address.

DRTV (Direct response TV) TV infomercials or advertising spots that permit or encourage consumers to directly respond to the advertiser.

DS-CAPI Abbreviation of Double Screen-CAPI. Mainly used for readership research, this is a CAPI interview using a second computer screen for the respondent showing publications' mastheads and other visual aids.

DSAT Digital Satellite

DSL Abbreviation of Digital Subscriber Line. A high-speed Internet connection that is "always on".

DSL (Digital subscriber line) Generic term for technologies that permit the delivery of broadband services over voice telephony networks.

DSLAM (Digital subscriber line access multiplexer) Network device, usually located in the local exchange, for aggregating the data connections of multiple end-users. The DSLAM connects the customer's DSL with the core high-speed Internet backbone network.

DSP A demand-side platform allows buyers to purchase digital advertising (including CTV), programmatically across multiple ad exchanges. When using a DSP, marketers can automate real-time buying and leverage the programmatic platform to optimize and enable audience targeting.

DSP (Digital signal processing) Study of the digital representation of signals, often involving the digitisation of analogue signals, which may subsequently be de-converted into analogue form for onscreen display. DSP may take place in a number of different domains, such as time, space and frequency. Applications include digital image processing and video compression.

DST Abbreviation of Digital Satellite Television.

DST (Daylight saving time) Daylight saving time (also summer time in British English) is the convention of advancing clocks so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less. Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in autumn. Modern DST was first proposed in 1907 by William Willett. Many countries have used it since then; details vary by location and change occasionally.

DST (Digital satellite television) Digital services transmitted via satellite and received directly by means of individual satellite dishes or via SMATV connections.

DTG Digital TV Group

DTH (Direct To Home) Satellite transmissions received into the home via a dish aerial, as distinct from satellite transmissions relayed via a cable system.

DTH (Direct-to-Home) Direct-To-Home satellite transmission and reception - TV transmissions via satellite intended for "direct-to-home" reception in households equipped with parabolic dish antenna.

DTH / DBS Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception. A designation broader than DBS would be direct-to-home signals, or DTH. This has initially distinguished the transmissions directly intended for home viewers from cable television distribution services that sometimes carried on the same satellite. The term DTH predates DBS and is often used in reference to services carried by lower power satellites which required larger dishes (1.7m diameter or greater) for reception.

DTMB (Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast) Digital terrestrial television standard applied in China. Also called DMB-T.

DTR A digital Television recorder; a set top box that incorporates a hard disk recording system, enabling the user to pause, rewind and record live TV programmes. The user is also able to set the DTR to record every episode in a series, and if the DTR has two receivers, watch one programme whilst they record another. Also known as DVRs (digital video recorders) or PVRs (personal video recorders).

DTR (Digital television recorder) Another term for PVR and DVR. (see also PVR (Personal video recorder))

DTT Digital Terrestrial Television

DTT (Digital terrestrial) Digital TV broadcasted terrestrially over the air for reception by television (DTT) aerial antennae.

DTV DTV is the shortened Digital TV. With digital TV, sound and pictures from the broadcaster are converted into 'bits' of information and sent through an aerial, satellite, telephone line or cable. This digital signal is then turned back into sound and pictures by a digital box or a digital television set. This offers new ways to experience TV: extra TV channels as standard, Improved picture quality and new features, Including on-screen TV listings, true widescreen picture and red-button interactivity

DTV (Digital television) General term for TV services that are transmitted into the home digitally, where they are received either by a set-top box decoder, which converts them into analogue form for display on a conventional analogue TV set, or by an integrated digital TV receiver.

Dual Cable A way of doubling channel size by installing two cables together each carrying different signals.

Dual Mono two different channels of audio signal, recorded with two microphones spaced apart (or with a single microphone with two elements)

Dual Panel Household A dual panel household is a home which reports simultaneously on two separate area panels. All dual panel homes must be dual station homes in ITV overlap areas. Not all dual station homes are so used because it is necessary to preserve the sampling representation on each regional panel.

Duplication The estimated number of people who read either two or more given publications or tow or more given issues of the same title or who see two or more TV/radio spots.

Duration (Outdoor) The amount of time that a panel of a given size can, from its moment of visibility, stay within the audience's vision. Combined with Department Of Transport urban speed figures it is possible to calculate likely duration of time which the panel can be viewed. Combined with the above visibility values so an overall measure of impact can be obtained.

DVB Abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting.

DVB (Digital video broadcasting) Collection of open standards for digital television maintained by the DVB Project. The family of DVB standards includes DVB-S, DVB-S2 DVB-SH and DVB-SMATV (satellite); DVB (cable); DVB-T, DVB-T2 (terrestrial); DVB-H (mobile handsets); as well as additional microwave distribution standards. DVB standards also cover conditional access (DVB-CA), software platforms for consumer video applications (DVB-MHP) and return channels. Each standard may exist in SD or HD formats. The DVB-T2 standard is not yet finalised, but awaits adoption and approval by ETSI, probably during 2008.

DVB project Industrial consortium of 270 members for the development and promotion of DVB standards, as published by the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) comprising the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (ECES) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). DVB standards are widely used inside and outside Europe.

DVB-H DVB-H is a set of technologies and standards for delivering broadcast TV channels over the terrestrial network to mobile devices.

DVD Abbreviation of Digital Versatile Disk.

DVD (Digital versatile/video disc) Disc containing audiovisual materials in video for display on the TV screen by means of a DVD player.

DVD (Digital video disc) player Device for playing, but not recording digital video discs.

DVDR DVD Recorder

DVDR player Device for playing and recording digital video discs.

DVR Digital Video Recorder (also see DTR)

DVR (Digital video recorder) Devices that allow TV viewers to timeshift, pause and fast forward (until real time) using hard-drive video storage. (see also PVR (Personal video recorder))

Dwell time The length of time an individual is in a Screen Exposure Zone which is a location from which the screen is visible and, if appropriate, audible. (Source: MRC Digital Place-Based Audience Measurement Standards Version 1)

Dwelling Unit An enclosed, private living area that has a separate entrance from a public area - e.g. a flat.

Dynamic (audio) Audio that has wide variations between the quiet bits and the loud bits. See “Microdynamics” and “Macrodynamics.”

Dynamic (microphone) A microphone that uses soundwaves to wiggle a magnet to create small electrical signals. Because they are less sensitive to the higher frequencies, many podcasters use them to make recordings with less background noise. This may also be because they are quieter overall, and force a speaker to use better mic technique. See “Condenser.”

Dynamic Ad Delivery Based upon predetermined criteria, Dynamic Ad Delivery is the process by which a mobile advertisement is delivered, via a campaign management platform, to a publisher’s mobile content.

Dynamic Ads A type of ad personalized based on the person who sees it. These ads are used to improve ad performance because they’re tailored to the viewer.

Dynamic Ads (VAST) This term is used when a VAST tag has been set up to contain 2 or more creatives within. It's then up to the advertiser to assign what creatives should be played at a given time.

Dynamic advertising targeting Dynamically targeted adverts which deliver different adverts to different groups of readers while they are reading the same page. New software which is being adopted in 1997 by some of the main UK new media publishers is opening up the direct marketing potential of the web. There are two types of dynamic targeting. The first, and simplest, allows adverts to be targeted from information which is carried to the website by the users browser. Typically this will include the type of browser and computer, a generalised statement of what country they are reading from (unfortunately this is based on domain names and often fails) and information about which websites they have visited. The second method is only open to sites like the Telegraphs Electronic Telegraph which have a registered base of users for which they know certain characteristics. In theory an advert could be targeted based on any of the data captured in the questionnaire such as age, gender, occupation.

Dynamic content The process of building responsive creative to deliver contextually-relevant messages driven by the smart use of data across DOOH.

Dynamic Labels The system used to display content information for broadcasts via digital radio.

Dynamic variable Variable that is unstable in terms of a rapidly changing population profile. This is most likely to apply to equipment and other TV related variables (e.g. multiset homes, cable, DTH reception, digital reception, Internet access, etc.) during periods of strong growth.

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the internet.

E-mail Multimedia correspondence over the Internet.

E-mail advertising Banner ads, links or advertisers sponsorships that appear in e-mail marketing communications.

E-zine Web sites that contain magazine type content on the Internet.

EACA (Europe) European Association of Communications Agencies (formerly European Association of Advertising Agencies): European trade association for advertising agencies/media specialists.

EB (End break) (see also Between programme break)

EBU (Europe) European Broadcasting Union: International professional and trade association of national television and public radio service broadcasters in 52 countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and 45 associate members in 28 countries from other regions.

Eccentricity Otherwise known as distance from curbside.

Econometrics The branch of economics concerned with the use of mathematical methods (especially statistics) in describing economic systems.

ECPM Effective CPM

EDGE (Enhanced data rates for GSM evolution) or EGPRS (Enhanced GPRS) Digital mobile phone technology that allows for increased data transmission rate and improved data transmission reliability. It is generally classified as a 2.75G network technology. EDGE has been introduced into GSM networks around the world since 2003, initially in North America.

EDI Entertainment Data International

Edit 1) To help a subordinate producer make a better piece, typically on shows with a journalistic background. 2) To assemble an audio piece. This can mean simply cutting down for time, or weaving a narrative from multiple interviews, or anything in between.

Editing in/out Phase of cleaning polled meter records (i.e. "raw" meter statements) during data processing/validation. The rules may either be for editing data in (varies largely for assigning uncovered viewing) or for editing data out (e.g. elimination of unassigned uncovered viewing, deletion or partial deletion of viewing records when concurrent viewing is encountered).

Editions (ABC) An Edition is a version of an issue of the publication that varies from the Main Edition (the UK and/or ROI version that has the largest circulation), usually for reasons of geography, timing or content. How it has varied from the Main Edition will affect how or whether it can be included on the same ABC Certificate eg The English Home or The English Garden.

EEET (Cyprus / Greece) Epitropi Elenhou Ereynon Tileorasis (TV audience research control committee): Joint industry committee of TV stations, advertisers, media buyers and market research companies supervising TAM data supply and surrounding technical issues in Cyprus and Greece.

Effective Cost Per Mile (eCPM) - User Acquisition Based on new user installing and using an app. Calculated as - Installs per 100 ad impressions x cost per install.

Effective Frequency An assumed or estimated optimum frequency of exposure in an advertising campaign.

Effective Reach is the percentage of the target audience who have the opportunity to see (OTS) the desired number of TV spots, or hear radio spots, or see press ads etc.

Effective Reach (Effective Cover) The percentage of the target audience who have the opportunity to see (OTS) the desired number of TV spots (or hear radio spots, or see press ads ),eg . if it is desired that the target audience see between 2 and 8 spots, then the effective reach of the schedule was the percentage with between 2 and 8 OTS.

Effective Sample Size The sample size after reductions due to weighting and design factors have been taken into account.

Effective/equivalent sample size Also termed equivalent, effective sample size denotes the estimated size of the sample based on sample error and after removing the effects of weights and dependencies within the sample caused by clustering (i.e. individuals within the same sample population living in the same household). In practice, measures of effective sample size are usually calculated by examining the effects of panel weights alone. For single audience measures, the effective sample will always be lower than the actual sample on the basis that, the greater the variability of panel weights within the selected sample/sub-sample, the lower the effective sample size. (see also Statistical efficiency value)

Efficiency (see also Cost efficiency)

EGTA (Europe) European Group of Television Advertising: European trade association of airtime sales organisations or departments representing the interests of about 100 TV stations in 26 countries in Europe (and Korea).

EIRP (Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power) Measure of a satellite's signal strength received on the ground.

Electronic diary Diary where respondents record their viewing on a small portable display screen using a light pen.

Electronic lock A system whereby a user has to enter a personal code before a phone can be used.

Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) Abbreviated to EPG. A device that provides an on-screen listing of all programming and content that an interactive television subscriber or digital television viewer has available to them.

Elementary viewing data Same as Disaggregated viewing data - processed viewing data held at the level of individual respondents.

Elevation Vertical angle between an antenna's reception path and the horizontal.

Eligibility Criteria Requirements that respondents must meet to be included in the sample such as income, country of residence, job title, etc.

Eligible address/ respondent Contacted address/respondent that is eligible for selection within the sample.

Email Electronic mail carried on the Net.

Email Address A typical email address will be written as info@mediatel.co.uk with the username first, the @ symbol and then the organisation email address.

Email bounced Those emails sent as part of a mailing distribution which did not have a valid recipient email address and so generated a formal failure message. (ABC Electronic jargon buster definition)

Email Campaign An advertising campaign sent out to a pre-determined list of email addresses. These must now be all opt-in.

Emails Bounced Those emails sent as part of a mailing distribution which did not have a valid recipient email address, and so generated a formal failure message (Non Delivery Notification).

Embedded Format Advertising formats that are displayed in set spaces on a publisher's page. See also banners, skyscrapers, button

Embedded gap Term used in data editing to denote an interval of uncovered viewing sandwiched between two intervals of covered viewing.

Embedded Hyperlink Also known as external link, link, hot text or hypertext. A link from one Web site to another or another part of the current Web site.

Embedded signal Supplementary signal (e.g. unique programme code, teletext code, genre code, etc.) contained in TV channel transmissions, which is not part of the audiovisual images appearing on the TV screen, but may be used by the viewer or other party for other purposes. TAM data suppliers may use it for channel or programme identification purposes.

EML Abbreviation of Extended Media List.

Emoticons Emoticon symbols are used to indicate mood in an electronic mode of communication eg: email or instant messenger. :-)

EMRO (Europe) European Media Research Organisations: International group of experts in national media audience measurement (mainly representatives of market research companies engaged in media research or members of industry committees overseeing media research).

Encoding The conversion of an analogue signal to a digital format.

Encryption The process by which data is only made readable by the receiver.

Enforced (panel) turnover Homes dropped from a panel on the initiative of the data supplier. The principal categories of enforced turnover are (a) turnover in order to preserve/improve panel balance, (b) turnover to reduce panel age as a precaution against creeping panel bias and/or panel fatigue (with some TAM systems setting a maximum length of service), or (c) turnover due to faulty compliance with panel viewing instructions.

Engagement The qualitative aspect of the use of media, print and electronic media in general and individual publications, channels and programmes in particular, describing the relationship of users to each medium.

Enhanced TV Television programming supplemented with extra datacast materials and/or coverage options in order to enhance its appeal to viewers (e.g. drop-down menu displays giving details of accommodation and sightseeing opportunities at a holiday destination described in a travel programme).

Entry package Minimum basic package of channels and services to which subscribers to analogue or digital pay TV services must sign up.

Enumeration survey Survey aimed at providing a population count of households/ household size. Enumeration surveys may be conducted on their own, independently of any other survey (as in USA) or as the initial phase of an establishment or other survey phases, where they are used in order to (a) update population estimates and (b) provide a sampling frame of addresses for designating the establishment survey sample.

Envelope In a DAW, this is the line you use to control automation.

Environment Normally 'Editorial Environment': the character of the publication, the surrounding programmes, editorial style of the publication, etc

EPC (Average Earnings Per One Hundred Clicks) A relative rating that illustrates the ability to convert clicks into commissions. It is calculated by taking commissions earned (or commissions paid) divided by the total number of clicks times 100.

EPG (Electronic programme guide) Also called IPG (Interactive programme guide) or ESG (Electronic service guide). The EPG is an on-screen listings guide of TV programming and other on-demand content and services which users may navigate by means of their television remote control handsets or other devices. The information contained in the EPG is broadcast metadata received and read by applications middleware in a set-top box. EPG’s may offer a wide-range of functions, such as browsing, genre or channel search, marking items for recording on a PVR hard disc, parental locks and so on.

EPG Advertisments ‘EPG hosted ads’ are display advertising formats which sit within the platforms Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). Although situated in a frerquently visited location, the executions on EPGs are pretty much limited to simple graphics. The two most popular implementations which feature most notably on Virgin Media's TV service are (1) EPG Banners and (2) Quarter Screen Windows.

EPG Banner Ads Used extensively on the internet, banner ads in EPGs currently dominate other formats. However, when compared to their online counterparts, EPG banners are not as advanced in terms of functionality, interactivity, graphical property or the metrics they offer. They are, for now, integrated into the EPG and not dynamically served. Interactivity is typically limited to ‘press red’ in a static image or a series of static images of a relatively low resolution.

EPM Earnings per thousand

EPS Encapsulated Postscript: a DSC-conforming PostScript document with additional restrictions intended to make EPS files usable as a graphics file format. In other words, EPS files are more-or-less self-contained, reasonably predictable PostScript documents that describe an image or drawing, that can be placed within another PostScript document.

Equal Impacts (TV) A strategy for regional allocation giving equal numbers of TVRs to all regions giving equal numbers of TVR's to all regions.

Equipment/TV-related variable Household variables designating the type of reception, number and type of TV sets and other audiovisual equipment in the home (e.g. ownership of VCR's, DVD's, video games consoles, PC's etc.). They may also be related to viewing habits (e.g. claimed weight or claimed balance of viewing).

ERHP Abbreviation for Early Right Hand Page, an advertisement position in a publication regarded by many advertisers as more effective than later or left hand positions. It is therefore often (though not always) sold at a premium. 'Early' is generally recognised to signify 'in the front half of the publication'.

ES (Establishment survey) Large-scale survey for collecting establishment, demographic and other household data. The ES provides the basis for deriving population profile estimates and determining target profiles for selected panel control variables (unless taken from other external sources). The ES samples are also generally used as a source of addresses for panel recruitment.

EST Electronic sell-through. Online sale of digital content.

Establishment Survey A survey conducted by BARB to determine the number and broad characteristics of homes and individuals in total, and able to receive ITV or Channel 4 within the range of a given television station's transmitter.

Ethernet Generic term for wide range of computer-based technologies underpinning communications between devices over local area networks (LANs). Originally devised for communication between computers over a cable co-axial network, it has developed into a complex technology that underpins the vast majority of local computer networks. Ethernet stations communicate by sending data in small packets that carry information about the address and source of the packet. Deployed globally, the Ethernet defines a set of wiring and signal standards for the physical communications, as well as two means of network access and common address formats. (see also LAN (Local area network))

Eurocrypt Smart card scrambling system used with many Mac transmissions.

Eutelsat The equivalent association of Intelsat for the post and telecommunications ministries (PTTs) of the West European nations.

Event Timer Programmable timer built into a receiver to switch on and change channels for unattended video recording.

Event trigger Information included in a transmission stream that indicates the start and end points of a programme, commercial or promo.

Event types: Classifications of broadcast types found in the TV environment. They can be major, like commercial and non-commercial, or detailed like spot, sponsor, announcement or programme.

Excess viewing Measured daily individual viewing that exceeds TAM system threshold criteria of extreme length (e.g. 20+ hours). Many TAM systems employ excess viewing as a quality control criteria during data validation.

Exclusive reach Individuals who, during the period of analysis, have watched only one channel for at least one minute.

Exit interview Interview conducted with home leaving the panel, usually for future panel management purposes.

Expandable banner/skyscraper Fixed online advertising placements that expand over the page in the response to user action eg: mouseover. See also Rich Media.

Expandable Banners A standard banner ad (468 pixels x 60 pixels) which can expand in height after a user clicks on it or after a user moves their cursor over the banner.

Expansion factor (see also Weight factor)

Export AGB Nielsen Media Research's TV Events system module used to save the monitoring data in a format required by external applications such as analysis software and third party database systems.

Exposed - store conversation rate Rate at which exposed audience visited the store per impression served.

Exposure A person's physical contact with an advertising medium or message. In the case of television, exposure to an advertising spot is treated as equal to the measured audience for that spot.

Exposure (Advertisement) Actual exposure of the advertisement to the member of the target audience. The conversion of an Opportunity-To-See into an impact.

Exposure Value A value given to a medium to allow for those with a specific chance of seeing the advertisement e.g. 'present in room during commercial break' or 'opening the spread of the publication in which the advertisement appears'.

Extended hours Extended hours is where digital channels have longer transmission hours than their analogue counterpart (or have different programming due to, say, broadcasting rights).

Extensible Hypertag Markup Language (XHTML) aka WAP 2.0 The language used to create most mobile internet sites.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) Language used by many internet applications for exchanging information.

Extension option Extra period (typically one or two years) that a TAM contract may run beyond its initial expiry date at the discretion of the contracting party.

Exterion Media (Now 'Global') Exterion Media were an outdoor advertising company specialising in transport media including Docklands Light Railway, London Underground, national buses, trams and rail. Now merged with Global

Extranet An extended Intranet that is available to authorised selected users (such as clients) in remote locations.

Eyeballs Word used to describe the number of people that see a Website.

FabFilter A company that makes high-end plugins.

Face An individual advertising image. One face may make up part of a scrolling billboard, or series of images on a digital frame.

Facebook Global social networking website.

FAME (Film Audience Measurement & Evaluation) Previously titled CAVIAR, FAME (launched in 2007) is the cinema industry research currency that is designed to understand behaviours and attitudes towards cinema. FAME is an improved online survey providing in-depth insight into film viewing across cinema, DVD, online and new emerging formats. The research also provides further insight into behaviour at the cinema which can be cross analysed with a number of different brands and product categories.

FAST Europe The Future of European Advertising Stakeholders (www.fasteurope.org) is a broad-based industry group made out of all key constituencies of the European digital advertising market.

Favorites A facility built into browsers which allows users to store the address of their favourite pages on the web.

FCC (Federal Communications Commission) US agency that regulates US communications services, including cable television, at federal level.

FDDI (Fibre distributed digital interface) Standard for data transmission in a local area network (LAN) based on the use of optical fibre to transmit data at a rate of 100 Mb/s. FDDI technology is being made redundant by the Ethernet.

Feed A digital document that only contains links to other content. In common podcasting parlance, this is your published episodes. See “RSS.”

Fibre optic to the curb Variant of FTTH where fibre optic cabling extends to the street, but conventional copper wiring is used for entry into the home. (see also FTTH (Fibre to the home))

Fibre optics Thin glass or plastic cabling that is used to transmit data at high-speed, for example audio and video signals to TV sets.

Fiction Podcast A modern day radio play, but with a different name. Some people differentiate between “audio drama” and “fiction podcast,”.

Field strength survey A survey which is conducted by TV stations for measuring the transmission power of their broadcasts.

Fieldwork The act of interviewing or checking; the actual gathering of the basic information for the survey. Also the period across which the information was gathered. The actual gathering of the basic information for the survey. Also the period across which the information was gathered.

Fieldwork control A procedure for checking the quality of data collection and ensuring that the survey procedures are being adhered to.

Fieldwork period Interval over which fieldwork is being carried out.

File Header A file segment that describes the format and type of data that is contained in a file.

File-sharing Making files available as downloads over the Internet or other smaller networks. The term originally applied to client-server downloads, whereby PC users (clients) could access and download content from web sites (servers). Today, the term is used to describe peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges or networks, by which files are stored on user PCs rather than on central servers, allowing files to be downloaded from multiple PCs. Users wanting to join P2P networks must download and install file-sharing software. Some organisations have adopted the P2P file-sharing model as a way of reducing demand on (and cost to) central host servers. P2P file-sharing has raised major concerns over piracy amongst rights holders, particularly music labels due to the ease of sharing small music files.

Fill Rate Fill rate is the percentage of ad requests that get filled by the ad networks you’re working with. It’s calculated by dividing the number of ad impressions an app actually serves, by the number of times an app requested an ad from a network. App developers also look at which network can deliver the highest fill rates - since these are the networks which can fill a high percentage of app requests. A higher ad network fill rate means app developers are able to generate more ad revenue

Film 1) Film comes in the form of a "negative" or a "positive". 2) On one side will be the photosensitive coating known as "emulsion". This is expressed as "emulsion side up" or "emulsion side down" 3) The image will be "right reading" one way around, the inverted reverse image being "wrong reading".

Film Packages Buying Route Individual film titles may be chosen, enabling effective creative links between commercial and film, or precise targeting around appropriate releases, creating the opportunity to reach niche audiences, while gaining powerful brand association.

Finger-printing Technique of inserting an extra signal code in a source appearing on the TV screen that enables later recognition. The technique is typically used during video timeshift recording of TV channel transmissions for later identification of timeshift video playback.

FIPP International Federation of the Periodical Press is a global trade association, whose purpose is to improve all aspects of the media content industry through the sharing of knowledge, mutual co-operation, and strategic partnerships

Firewall A software package which typically restricts access for users to certain parts of a computer network. Web publishers use firewalls as a security device to stop users from being able to change web pages or access sensitive parts of an organisation's computer system.

Firewall Software Provides security for a computer or local network by preventing unauthorised access. It sits as a barrier between the web and your computer in order to prevent hacking, viruses or unapproved data transfer.

First run Or Premier; a term used for a programme that is broadcast for the first time in television.

First-Party Data Data that a company has collected directly, i.e. a retailer’s list of loyalty members.

First-Price Auction When a buyer pays exactly what they bid. There is an exception to this rule when the buyer is bidding against a deal.

Five Download The download to own/rent service operated by UK terrestrial broadcaster Five. User's download the Five Download library manager, which protects the downloaded content, and can then purchase single episodes of the listed series, or purchase an entire season.

Fixed position Specification by the advertiser/media buyer of the commercial break (or even position within the commercial break in some markets) in which an advertising spot is to appear.

Fixed potentials Apply to demographic groups used in the weighting matrix.

Flash is a set of multimedia technologies developed and distributed by Adobe Systems and earlier by Macrmedia.

Flash Impression The total number of requests made for pages holding Flash-based content by Users of that site in the period being measured.

Flat Bed Letterpress design in which the type rests on a flat surface while a roller inks the surface and presses the paper to it.

Flat screen TV TV sets, lacking the conventional cathode ray tube, that can be hung on the wall like pictures.

Flat-Plate Antenna Flat (usually square) antenna used instead of a dish. Operates by adding together the signal from an array of collectors.

Flexographic Relief printing using flexible rubber or plastic plates.

Flight Dates (campaign bursts) A single campaign can have multiple flights. For linear radio this is equivalent to a campaign having bursts or not. Each flight or burst may be driven by different things but e.g using dates: A 4 week campaign may have 2 flights/bursts. The 1st flight/burst runs for 2 weeks and the 2nd flight/burst runs for the final 2 weeks of the campaign.

Flighting The scheduling of advertising for a period of time, followed by a hiatus, then another "flight" of advertising.

FLO (Frequency of local oscillation) Frequency emitted by tuner in TV set, which permits Direct frequency measurement (DFM).

Floating ad (Online) Ads that appear within the main browser window on top of the Web page’s normal content.

Floating Point An audio format which allows the loudest value to fluctuate, and therefore never clips. Common types are 32-bit float and, believe it or not, mp3.

FM (Frequency modulation) The transmission of audiovisual signals in which the frequency of a transmitting wave is modulated as a function of its intensity.

FM (Press) Abbreviation for Facing Matter, a press advertisement position which faces editorial text ('matter'), regarded by many advertisers as more effective than positions which face other advertisements. It is therefore often (though not always) sold at a premium.

FM (Radio) Frequency Modulation. The waveband on which most 'contemporary hit' stations broadcast, and the waveband on which the vast majority of licences are now awarded. Also known as VHF.

FMS Demographic acronym used for female main shoppers

Focus Group A qualitative research method consisting of an informal discussion of a given topic by a selection of respondents under the guidance of a skilled moderator.

Foley Recording custom sound effects. In film, it strictly refers to a technique of recording sound effects in time to the picture. Audio producers use the term pretty loosely.

Footprint The earth coverage area of a transmission from a satellite. The strength of the signal weakens away from the centre and can be compensated for by using a larger receiving dish.

Forced turnover Refers to the process which stipulates a maximum period of time that a home can be on the panel. (see also Enforced (panel) turnover)

Foreign TV channel Any TV channel that is either an overspill channel (e.g. cross-border terrestrial or satellite channel) targeted at viewers in a different country from the country of reception, or is targeted at an international audience regardless of the location from which it is broadcast.

Format Shifting Copying of content from one form of storage to another (for example, from a CD to an MP3 Player).

Formula Model A type of mathematical model used to evaluate media schedules.

Fragmentation (Audience) When broad television audiences break into smaller segments due to multiple viewing choices and niche programming that targets particular demographics.

Frame The physical housing of an advertising display. A frame may show a single static image, a series of images with a scrolling mechanism, or it may have a digital screen capable of exhibiting many individual adverts. Each separate advertising image is called a FACE.

Frames Web pages which have been split into two or more screens which can be scrolled separately.

Franchise The right to install and operate a cable system in a given area, awarded by the Cable Authority and the DTI.

Free copies (ABC) Includes Controlled Free circulation, non- controlled free circulation and monitored free distribution (see individual options for definitions)

Free Retail Voucher Copies (ABC) Single copies obtained free from a retailer by a consumer by means of a voucher

Free streaming Watched video on free streaming sites such as Youtube, Daily Motion or Vimeo

Free To Air The term used to describe any TV or radio channels that are broadcast over an unencrypted signal.

Free-to-view Television channels or services for which viewers do not have to pay a subscription or other fee in order to receive them.

FreeSat British digital satellite television platform developed by the BBC and ITV plc.

Freesheet A local newspaper which is distributed free-of-charge, usually weekly.

Freeview Freeview is a Digital TV platform service that allows viewing of digital TV channels via your TV aerial and a Freeview set-top box.

Freeware Computer software that can be downloaded from the Internet or distributed by other means to users that has no charge for usage.

Freeze frame Pause display of a single (frozen) frame of video.

Frequency The number of times the target audience has an opportunity to see/hear the campaign expressed over a period of time.

Frequency Capping The restriction (capping) of the number of times a specific listener is served a particular ad.

Frequency discount A rate discount given to an advertiser who purchases a specific schedule within a specific period of time, e.g., six ads within one year.

Frequency distribution Distribution showing the percentage of the target audience population who have viewed a schedule of advertising spots (or sequence of programmes) at each level of frequency.

Frequency Distribution groups. The percentage of the sample in each of a number of discrete groups. The total will add to 100%

Frequency Of Insertion The number of times the advertisement appears.

Frequency Of Reading Number of issues of a publication seen or looked at - e.g. 'On average the respondent reads or looks at the publication "almost always" (3 out of 4 issues)'.

Frequency Weights Response functions attempt to identify a relationship between the number of Opportunities To See insertions in a schedule and the resulting effectiveness of the advertising. To do this, values - I.e. Weights - are put on the different numbers of opportunities to see insertions in the schedule; hence response functions are also known as Frequency Weights.

FRIPI Abbreviation of First Reading in Publication Interval.

Frugging Fund raising under the guise of research.

FRY Abbreviation of First Reading Yesterday.

FSS Fixed Service Satellite. A term used for satellite in a fixed orbital position providing telecommunications services.

FSS Band Portion of the Ku-band (see cable & satellite) frequencies intended for business use but now the main satellite TV band.

FTA (Free-to-air) Broadcast television channels that are free at the point of consumption. This category includes publicly funded channels (e.g. financed by the licence fee) and channels that are financed by advertising only or by a mixture of public funding and advertising revenues. It excludes any form of subscription or pay-per-view TV.

FtF (Face-to-face) interview Methodology of data collection by means of a questionnaire, which an interviewer administers face-to-face with the survey respondent.

FTP File Transfer protocol: used to transfer data from one computer to another over the Internet, or through a network. FTP is a commonly used protocol for exchanging files over any network that supports the TCP/IP protocol (such as the Internet or an intranet). There are two computers involved in an FTP transfer: a server and a client.

FTP (File transfer protocol) Commonly used protocol for exchanging files from one computer to another over the Internet.

FTTH (Fibre to the home) Wired broadband communications technology in which the entire network to the home is constructed out of fibre optic cable. Benefiting from a significant decline in material prices, FTTH is emerging as a viable two-way residential communications technology in several countries, including Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, Italy and the Nordic countries.

Full Screen means the ad unit is the only visible asset running on the screen.

Fusion Statistical technique of combining data of two or more surveys.

Fusion/Data fusion Fusion/Data fusion is the process of matching two or more surveys, for example, a survey on television usage and another on product usage. This is done at the individual respondent level to create a single, unified database. From a business perspective, fusion is a way of making the best use of existing marketing information. It is a cost efficient way of getting the most out of existing databases to improve decision making. It is mainly used as a planning tool by agencies or as a sales tool for media owners. Although fusion has only been used in the US for a relatively short time, most European countries use fusion in media research and have done so since the late 1980s.

Gabor Granger The Gabor Granger method is a method to determine the price for a new product or service.

Gain What is used to amplify/reduce an audio signal. Measured in decibels. Some DAWs call it volume. See "Levels.”

Gain Staging The order in which you apply multiple processes. EQ before a compressor can sound very different than EQ after a compressor. Important for music production, not as important for podcast production.

Games console A small electronic device for playing computerized video games.

Garage Band Music composition software that comes for free on a mac.

Gatefold Multi-page press advertisement, typically on heavier weight paper than the rest of the publication, which consists of pages which are joined together, normally at left and/or right edges (though vertical gatefolds are not unheard-of) and open out to produce a large format which is much wider than it is deep.

GB (Gigabyte) Unit of computer hard disc storage capacity equal to one billion (1,073,741,824) bytes; not to be confused with Gb (gigabit), which relates to data transfer speeds. C94 (see also Bit rate)

Gb / Gbit (Gigabit) A unit of information or computer storage.

GDPR European laws were introduced to ensure that consumer data privacy was made more of a priority.

GEAR (Europe) Group of European Audience Researchers; Association of audience research professionals within public service broadcasting organisations belonging to the EBU.

General Packet Radio System GPRS refers to the technology that allows a mobile phone user to have a permanent connection to the Internet.

Generalist channel General entertainment TV channel without specific thematic content.

Geo-Targeting The practice of showing an ad to an individual based on a number of geographic targeting parameters, such as MSA, DMA, City and Zip Code, Longitude/Latitude (Gathered from IP and/or GPS), etc.

Geodemographics A census-based classification system used in media and product target marketing. Geo-demographic classifiers such as A.C.O.R.N., Mosaic and Super Profiles (amongst others) cross-tabulate household census data with data on the consumption of goods and services. Using techniques such as cluster analysis, they are able to produce multi-segmented analyses of consumption of these products and services. Such analyses are considerably more detailed than most other targeting systems and are often used in direct marketing programmes, the siting of store outlets, poster campaigns, etc.

Geographical Analysis (ABC) The Geographical Analysis is an optional breakout of the circulation into geographical locations

Geographical IP Analysis The percentages by country established for a given metric such as Unique Users.

Geostationary Orbit Orbit used by TV satellite at a height of 22,250 miles, in which satellites make an orbit in 24 hours, remaining fixed relative to the earth's surface.

GGTAM (Global guidelines for television audience measurement) International guidelines sponsored and published by the EBU in collaboration with the Audience Research Methods (ARM) Group comprising representatives from nine international trade associations or groups of professionals: ARF (USA); Canadian ARF; EAAA (now EACA); EGTA; EMRO; ESOMAR; GEAR; PETR; WFA.

GHI or GHR Guaranteed Home Impressions or Guaranteed Home Ratings packages are selections of TV spots offered to advertisers on the basis that the seller of the airtime guarantees that the predicted audience level will be delivered.

Ghost The name given to a shadowy or weak TV picture image.

GIF The simplest graphical format for ads to be show in.

Global Outdoor With an extensive and diverse portfolio, Global is a leader in outdoor advertising across the UK and Europe.

GNU Linux A Unix-like computer operating system.

Gold standard Industry declared correct audience values, most often used in connection with viewer ratings. The object of laying down "gold standards" is to prevent disputes between buyers and sellers of commercial airtime over the correct audience figures that have arisen on account of them using different software yielding different estimates of viewing.

Google Verb denoting use of the Google search engine to find information on the Internet.

Google Assistant Google Assistant is an artificial intelligence–powered virtual assistant developed by Google that is primarily available on mobile and smart home devices

Google Play Music Google Play Music is a music and podcast streaming service and online music locker operated by Google.

Google TV/Chromecast Chromecast is a device that is plugged into a TV's HDMI port, powered by a USB cable. Using a smartphone or computer as a remote control, Chromecast can be used to access video content from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, the Google Play Store etc.

GPRS General Packet Radio Service is a method of transferring data between a mobile device to a central server.

GPRS (General packet radio service) Mobile telephony technology for GSM mobile networks that adds packet-switching protocols, shorter set-up times for ISP connections and offers the possibility to charge by volume of data sent rather than connect time. In addition to its use for MMS, SMS, WAP access services, GPRS can also be employed for Internet web access and e-mail services.

GPS Global Positioning Systems is a fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System using a constellation of satellites that transmit precise microwave signals.

GPS Tracking Method of tracking poster audiences using Global Positioning Systems.

Graphic Banners A graphic mobile ad represented by a banner featuring an image. Similar to a web banner but with lower size constraints (See Banner).

Gravure Recesses on a cylinder are filled with ink and the surplus is removed with a blade. The paper contacts the cylinder and "lifts" the ink from the recesses.

Green Button Green Button ‘Bookable' advertising, available on Sky plaform, is a service which allows viewers to easily watch and access extended - or ‘long form' - advertising.

Green Marketing This is commercial marketing that uses an environmental theme to promote products, services, or corporate public images. While this can be rooted in generating genuine positive action, there can be a risk of greenwashing if claims aren’t backed up by real evidence (see below). Sustainable marketing is a similar concept to green marketing, but focused on being both environmentally and socially sustainable.

Greenwashing Also referred to as ‘green sheen’, greenwashing is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which PR and marketing are used to persuade the public that an organisation’s products, aims and policies are environmentally friendly when they’re not making a genuine impact or as big an impact as claimed.

Gross Audience The gross audience represents the total number of people who watch a programme at all I.e. reach

Gross Coverage The un-duplicated sum of OTS

Gross Impacts The gross number of opportunities to see an advertisement

Gross impressions (see also Impact)

Gross OTS The un-duplicated sum of OTS

Gross panel size Total sample of panel households/individuals, regardless of whether or not they contribute to the reporting samples.

Gross Rating Points (GRPs) Gross Rating Points (GRPs) is a metric that measures the impact of a given ad campaign.

Grossing up factor (see also Weight factor)

Group In radio this term refers to when spots are booked across a number of stations together as a single unit. Each station in the group has an identical spot plan. A group might include all stations in a brand, stations in a specific region or stations with a similar target audience.

Group Discussion A qualitative research method consisting of an informal discussion of a given topic by a selection of respondents under the guidance of a skilled moderator.

Grouped Titles Technique The technique allows much larger numbers of titles to be included in the survey than with traditional research methods.

GRP Gross Rating Point is a metric for measuring the value of a spot according to the size of its audience.

GRP (Gross rating point) Unit of audience volume, which is based on the percentage of the target audience population that has viewed a transmission across a unit interval (usually minute by minute audience, but some TAM systems base their GRP estimates on the second by second audience). For example, a GRP of 10 implies an audience size that is equal to 10% of the audience being measured. Meanwhile the total GRP delivery of a schedule of advertising spots is equal to the sum of commercial GRPs/ratings across all the spots contained in the schedule. GRP totals or averages may be estimated for a wide range of different time periods, programme or commercial selections. For purposes of calculating commercial GRPs and making comparisons, commercial GRPs for each advertising spot are typically adjusted to a standard 30 second advertising spot interval.

GSM Abbreviation of Global System for Mobile Communications.

GSM (Global system for mobile communications) Most widely used 2G mobile telephony standard in the world that offers key benefits of high digital voice quality and low cost text messaging alternative to making calls. GSM interface: Interface between a meter and digital GSM phone connection.

Guard time In the absence of event triggers indicating the start and end times of TV programmes, timeshift recording devices may be configured to start recording some time prior to the scheduled start and to continue for some time after the scheduled end in case of delays/overruns. The intervals in which the devices are programmed to record before and after the scheduled transmission constitutes the guard time.

Guest Person not belonging to the household and in any case not part of the designated panel member set, who watches for a certain period of time a TV-set in a panel members home.

Guest Someone who appears on your podcast infrequently, probably only once. Usually only applies to a studio setting. See “Subject.”

Guest viewing Guest viewing is measured by asking the visitors in a panel home to register their presence ( like panel members) by using a special guest button on the hand-set . Because the research company doesn't know anything about them, they are also asked to give basic demographics (sex and age).

Guest viewing button(s) Button(s) on a remote control handset for registering guest viewing.

GUI (Graphical user interface) A particular case of user interface to interact with a computer which employs graphical images in addition to text to represent the information / actions available to the user.

Gutter In press media, that part of a printed page which is closest to the spine of a publication, outside the normal area of 'live matter'. Advertisements will sometimes be 'bled into the gutter', meaning that their printed area will extend into the gutter (to ensure the contiguity of two sides of a double page spread, for instance).

Half Page Display Vertical or horizontal half page of advertising.

Half tone A method of reproducing a black and black photograph or illustration by representing various shades of grey as a series of black and black dots.

Hammocking Maximising the audience to a weak programme by scheduling it between two strong programmes.

Handling Noise Undesired sounds cause by the recordist touching or moving the microphone.

Hands Free A devise that enables a mobile phone to be used in a car without the user holding the phone.

Hard Floor The minimum price that a publisher is willing to accept for its audio inventory. If a buyer bids less than the hard floor, the buy is automatically rejected.

Hardware Physical devices that digital content can be downloaded to, eg televison, computer, set top box, disc players, mobile devices etc.

HD High definition/Hi-Def. A set of standards to deliver broadcast, internet, or optical disc allowing significantly better resolutions, typicaly at a minimum standard of resolution of 1280x720 to a 'full HD' standard of 1920x1080p.

HD see HDTV

HD (High definition) (see also HDTV (High definition television))

HD Ready Term used to describe TV sets that are capable of displaying HDTV images. Most importantly, the HD Ready label provides no guarantee that a TV set will actually be able to watch HD programmes; only that it can do so provided that it is also equipped with the necessary tuner for receiving HD images in the format in which they are being transmitted. In the case of digital HD transmissions that means either the viewer must own an iDTV set with the appropriate tuner, or acquire a set-top box that can convert the HD images for display on the viewer’s HD Ready screen.

HD-DVD High density optical disc format for domestic use. Developed by Toshiba as a rival to the Blu-Ray Disc, now obsolete.

HDCP (High-bandwidth digital content protection) This is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to protect digital audio and video content as it travels across DisplayPort, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Gigabit Video Interface (GVIF), or Unified Display Interface (UDI) connections. The specification is proprietary, and implementing HDCP requires a license.

HDMI A compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data

HDMI (High-definition multimedia interface) This is a compact audio/video connector interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. It represents a digital alternative to consumer analog standards such as Radio Frequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, and VGA. HDMI connects digital audio/video sources such as set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players, personal computers, video game consoles, and AV receivers to compatible digital audio devices, video monitors, and digital televisions (DTV).

HDTV High definition television. The 1,125-, 1,080- and 1,035-line interlace and 720 and 1,080-line progressive formats in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Officially a format is high definition if it has at least twice the horizontal and vertical resolution of the standard signal being used.

HDTV (High definition television) Television broadcasting systems with notably higher resolution than conventional standard definition television (SDTV) systems. In order to achieve higher resolution HD broadcasts, a much greater bandwidth capacity is required, which has been facilitated by the development of digital compression technologies. The term is also relative. Three main factors define HDTV broadcast systems: (1) Vertical display resolution (mostly today 720 or 1080 lines, versus 525 in the American NTSC SD format, or 625 for the European PAL and SECAM formats); (2) Scanning system (progressive or interlaced); (3) Number of frames transmitted per second (from 24 to 60 Hz today, depending on the system). The actual quality of HD broadcast will depend on several factors, such as how well operators follow the technical specifications. The superior quality of HD over SD signal quality also becomes steadily more noticeable with larger screen sizes.

Head of Household The most senior member of a household. The precise definition can vary from survey to survey.

Headend The central point on earth for the reception, origination and processing for cable transmission of signals meant for cablevision distribution.

Header Protocol control information located at the beginning of a protocol data unit.

Headroom How many decibels you have until your signal starts clipping, especially while recording.

Heat-set Drying of ink on paper using heat.

Heavy Listener People who watch above-average amounts of TV or listen to the above-average amounts of radio are often referred to as Heavy Viewers or Heavy Listeners.

Heavy User People who buy, use or consume above-average quantities of given products or services.

Heavy Viewer People who watch above average amounts of TV.

HFC (Hybrid fibre-coaxial) A wired network combining fibre-optic with coaxial cable. HFC is the most commonly found wiring format of cable television systems, where the main trunk cables and larger feeds consist of high capacity fibre optic wires, whilst the local feeds to the home are coaxial.

HH Commonly used abbreviation for Household or Home, the two terms being equivalent.

Hiatus A period of non-activity - the period between advertising flights.

High Definition TV High Definition Television (HDTV) is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems.

High Pass Filter An audio filter that cuts out any frequency below a specified point (and lets the higher frequencies pass through.) In addition to being used in a DAW, it’s often included in microphones and audio recorders and can help prevent plosives and wind noise.

Hindenburg A DAW that’s specifically designed for documentary radio/podcasting, and not music production.

Hit A single file on a page downloaded by a visitor to a website. A request for an HTML page with three graphic images will result in four hits for the log: one for the HTML file and one for each of the graphic image files. While a hit is a meaningful measure of how much traffic a server handles, it can be a misleading indicator of how many pages are being looked at.

Hologram A three-dimensional photograph or illustration, created with an optical process that uses lasers.

Home Media Server A networked storage device in the home used to store music, video and picture files for distribution to hardware attatched to a home network. Also known as Digital Media Server or Home Hub.

Home Page The first place you arrive at when visiting the web. It is possible to establish any WWW address as a default home page within your web browser so that you will always start your travels from this point.

Home Shopping Home shopping refers to any purchasing made from home.

Homes Connected The total number of households that have been connected to a cable TV network.

Homes Passed Homes that could easily and inexpensively be connected to a cable network because the feeder cable is nearby.

Horn Antenna using an enlarged feedhorn and no reflector.

Hot spotting The ability to add hyperlinks to objects in a video that enable viewers to tag a product or service. Hot spotting can be used as a direct response mechanic in internet video.

Hours of Transmission Amount of time a television station broadcasts for. The total for a day/week may vary by region.

Hours of Viewing The amount of television watched by a particular audience category. Usually expressed as an average - for example average daily hours viewed in January. Hours of viewing may be expressed in hours and minutes, or in hours and fractions of hours - so 1.25 could mean 1 hour 25 minutes, or 1 and a quarter hours.

Household A group of people who live together and whose food and other household expenses are managed as one unit.

Household Penetration Portion of total households reached within a geographical area by a periodical (newspaper, magazine). Computed by dividing circulation by the number of households in that area.

Housewife The member of the household (male or female) who is solely or mainly responsible for the household duties. There is always one housewife per household.

Housewife/ housekeeper / Household shopper Widely employed demographic classification that specifies the person in panel household claiming primary responsibility for the household’s grocery shopping. Precise definitions vary. For example, some systems specify one and only one housewife/housekeeper per household, who may be a man or woman. Others may specify that the housewife/housekeeper has to be a woman, and so on.

Hover ad (Online) Pop-up ads that do not scroll with the page, but appear to hover above it, as the page moves underneath.

HSDPA (High speed downlink packet access) Advanced 3G mobile telephony protocol enabling UMTS-based 3G networks to achieve higher transmission rates as compared with the standard W-CDMA protocol.

HTML HyperText Mark-Up Language, the language used to write a world wide web document.

HTML (Hyper text markup language) Predominant programming language for combining text with images that enables the creation of web pages, mostly for delivery via HTTP servers or e-mails.

HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol, used extensively by World Wide Web. Another of the many Internet Protocols.

HTTP (Hypertext transfer protocol) Communications protocol for the transfer of information on intranets and the World Wide Web, whose function is to transfer information from a web site server for display on in the user's web browser.

HTTPS Hyper Text Transfer Protocol with Secure Sockets Layer, which is used for safe Internet browsing.

Hulu Hulu is a website offering ad-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, Fox, ABC, and many other networks and studios. Attempted launch in the UK abandoned in April 2010 after conversations with broadcasters collapsed.

Hurdle Question Also threshold or general filter. The non time-related filter question screening certain information as in or out at the beginning of an interview.

HUT (Homes using TV) Term mainly used in the US that refers to the percentage of homes using (tuned in to) TV at a particular time.

HVB Secondary headend used at a remote part of a large cable system and connected to the headend by a supertrunk. Operates as a new start.

Hybrid (television) services Television services that combine signals from more than one delivery mode: invariably satellite or terrestrial broadcast reception plus broadband DSL delivery of on-demand, Internet and other services.

Hybrid Set Top Box A single set top box that will access Digital TV and download on-demand progamming.

Hypercardioid A microphone pick-up pattern that is most sensitive to sounds directly in front of the microphone, even more so than a supercardioid.

HyperText HyperText Markup Language (see HTML)

i-TRAC AGB Nielsen Media Research's expanding suite of tools available for the management, optimisation and control of operational resources and assets specific to the Television Audience Measurement (TAM) environment. The tools presently include the management of assets and deployment and scheduling of field resources.

IAA International Advertising Association. Connects advertising associations from all over the world. Acts as an industry educator and knowledge transfer facilitator.

IAB (UK) The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the trade association for online and mobile advertising. It promotes growth and best practice for advertisers, agencies and media owners.

IAB (USA) Interactive Advertising Bureau: Industry association in the USA representing more than 375 companies that are actively engaged in and support interactive advertising. The IAB has taken a leading role in publishing standards of online advertising and measurement practice.

IBA Independent Broadcasting Authority - Body controlling commercial broadcasting until January 1991. New body: ITC

IBC Inside Back Cover - placement for advertising within a publication

iBurst Also termed HC-SDMA (High Capacity Spatial Division Multiple Access), iBurst is a wireless broadband technology that optimises band width use with the help of smart antennas.

Ident A short 'sponsor identification' film shown at the beginning and end of a section of a TV programme, used to credit the sponsor with sponsorship of the programme. For radio this is. the Add in: For radio this is the audio file reference. It is also referred to as a clock number audio file reference. It is also referred to as a clock number

IDTV An Integrated Digital Television (IDTV or iDTV) set is a television set with a built in digital tuner, which does away with the need for a set top box for converting those signals for reception on a television.

iDTV (Integrated digital TV) TV sets with in-built converters that can receive and display digital TV channels transmitted in the clear without the need for set-top boxes.

IEEE (Institute of Electronics and Electronic Engineers) World’s largest international non-profit professional organisation, comprising 360,000 members in about 175 countries and responsible for developing and certifying international standards.

IF (Intermediate Frequency) Signal in cable between LNB and receiver. Also receiver's tuning frequency. Standard is 950-1,750MHz. The IF Shifter is device in LNB cable to enable reception of frequency bands not intended for the LNB.

IFC Inside Front Cover - placement for advertising within a publication

Illumination Lighting a poster.

iLok A proprietary method to regulate/license software.

ILR Independent Local Radio. Generic term for commercial radio stations. term referring to the commercial radio stations, controlled by the ITC.

IM Instant Messaging

IM (Instant messaging) Real-time instant text communications between two or more users via a network, such as the Internet.

Image Ad An image on a mobile internet site with an active link that can be clicked on by the subscriber. Once clicked the user is redirected to a new page, another mobile internet site or other destination where an offer resides.

Image Resolution The number of pixels in an image.

iMP Abbreviation of Interactive Media Player (developed by the BBC).

Impact Unit measure of commercial audience delivery, with one impact being equal to one person's viewing of one 30 second advertising spot. Impacts also referred to as gross impressions.

Impact delivery Sum of impacts across a schedule of advertising spots. Impact delivery is most commonly used as a measure of the total commercial audience delivered by a TV channel.

Impact weights Weights applied to advertising spots of different lengths in order to adjust them to the standard 30 second length. Impacts may be weighted by (a) duration (e.g. impact delivery of a 15 second advertising spot treated as equivalent to 50% of its value for a 30 second advertising spot) or (b) ratecard prices (e.g. impact delivery of a 10 second spot with a ratecard price that is 50% of a 30 second advertising spot, being treated as equivalent to 50% of its value for a 30 second advertising spot).

Impacts The impacts achieved by a campaign are the total number of times that campaign is heard. Calculated by a campaign's reach in thousands x OTH.

Impression (see also Ad impression (Internet))

Impressions Once misleadingly interchangeable with either impacts or OTS, but now falling into disuse except in buying or selling TV airtime, as in 'guaranteed home impressions' (GHI).

Impressions (Online) Impressions are the new currency for buying advertising banner space on the web. Put simply an impression is achieved when something is seen by a user. These files could be adverts or whole pages of an online publication. Typically publishers talk of a site having a number of page impressions per week / month. Other webjargon for page impressions includes page views.

Impulse Pay Per View Also known as IPPV. A pay-per-view facility that allows subscribers to purchase programmes without the need to order it in advance.

IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000) Global standard adopted by the ITU for third generation (3G) wireless communications.

In directory sample Installed base of panel households equipped with meters less homes that are out of production for long periods and have been classified as off directory. The in directory sample may include some out of production homes that are under observation (e.g. newly installed run-in homes or homes with technical problems that are under repair), being polled but not produced in the daily reporting sample.

In Home Viewing Where the TV audience is restricted to people who are watching TV in a private house.

In production sample Meter panel households that are available for polling and inclusion in the net daily reporting samples.

In Skin is the name of the company which developed online TV ad format. InSkin™ wraps itself fully around the content delivering high impact for the advertiser without interrupting the content itself.

In vision teletext Teletext superimposed on the normal broadcast picture (as with subtitles for hard of hearing).

In-tab sample (see also Net daily reporting sample (in-tab sample))

Incentive A gift to the respondent for participating in a research project.

Incremental Reach This refers to finding incremental audiences, either unique audiences reached via CTV/ OTT campaigns in addition to the audience reached by linear TV campaigns, or additional audiences reached across specific streaming publishers. Incremental reach is usually achieved by expanding the media plan to include other inventory sources not included in the original campaign.

Independent station A commercial TV station serving a regional/local market that is independently owned, although it may be affiliated with a network.

Index The index measures the efficiency of a particular time period/programme/commercial break in reaching a certain sub-category audience.

Individual Brand Reach (IBR) Individual Brand Reach (IBR) is the individual brand/sub-brand/related brand included within the Total Brand Reach (TBR) estimate.

Individual viewing statements Converted meter records (raw data) after data processing (i.e. after editing, validation and assignment of weights) into summary statements of individual viewing over time. Each statement contains information concerning (a) Start and end time of the viewing session; (b) identification of signal source and TV set being viewed; (c) identity of viewer; (d) coded demographic and other information about the individual's identity; (e) the individual's daily weight. Processed individual viewing statements constitute the basic components of disaggregated viewing data.

Infomercial An advertorial that contains a lot of information.

Informant Also interviewee, respondent. The person providing the information to the interviewer/researcher.

Information Superhighway Term used to describe on-line services such as the Internet and Interactive TV.

Inline A browser that allows certain media or file formats to be directly supported so eliminating the need of a helper function.

Insertion Order A printed order to run an ad campaign, including details such as start and end dates, the CPM, the total cost, the name of the site the ads will run on, which advertiser the ads refer to etc.

Inserts An insert is a separately prepared printed piece inserted into a publication. These can be loose, bound or gummed in. Acceptable paper specifications, weight and size may be given. Prices are given per thousand inserts, or as a fixed charge for the full circulation run for the magazine.

Instagram Instagram is an American photo and video-sharing social networking service owned by Facebook, Inc

Installation date The date when a recently recruited meter panel household is installed with one or more meters for measuring TV viewing.

Installed base (panel homes) Gross panel sample comprising all TV homes equipped with meters (setmeters or peoplemeters), including some off directory homes, which are out of production for long periods.

Instant Messaging Sending messages and chatting with friends or colleagues in real-time when you are both online via a special application.

Integrated Digital Television see IDTV

Integrated Loudness The average loudness across a given timeframe, most commonly an entire song or episode. Most streaming services use a program’s integrated loudness to set/adjust the playback level of a song/episode.

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) Highspeed dial-up connections to the internet over normal phone lines.

Intelligent agents Software tools that help Internet users locate information/services, making recommendations based on the user’s profile, which is continually refined over time.

Intelsat The inter-governmental association of the post and telecommunications ministries (PTTs) of 109 Western nations responsible for sponsoring a network of communications satellites.

Intensity (Of Reading) Degree of thoroughness with which a publication is read. Can be estimated via Page Traffic or picture scale illustrating the proportion claimed to have been read. The latter has, in the past, been used experimentally in the NRS, but is no longer in use.

Interactive Two-way communications between homes and the headend. This facility opens up the possibility for such services as home banking, home security and home shopping.

Interactive Advert is most commonly used to describe advertising content that sits behind the red button on digital TV platforms.

Interactive Advertising All forms of online, wireless and interactive television advertising, including banners, sponsorships, email, keyword searches, referrals, slotting fees, classified ads and interactive television commercials. Interactive ads have an overlay that prompts the viewer to 'press red' for additional information, a sample etc.

Interactive cable A cable system with two-way communications that allows the cable TV viewer to respond (interact) to what is being telecast via a remote control handset, which transmits his/her messages directly to the cable operator.

Interactive television A combination of television with interactive content and enhancements. Interactive television provides better, richer entertainment and information, blending traditional TV-watching with the interactivity of a personal computer. Programming can include richer graphics, one-click access to Web sites through TV Crossover Links, electronic mail and chats, and online commerce through a back channel

Interactive TV Impression A request made for a site's Interactive TV content by Users of that site in the period being measured.

Interconnect Two or more different cable systems which are linked together to air locally sourced programming or commercials simultaneously. A "hard" or "true" interconnect is linked by cable or microwave. A "soft" interconnect is a group of systems with an agreement to insert commercials into programmes or time periods.

Interface Any piece of hardware that connects to your computer, but most commonly refers to hardware that allows you to record/output audio.

Interface The software that allows a user to operate an application.

Interlaced In TV, interlaced scanning is a method for displaying video by ‘painting’ each line of the frame alternatively upon the screen. Progessive scanning is a method of displaying video by ‘painting’ each line of the frame in sequence.

Interlaced scanning (see also Progressive scanning)

Interlocking variables (weights) Variables employed in (cell-matrix) combinations for weighting survey data (e.g. Age x Sex x Region).

International Roaming The ability to use a mobile phone outside its home country.

Internet A global network of computer networks which contains a huge variety of information entered by users. Users gain access to the internet via their computer and modem. Information is in the form of 'pages' or 'sites' which have their own individual address or URL. Users usually type these addresses into their browser to gain access to sites.

Internet backbone Refers to the main 'trunk' connections of the Internet. It is made up of a large collection of interconnected commercial, government, academic and other high-capacity data routes and routers that carry data across the countries, continents and oceans of the world.

Internet Protocol Television Internet Protocol Television, or IPTV, uses a two-way digital broadcast signal that is sent through a switched telephone or cable network by way of a broadband connection, along with a set top box programmed with software that can handle viewer requests to access media sources. A television is connected to the set top box that handles the task of decoding the IP video and converts it into standard television signals.

Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) The use of a broadband connection to stream digital television over the internet to subscribed users.

Internet Relay Chat Also known as IRC. This software allows Internet users worldwide to connect with other users and enables them to chat in real time by typing messages.

Internet Service Provider (ISP) A company which provides users with the means to connect to the internet. Eg: AOL, Tiscali, Yahoo!

Internet Television Television programming that is publicly available over the Internet.

Internet TV Television programmes available on the internet.

Interruptive Formats Online advertising formats that appear on users' screens on top of web content (and sometimes before web page appears) and range from static, one-page splash screens to full-motion animated advertisements. See also overlay, pop-up

Interstitial An ad that loads between web pages without having been requested by the visitor between two content pages. Also known as splash pages and transition ads. See also Rich Media.

Interstitial Ads Which appear between two content pages. Also known as splash pages and transition ads. See also Rich Media.

Interview call-back attempt(s) Maximum number of attempts that an interviewer will make in order to request an interview at a designated household address or telephone number after receiving no answer on previous attempts.

Interviewee selection Method of selecting interviewees using household addresses or telephone numbers.

Intranet A private network inside a company or organisation that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public internet, but that is only for internal use. As the internet has become more popular many of the tools used on the internet are being used in private networks, for example, many companies have web servers that are available only to employees. Note that an intranet may not actually be an internet -- it may simply be a network.

Invalid data capture Collection of meter data in a mode different from the established mode for data processing.

Invalid meter statement Meter statements from devices other than the established ones or statements that do not observe the established formats in other respects (e.g. wrong dates).

Inventory The total number of impressions that a website has to sell over a period of time.

iOS iOS is a mobile operating system developed and distributed by Apple Inc.

IP Internet Protocol. A protocol system responsible for addressing and sending packets of data across the Internet.

IP (Internet protocol) Protocol for sending data over a packet-switching Internet network. It is a network layer protocol contained in a data link layer protocol (e.g. Ethernet) that supplies the communicability between computers, using a unique global addressing system. In contrast to the Ethernet, which also works with unique addresses, IP specifies the final destination. The Ethernet is only concerned with getting the device to the next link in the chain (e.g. wireless router).

IP address All computers on the internet must have a unique address. The address is comparable to a phone number. IP addresses are typically shown in blocks of three numbers. MediaTel's IP address in 193.133.103.1

IP multicast Method of distributing content to multiple destination end user PCs (or TV sets connected to a network delivering IPTV signals).

IPA Institute Of Practitioners in Advertising - The industry body and professional institute of UK advertising agencies, the IPA acts as spokesman for its members, representing them on issues of common concern and speaking on their behalf in negotiations with media bodies, government departments and unions. Secondly, it contributes to the effective operation of member companies through its advisory, training and information services.

IPA Bellwether report The IPA Bellwether Report is researched and published by Markit Economics on behalf of the IPA. It features original data drawn from a panel of around 300 UK marketing professionals and provides a key indicator of the health of the economy.

iPad A tablet computer designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc.

iPlayer see BBC iPlayer

iPod A Portable Media Player (developed by Apple Computer).

IPPV (Impulse pay-per-view) Variant of pay-per-view, which lets consumers order PPV programming directly via their remote control handsets and clicking at the TV screen rather than having to make a separate telephone call.

IPTV Internet protocol television. The distribution of video and TV services via a broadband connection using Internet technology. IPTV is commonly associated with the delivery of on-demand TV, where viewers access programming as and when they want without waiting for broadcast schedules.

IPTV (Internet protocol television) This is a system where a digital TV service is delivered using Internet protocol over a network infrastructure, which may include delivery by a broadband connection. A general definition of IPTV is television content that, instead of being delivered through traditional broadcast and cable formats, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for computer networks. For residential users, IPTV is often provided in conjunction with VOD and may be bundled with Internet services such as Web access and VoIP. The commercial bundling of IPTV, VoIP and Internet access is referred to as "Triple Play" service (adding mobility is called "Quadruple Play"). IPTV is typically supplied by a service provider using a closed network infrastructure. This closed network approach is in competition with the delivery of TV content over the public Internet, called Internet Television. In businesses, IPTV may be used to deliver television content over corporate LANs.

IRD Satellite receiver with a (videocrypt) decoder built in.

ISBA Incorporated Society of British Advertisers - Represents the interests of advertisers on matters political, media and related. Main activities are lobbying for the freedom of commercial communication and offering practical advice and consultations to members on marketing communications.

ISBA Region ISBA define the UK by 13 different regions - Border, Central Scotland, East of England, Lancashire, London, Midlands, North East, Northern Ireland, Northern Scotland, South West, Southern, Wales and West and Yorkshire.

ISDN Integrated services digital network. Allows data to be transmitted at high speed over the public telephone network. ISDN operates from the Basic Rate of 64 kbits/sec to the Primary Rate of 2 Mbps (usually called ISDN-30 as it comprises 30 Basic Rate channels).

ISDN (Integrated services digital network) Telephone network that employs digital switching and transmissions. Compared with analogue networks, which they already replaced in many countries, ISDN systems offer much higher data transmission rates, but lower than the more recently introduced DSL technologies, which have become increasingly popular for fast speed Internet access.

Island Ad A square or rectangular ad embedded in, or surrounded by, the content of a web page.

ISP (Internet Service Provider) Any organisation offering connections to the internet, or part of it. eg AOL, MSN, Orange

Issue Recognition In a readership survey, the measurement of reading by using issues of the publication, stripped issues, front covers, and/or table of contents.

Issue Specific Audience In readership research, the audience to a specific issue of a publication.

Issue Specific Bulk Sales Copies sold in bulk on a one-off or irregular basis usually for onward free distribution to individuals.

ITC HISTORIC: The Independent Television Commission licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003

Itemised Billing The facility to list all call charges and timings on a phone invoice.

ITLG JICRIT's Information Technology Liaison Group

ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Global international telecommunications organisation established to standardise and regulate international radio and telecommunications, including organisation of interconnection arrangements between different countries.

iTunes PC jukebox and store software application that allows users (1) to organise and play music and other media files and (2) to purchase music, video and other content from Apple. The contents stored on iTunes can be transferred and played on iPods.

ITV Interactive television describes any number of efforts to allow viewers to interact with television content as they view. It is sometime called interactive TV, iTV, idTV or ITV (not to be confused with the British Independent Television network).

iTV Interactive television describes any number of efforts to allow viewers to interact with television content as they view. It is sometime called interactive TV, iTV, idTV or ITV (not to be confused with the British Independent Television network).

iTV (Interactive television) Television services that permit viewer interaction. The concept of interactivity can be applied at many different levels. In the field of digital television, it currently refers to services that allow viewers to choose and control extra coverage options or make use of other interactive services directly with their remote control handsets.

ITV and TV Households TV Households are those owning or renting a working television (currently 97% of all UK homes). ITV Households must be able to receive one or more ITV channels.

ITV Hub ITV's catch-up TV service

ITV Region The UK is divided into fourteen geographical areas, served by regional Channel 3 ITV licensees, and the one licensee which provides the national breakfast-time service. Additionally Channel 4/S4C transmit across the network. The country is also divided into BBC editorial regions which slightly differ from the ITV regions

ITVA Independent Television Association - A body formed by commercial television companies to represent their mutual interests.

J-ET JICRIT Electronic Trading. UK Radio industry's online trading system. Developed and managed by MediaTel Group under contract to the Radio Centre and IPA via JICRIT Ltd.

J17 Audio de-emphasis system used on some satellites

Jack Motor and feedback system to drive a motorised multi-satellite antenna.

JAVA Programming language for the Internet created by Sun Microsystems which enables extra interactivity to be built into Web pages. Pundits predict it's the most significant development for the Net since the invention of the Web. http://java.sun.com

JCN J-ET Campaign Number - unique number to identify a radio campaign booked through J-ET, the radio industry's booking and trading system.

JIC Abbreviation of Joint Industry Committee. The JIC model of commissioning and controlling media surveys stands in contrast to the model of conducting media studies as proprietary research.

JIC (Joint industry committee) Form of survey organisation in which a joint industry grouping of TV station, advertiser and media buyer representatives holds a contract with one or more data suppliers for a fixed time period (usually lasting between five and ten years). The functions of the JIC generally include contract specification, supervision of the TAM service, ownership of data copyright and determination of the conditions of data release.

JICIMS HISTORIC: Joint Industry Committee for Internet Measurement Systems , dissolved in 2008 and replaced by UKOM. This joint committee was made up by the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising)

JICNARS Joint Industry Committee for National Readership Surveys. This was replaced by NRS Ltd. in 1992.

JICPOPS In the UK, abbreviation for Joint Industry Committee for Population Statistics.

JICRAR Joint Industry Committee for Radio Audience Research. Replaced by RAJAR in 1993.

JICREG JICREG (Joint industry Currency for Regional Media Research) is the trading currency for local media in Great Britain.

JICRIT Joint Industry Commercial Radio IT Futures Group - An Electronic Accountability and Booking System for the radio industry, a joint venture between the IPA and CRCA.

JICTAR Joint Industry Committee for Television Advertising Research - committee representing advertisers, agencies and programme companies. JICTAR was formed in 1960 to replace TARAC, and has now itself been replaced by BARB.

JICTAR (Malaysia) JIC responsible for TAM data provision in Malaysia.

JICWEBS The Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards – the UK industry body which regulates the evolution of web measurement. Members of this body are drawn from associations that represent the new media, publishing and advertising industries.

JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group. An internet standard for compression algorithms for digitizing still photographic images. JPEG compression ratios may range from 10:1 to 80:1, but this involves a continuous trade-off between image quality and speed of delivery and storage capacity.

Kerning Printing expression referring to the spacing between the letters of a word. Of importance, for instance, in double page spread advertisements in which headlines cross the gutters of the pages on which the ad. is printed.

Key Driver Analysis Key Driver Analysis is a statistical technique used for measuring the impact of underlying factors on the overall view of a product or service.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a key set of performance based criteria used between companies to help define and measure progress to an agreed target.

Keyword A word typed into a search engine in order to find information pertaining to that word. Advertisers pay so that when the keyword is searched for, their ad comes up.

Keyword (Internet search) Word used as a link for finding matching pages with the help of a search engine, most often in connection with web search.

Keyword bucketing Online pay-per-click advertising procedure of grouping all keywords into common categories and writing a specific ad for each keyword bucket.

Keyword marketing The purchase of keywords (or ‘search terms’) by advertisers in search listings. See also PPC.

Keyword Search Revenues Fees advertisers pay to retrieve the hyperlink opportunity to the advertiser's site or to serve an ad related to the user's search.

Keyword Searching On the internet, a search method for a relevant website using a key word.

Kiosk Electronic devices that are installed to be used by general public.

KPI (Key performance indicators) Used in the audit process to measure the performance of the panel against agreed standard measures of performance.

KU-Band Signal frequency range (10.700-18.000GHz) used for most satellite TV in Europe.

LAN Local Area Network - A group of computers connected together, which are at one physical location.

LAN (Local Area Network) A group of computers connected together, which are at one physical location.

Landing Page (Jump Page) The page or view to which a user is directed when they click on an active link embedded in a banner, web page, email or other view. A click through lands the user on a jump page. Sometimes the Landing Page is one stage upstream from what would ordinarily

Large Rectangle Ad A 300 pixel x 250 pixel advert.

Large-screen television techology Collection of different technologies that allows the display of television pictures on large flat screens. Early adopted examples include Plasma display (PDP), Liquid crystal display (LCD) and Digital light processing (DLP). Each of these has presented certain drawbacks and new technologies are being developed that will make the current well-known front runners obsolescent. They include Organic light-emitting diode (OLEP), Surface-conduction electronic-emitter display (SED) and Field emission display (FED).

Last Issue Readership Estimate of the number of people who claimed to read or look at any issue of a publication during its Last Issue Period.

Last Issue/Publication Period Last Issue Period is also known as Last Publication Period.

Last mile The final leg of delivering connectivity from a communications provider to a customer. Usually referred to by the telecommunications and cable television industries, it is typically seen as an expensive challenge because "fanning out" wires and cables is a considerable physical undertaking.

Latency Latency and bandwidth are the two factors that influence the speed of Internet connection.

Lavaliere A tiny microphone, typically pinned onto the shirt of a speaker. Great for getting a mic near a mobile speaker, but at the expense of inferior positioning. Used heavily in film because they can be hidden. Not as common in podcasting.

Lazy viewing Form of uncovered viewing in which no family member registers his/her presence for an entire viewing session when the TV set is on. Many TAM systems employ lazy viewing above set threshold values as a quality control during data validation.

LCD Abbreviation of Liquid Crystal Display. This technology is used in many items such as mobile phones, watches and computers and is used to display information on a screen.

LCD (Liquid crystal display) Thin flat-screen display made up of many pixels, each comprising a molecular crystal layer between two transparent electrodes and two polarising filters. Without the middle layer, light would not pass through the two polarising filters, but is able to do so through rotation as it passes through the crystal layer, with variations being determined by externally applied voltages. The LCD technology has many applications from simple black and white displays on watches and calculators to high-resolution large-screen computer and television displays. (see also Large-screen television technology)

LDO Local Delivery Operator. The type of franchise awarded by the ITC after the cable franchise authorising local delivery cable to MVDS services.

Lead When a visitor registers, signs up for, or downloads something on an advertiser’s site. A lead might also comprise a visitor filling out a form on an advertiser’s site.

Lead Time Usually, period of time before advertisement appears which gives last date for supply of copy material (also known as 'copy date') or by which booking of space or airtime should be actioned ('booking lead time').

Lead-in/Lead-out A programme preceding/following the time period of the programme being analysed.

Leading gap Term used in data editing to denote an interval of uncovered viewing at the beginning of a TV viewing session that is followed by an interval of covered viewing.

Lean back/lean forward Terms use to describe the different modes of engagement that users adopt with media. Television may be regarded as a lean back medium, involving minimum interaction with the viewer, who sits passively and waits to be entertained, while the laptop is a lean forward medium, requiring constant interaction between the user and the materials being displayed on screen.

Leased Access Channels A category of cable channel (particularly in USA) made available by the local operator on a commercial basis rather than as a free community service as will normally be the case with access channels.

Letterpress Printing from images with a raised surface which impress on the paper.

Levels The amount of signal inside your hardware, usually measured with negative numbers. "-12db" means it could be 12 decibels louder without distorting. “Good levels” means the signal is loud enough to be clearly above the noise floor, but not so high it’s distorting. See “Clipping.”

LHP Abbreviation for Left Hand Page.

Licensed software Application software for analysing viewing data for programming/advertising purposes that has been licensed to the data supplier (or other party delivering data to the market) by a separate, independent company.

Licensed user A client organisation subscribing to the TAM viewing data. Fees may be variable depending on the level of access required.

Life cycle or lifestage Lifestyle analysis system based on the concept that people have different aspirations and tastes at different stages of their lives: life cycle groups might include 'Dependent', 'Empty Nesters', 'Pre-family'. There are various proprietary systems which take this general form.

Life stage Household classification based on time of life characteristics of family (e.g. young couple without children, family with young children, retired person/couple with grown-up children who have left home, etc.).

Lifestyle Classification variable based on individual behaviours, such as leisure activities, recreational habits or product purchase/ consumption behaviours.

Lifestyle data (TGI) Since 1984, the TGI has also been collecting information on attitudes and values held by respondents. Some 200 'statements' are currently included. These cover a number of consumer areas (food, drink, health & diet, personal appearances, DIY, travel & holidays, finance, durables, the environment, sponsorship, the media) and more general attitudes to life (luxury and status, self-perception and motivations). The statements require a simple response.

Lifestyle Research The investigation of the impact that people's lifestyles have on their attitudes and behaviour.

Lifestyles Psychographic Groups created with advertisers' needs in mind.

Light Listener/Viewer Opposite to heavy listener/viewer.

Light viewer Person whose average daily viewing levels satisfy TAM system threshold criterion for classifying that person as a "light" viewer.

Lightbox Poster site, most often a 4- or 6-sheet, which is 'back-illuminated'. Posters used in this type of site normally have to be printed on special material, eg vinyl.

Limiter A really fast compressor, especially designed for reducing the level of loud peaks.

Linage Type of classified advertisement in a newspaper, consisting of lines of bold and plain type only, un-'boxed' and with no embellishments such as logos, illustrations, etc.

Line-up The listing of stations carrying a TV programme.

Linear Stations These are stations which fall under the banner of being traditonal radio stations e.g Capital, Smooth

Linear TV Umbrella term for real time television services that transmit programme schedules. Almost all broadcast TV services count as linear TV, the main exception being Near video-on-demand (NVOD) transmissions of pay-per-view programmes over a large number of channel feeds. The alternative non-linear TV covers all on-demand programming, which is available to view at any time the user decides and not constrained by real-time broadcast schedules. The linear versus non-linear TV distinction may also be applied to the nature of viewing, whether it is live (linear) or timeshift (non-linear).

Linear viewing Television service where the viewer has to watch a scheduled TV program at the particular time it’s offered, and on the particular channel it's presented on.

Link A link is a form of advertising on a website, in an email or online newsletter, which, when clicked on, refers the visitor to an advertiser’s website or a specific area within their website.

Linux (see also GNU Linux)

List broker In direct mail campaign planning, an agent who sells lists of sales prospects, classified into groupings.

Listener RAJAR measures a listener as any individual who listens to a station for at least five minutes a week.

Listenergraphic A listenergraphic describes the way an individual consumes radio together with their demographic details.

Listening On the RAJAR scale listening is recorded in terms of 15 minute segments and is defined as at least 5 minutes listening within a particular segment. (Between midnight and 0600 listening is recorded in 30 minute segments.)

Lithographic Ink is applied selectively to printing plate by chemically treating image areas to accept ink and non-image areas to accept water.

Live Viewing of a programme or commercial at the exact time of its broadcast.

Live audience The audience of a commercial, daypart or programme at the time of its actual transmission.

Live banner (online) Dynamically created Internet ad banner, which changes in real time.

Live ratings An innovative system for TAM data delivery, developed by AGB Nielsen Media Research. Provides any time, any place, real-time minute-by-minute audience data for immediate programme evaluation.

Live streaming Multimedia content transmitted over the Internet that begins playing upon the arrival of the first packets and simulates real-time delivery.

Live viewing Viewing of a programme or commercial at the actual time of transmission, it excludes any time-shifted viewing (i.e. watched via video or hard disk recording)

LLU (Local loop unbundling) Regulatory process letting multiple telecommunications operators with different customers assume control from the network owner of the twisted-pair connections running between the local telephone exchange and their customer premises. Under shared LLU, the operator only controls the broadband connection. Under full LLU, the operator controls the telephony connection as well.

LNB (Low Noise Down Block Converter) A device which converts satellite broadcast frequencies ( usually very high frequency ) to a lower frequency. This lower frequency is then fed to a receiver via co-axial cable.

Local authority Country or town authorities; councils.

Local loop In telephony, the physical circuit running between the customer premises and the local telephone exchange.

Local TV TV advertising or programming that reaches only a specific market is considered local. It’s delivered through cable, broadcast or satellite.

Local window The broadcast of local contents overlapping the national contents in a simulcast or shuffle cast station.

Location Based Services (LBS) A range of services that are provided to mobile subscribers based on the geographical location of their handsets within their cellular network.

Location Free TV Sony have launched Location Free which has base station that plugs into your home DVD and PVR/DVR and broadband and then streams the signal to laptops, computers or Sony PSPs via wifi. In addition Sony produce 'a location free television' which is a screen that displays a signal from your main television up to 100ft away.

Locator An advertisement or service through which an advertiser’s bricks and mortar location can be identified based on proximity of the consumer or their preferred location) can be LBS or user defined postal code).

Log Files A record of all the hits a web server has received over a given period of time.

Log proof (see also Commercial and programme logs)

Login The process of identifying yourself on an online system. Generally a two stage process involving the input of your username followed by your password.

Login Name The "username" or name of your account used for identification purposes.

Long Tail The niche strategy of businesses, such as Amazon.com or Netflix, that sell a large number of unique items, each in relatively small quantities. The distribution and inventory costs of these businesses allow them to realize significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers, instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items. The group comprising a large number of "non-hit" items is the demographic called the Long Tail.

Longitudinal Analysis Analysis of two or more sets of data from the same respondents over time.

Longitudinal data analysis Analysis of disaggregated viewing data, that is based on individual viewing records over time. Key output measures are audience reach and frequency, although longitudinal analyses can, like cross-sectional analyses, also supply estimates of ratings, amount of viewing and audience share.

Lookalike Audiences A group of audiences that share similar characteristics to existing audience segments. Lookalike audiences are typically used to increase reach amongst a targeted group of individuals based on specific behaviors and demographics.

Loopthrough Pair of output and input connections on a receiver to allow external equipment to be inserted in the TV signal path.

Loose Inserts Single item loosely inserted between two pages of magazine

Loudness A measurement of how loud audio sounds, as opposed to “levels” which measures how much energy is in the signal.

LoveFilm LoveFilm (official typeset LOVEFiLM) is a British subsidiary of Amazon.com which provides online video rental (rental-by-mail) and resale of DVD-Video, Blu-ray, and video game console Disc, as well as on-demand video streaming over the internet of movies

Low pay TV services that are part of a basic subscription package giving a low average cost per channel.

Lower 3rd ads Lower 3rd advertising is one of the less standard formats deployed around TV content online; you may have noticed something similar on You Tube. They appear a few seconds into the video and user can click on them to expand the ad and/or explore the product being promoted. The user is then redirected to the advertiser’s website or microsite.

LTR (Listen through rate) Represents the percentage of ad plays that were listened to in its entirety.

LTV Lifetime value

LUFs Loudness Units Fullscale. Units used when measuring loudness. See “Decibel.”

Luminance Part of the TV signal carrying the brightness information of the picture.

M-commerce A term referring to mobile commerce which is the ability to conduct monetary transactions via a mobile device, such as a WAP-enabled mobile phone.

Mac Multiplexed Analogue Component. Group of TV broadcast formats devised especially for satellite.

Macro A small program created to simplify a repetitive task. For example a desktop package like Microsoft Excel will record your actions in a file and allow you to replay the instruction over and over again.

Macro Region Area created by the aggregation of one or more ITV areas. A detailed breakdown of BARB-reported macros regions is provided in the BARB Reference Manual

Macrodynamics The difference between the loudest sections and quietest sections, over a longer time period. See “Microdynamics,” “Short Term Loudness,” and “Integrated loudness.”

Magazine Page Exposure Studies Research designed to estimate how often pages in magazines are read and the value to advertisers of that Repeat Reading. See also MPX.

Magician sound designer who noticeably transforms the source material.

Mailing List A discussion group whose messages are distributed by e-mail.

Mailsort Mailsort is Royal Mail unique address coding scheme to allow business customers to automatically direct mail.

Main shopper Widely used demographic classification that specifies the person in the household who is mainly responsible for purchasing household goods. As with housewife/housekeeper, precise definitions vary across different TAM systems.

Mainshoppers Main shopper per household in the survey and it can be either male or female.

Makegood Extra advertising spots in compensation of a scheduling error/alteration by the TV station or failure to deliver an audience guarantee target during the campaign period.

Market Penetration Penetration refers to the proportion-usually expressed as a percentage of the target market or target group reached, hence the term Market Penetration.

Market Share The percentage of hours that a station or channel accounts for within its transmission area.

Market Weight Value given to a section of the population based on actual or probable product consumption/purchase, when assessing media vehicles.

Market Weights Different values put on consistent parts of the Target Market in line with how important each of them is judged to be by (or to) the advertiser.

Marketing Mix Modeling MMM is the analysis of time-series data to estimate the impact of marketing tactics on sales and to forecast in order to optimize future marketing tactics.

Masking When one sound makes another sound inaudible.

Master Antenna Television MATV Systems are networks which involve the installation of a large aerial which is linked to individual households by means of a cable connection. This service is normally provided for apartment blocks or small communities.

Master meter Installed meter that has extra functions of collecting and storing data from other installed meters in the household, which it delivers to the central processing base of the data supplier during polling.

Mastering An often mythologized final step of audio post production. In music production, this refers to the process of taking multiple songs and making them sound good next to each other on an album, typically by adjusting the volume and using gentle EQ. In the podcasting world, it most commonly means adjusting the piece so it hits loudness targets, but there’s no consensus beyond “The last thing I do before rendering the file.” A “mastering plugin” is a bunch of compressors and meters wrapped together, often combined with fancy effects that you are unlikely to use in a podcast.

Mastering The name given to the process of transferring videotape material onto master optical disk that is then used to produce video disks or CD-ROMs.

Masthead Cards A Masterhead card is the reproduction of a publication's "mast head" in the form of a show card which is used as a recall-aid in the interview.

Match Rate A match rate refers to the percentage of users from one file that you can find in another data set. As data onboarding becomes a core part of every marketer’s toolbox, knowing the match rate for your user set is critical for understanding the size of your addressable online audience. For example, let’s say your CRM has three million email addresses; if the match rate is 40%, you can expect your online audience—the number of users you can target—to be around 1.2 million users.

Material Specifications This is the form in which artwork is acceptable from an advertiser. Failure to supply correct artwork may result in an extra charge or the loss of the agency/publishers' discount. This will be different for mono and colour advertisements, and may be different for adverts appearing on covers.

Matter Editorial content of a newspaper or magazine.

MATV (Master antenna television) Mini-cable system connecting multiple homes on a single premise (e.g. apartment block, housing estate) to a central collective antenna for picking up terrestrial over-the-air signals.

MATV OR Master Antennae TV Set A MATV or master antennae TV set is a set receiving a TV signal by wire from a communal aerial on a multi-occupancy building, such as a block of flats.

Maximum to minimum weight ratio The ratio of the individual with the highest weight to the individual with the lowest weight in a survey sample. For proportional samples, the maximum to minimum weight ratio provides an important index of the variability of a sample or its degree of balance. In general, the better the balance, the lower the ratio. For disproportional samples a high weight ratio is mainly derived from the different sampling rates.

Mbps Megabits per second.

Mean Arithmetical average calculated by summing numerical values across a list of items and dividing the sum by the number of items on the list.

Mean weight The average weight of individuals or households within a sample. Most TAM systems are only concerned with individual weights, as viewing is nearly always reported for individuals rather than households.

Measurement As a distinction from attribution, measurement is more numbersbased, aka the tangible results that stem from a campaign (i.e. how many people did an ad reach and how often); attribution is all about outcomes.

Mechanical Data length and width in mm of different ad types/formats

Mechanism Application of printing plates to paper.

Media Brand Print, broadcast and other media, which use various platforms using the same brand name- be it television, online, mobile and/ or print.

Media buyer Agency responsible for purchasing commercial airtime on behalf of advertisers; they also often provide support to the advertisers for planning, optimisation and control of the performances.

Media dependent Media planning/buying specialist dependent on a creative agency with common ownership.

Media Extender A digital media receiver (DMR), also commonly referred to as a media extender, media streamer, or digital media adapter (DMA), is a home entertainment device that can connect to a home network to retrieve digital media files (such as music, pictures, or video) from a personal computer or other networked media server and play them back on a home theater system or TV.

Media Group Term used for a general category of media vehicles, such as popular newspapers, women's weekly magazines, etc.

Media independent Media planning/buying specialist on behalf of creative agencies under separate ownership.

Media Meshing Media meshing is the process of using one of the media, such as a blog or a website, to enhance the experience of another medium, such as a newspaper article or a fictional television program.

Media mix The distribution of time and money allocated among TV, radio, print, Internet and outdoor advertising that makes up the advertising campaign.

Media owner General term for companies or organisations that own TV stations. In TAM research, it is used more broadly to include TV stations, TV airtime sales houses, programming organisations, trade associations or other parties belonging to the television sector.

Media Plan A plan of the advertising campaign which details which advertisements are to be used, using which media, on which dates, at what time of day and the number to be used etc.

Media Player Special computer software which allows the playing of audio or video files.

Media Schedule A plan of the advertising campaign which details which advertisements are to be used, using which media, on which dates, at what time of day and the number to be used etc.

Media schedule/plan A plan for an advertising campaign which specifies details of the selected media, advertising content, dates and timing dates.

Media Streamer A digital media receiver (DMR), also commonly referred to as a media extender, media streamer, or digital media adapter (DMA), is a home entertainment device that can connect to a home network to retrieve digital media files (such as music, pictures, or video) from a personal computer or other networked media server and play them back on a home theater system or TV.

Media unit A unit defined by the DOOH network, used to describe the physical device on which a DOOH ad unit will play. Most often for digital place-based networks, a media unit is a single screen, however in locations where multiple screens are combined to portray content that is larger than one screen, the entirety of the group of screens may be referred to as a single media unit.

Media Vehicle Any advertisement-carrying medium, such as TV, a magazine, poster site, etc. as TV, a magazine, poster site, etc.

Media Weight Value applied to the readership of a publication, to express its worth in terms of any or all of: Reader Traffic, Reproduction, Editorial Environment , Circulation Trends.

Media Weights Different values put on different titles in line with how important each of them is judged to be to the advertiser.

MediaFLO (Media-forward-link-only) One-way mobile TV technology developed by Qualcomm in the US that uses a different frequency from current cellular networks for transmission to portable devices such as cell phones and PDAs.

Médiamétrie (France) Private research company under tripartite ownership operating TRCC in France. It both acts as TAM data supplier and sub-contracts some fieldwork to other parties. Médiamétrie includes non-shareholders in its supervisory committees.

Mega-rear An advertisement site which covers the whole area of the back of a double-deck bus. Normally such advertisements are painted onto the vehicles.

Membership Copies (ABC) A single copy of an official Society publication distributed to a member of that society.

Memory Effects Differences in response levels resulting from the respondent's ability to remember something he or she is asked about- such as reading events, when products were purchased etc.

Memory Prompts When visual aids are used to prompt the respondent's memory.

Meta tags/ descriptions HTML tags that identify the content of a web page for the search engines.

Meta-tags HTML tags that identify the content of a web page for the search engines.

Metadata An additional item of data about the data being transmitted; commonly used to refer to EPG and other information contained in TV signals. (see also SI code (Service information code))

Meter Electronic device mainly used in television research.

Meter (TAM research) Any automatic recording device that monitors the tuning status of the TV set (set on/off, time, duration and channel) to which it is attached.

Meter sensitivity Timelines with which meters can detect changes in set use: typically in the order of one second or less.

Meter time drift Time difference between the meter clock and the central computer clock of the data processing system, as registered during data polling.

MFN (Multi-frequency network) TV transmission network employing multiple frequencies, often to provide different regional network services.

MGE Data Based in Prague. MGE Data is a specialist in geographic information systems and geo- marketing technology data. MGE Data provides the MobiTest GPS meters for Route, and undertakes modelling work for parts of the Route study.

MHP-DVB (Multimedia home platform) Open middleware standard devised by the DVB project for supporting interactive, Java based applications on the TV set. These include EPG navigation, interactive games, betting, home shopping, voting, SMS and e-mails. MHP set-top boxes may also provide return pathways for applications like home shopping and voting that require backchannel communications with the outside world.

Microdynamics The difference between the loudest moments and the quietest moments over a short timeframe, usually referring to transients. This is typically what you’re reducing when using a compressor to help you hit a loudness target, and you can reduce microdynamics without a noticeable change in quality…to a point. See “Macrodynamics,” and “Peaks.”

Microsite A multipage advertising website, typically consisting of 3-5 pages, accessed via clicking through from the original ad.

Mid-market Socio-demographic term primarily applied to people, products, services, campaigns or media which fall into, or have a bias towards, the C1 or C2 social grade grouping.

Mid-Side A type of microphone that can adjust the balance between the sounds in the center and the sounds on the side, even after recording. The same process can be used on material recorded in traditional stereo to allow some adjustments

Middleware Software that connects two applications so allowing data transfer to take place.

MIDI Abbreviation of Musical Instrument Digital Interface. This refers to any interface that is used to connect musical instruments to computers.

Midroll Online video advertising where the advertising commercial plays in a break during the content video play.

MIE (Main income earner) Demographic classification that specifies the person in the household who earns the main income providing for the needs of the household.

Migration Migration is the activity of a mobile phone user transferring their mobile number and occasionally their equipment to another provider.

MIMO (Multiple input and multiple output) Smart/intelligent antenna technology involving the use of multiple antennas at both the transmission and receiver to improve performance, and without requiring additional bandwidth or transmission power.

Mini-pay TV channels, usually offered in small packages, that carry an extra charge on top of basic subscriptions, but cost less than premium TV channels.

Minute attribution Method commonly used in peoplemeter research of assigning each clock minute of measured viewing to a particular service (e.g. Channel X) or group of services (e.g. video or "other" use). Attribution is made with the use of selected algorithms, which may have variable definitions (e.g. attribution based on majority recorded use during the clock minute, or the last recorded use during the clock minute) and time thresholds for assigning use.

Mix (n) How well you did your mixing. A “good” mix lets you hear all the voices easily, without the listener having to adjust the volume.

Mix (v) To combine multiple audio sources into a single finished piece, using volume adjustments, EQ, and other effects.

MMA The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non profit association that strives to stimulate the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action oriented association designed to clear obstacles to market

MMDS (Multichannel multipoint distribution service) A common microwave carrier service operating in the 2GHz to 3GHz band used either to network programming to local distribution points such as hotels or cable headends, or as an alternative or extension to cable systems, for example in sparsely populated rural areas.

MMS HISTORIC: Media Monitoring Services Ltd - owned by AC Nielsen. Evolved into Ad Dynamix.

MMS (Multimedia messaging service) Telephony system standard that permits users to exchange multimedia messages, including images (e.g. photos) and video, and not just confined to short text messages, as with SMS.

MMS (Sweden) Mediamatning I Skandinavien: Private research company under tripartite ownership (mostly media owners) operating TRCC in Sweden. MMS contracts data provision to external data suppliers, but controls the marketing and release of the data to client users.

Mobile browser Web browser designed for a mobile device such as a mobile telephone or PDA.

Mobile Data Services Includes SMS, MMS, WAP, LBS and video.

Mobile Internet Advertising A form of advertising via mobile phones or other wireless devices (excluding laptops). This type of mobile advertising includes mobile web banner ads, mobile internet sponsorship and interstitials (which appear while a requested mobile web page is loading

Mobile Internet Connection Any Internet connection using a mobile phone or other hand held devices such as PDAs.

Mobile TV Television available on mobile smartphone devices, through specific apps or browser streaming.

Mobile video download Download of video content to mobile handsets.

Mobisode A short made for mobile episode of a broadcast TV programme, specially scripted and shot for viewing on a small mobile handset screen.

Mobitest GPS tracking device used by Ipsos MediaCT for measuring out of home audiences in Great Britain.

MOC (Media owner contract) Form of survey organisation in which one or more media owners (i.e. TV stations, including airtime sales houses) holds the main contract with the data supplier that guarantees the production and delivery of TAM data. MOC systems vary appreciably in terms of how far the media owners involve themselves in the supervision of the TAM services or in determining commercial policies for releasing TAM data to other parties.

Mode The most frequently found numerical value in a series of items with associated numerical values.

Modem A device for communicating between computers using telephone lines or cable connections.

Monetize To make money off your show. Typically this means allowing advertisers to place their ads in your episodes.

Monitor Either “a computer screen” or “expensive speaker for audio mixing.”

Monitored Free Distribution Copies distributed on a regular and consistent basis to known distribution points for pick up or receipt by consumers

Mono Audio with a single channel.

Mono Rates Black and white advertisements "displayed" to occupy a part or all of a page as specified by the publisher, rather than set in columns. Examples of sizes are: dps (double page spread), page, half, quarter, eighth, n cm x n cols, scc, (single column centimetre). These rates are ROP.

Monopole Type of poster site which consists of a pole-shaped structure; this type of site often rotates, for added impact.

MOSAIC A proprietary Geodemographic classification system that is available for a number of European countries.

MP3 A computer file format that compresses audio files up to a factor of 12 from a .wav file.

MP3 player A Digital Audio Player (DAP) for organising storing and playing MP3 digital music files

MPEG File format used to compress and transmit video clips online.

MPEG (Motion picture experts group) Working group belonging to the ISO (International Standards Organisation/IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and responsible for the development of the MPEG family of video and audio encoding standards; examples including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-3 (now abandoned) MPEG-4, MPEG-7 and MPEG-21.

MPEG-4 A recent compression standard for audio and video signals adopted in 2000 and developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG). MPEG-4 subsumes and surpasses MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 by adding advance features, including 3 D video images, HD and various forms of interactivity and externally-specified DRM support. Of special importance for IPTV, MPEG-4 promises to create full interoperability over the Internet, dispensing with the need for content providers to encode in multiple formats. Its greatly superior bandwidth efficiency has seen it adopted already by the satellite broadcasters such as DirecTV and the DVB, as well as by licensed digital terrestrial broadcast pay-TV services in France.

MPU Multiple Purpose Units - A square online advert usually found embedded in a web page in a fixed placement. Called 'multiple purpose' as it is a flexible shaped blank 'canvas' in which you can serve flat or more interactive content as desired. See also Rich Media, Universal Advertising Package

MPX Magazine Exposure Studies designed to estimate how often pages in magazines are read and the value to advertisers of that Repeat Reading.

MRC (USA) Media Research Council: multimedia joint industry body, whose functions include auditing and commenting on the quality and accuracy of TAM data.

MRG Media Research Group

MSISDN Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network. The mobile phone number of the participating customer.

MSO Multiple Systems Operator, A cable running more than one system.

MSO (Multiple system operator) Cable operator that operates multiple cable TV systems.

MSO (Multiple Systems Operator) Parent company of cable franchise operating company, eg. Telewest.

Multi -ITV Household To qualify a household must be able to receive more than one ITV station. Those stations do not have to be received on the same television. Thus a multi-ITV household may receive one ITV station on one set and another ITV station on a second TV set. Multi-ITV households are often referred to as dual channel households.

Multi screen A number of screens operating simultaneously

Multi-Channel Home Households that are capable of receiving broadcasts from either cable or satellite channels in addition to terrestrial channels.

Multi-feed Antenna system with two or more LNBs on a fixed dish to view more than one satellite,.

Multi-platform home TV home that can receive extra channels in addition to the locally available free-to-air terrestrial analogue channels via more than one distribution platform.

Multi-Stage Sampling The selection of a nationally representative sample may involve several stages of selection - Local Authorities at the first stage, wards at the second stage and individual addresses at the third stage.

Multi-stage stratification Sample stratification in more than one step (e.g. stratification by region/sub-region followed by stratification by settlement size, etc.). (see also Stratification)

Multicast A network restricted to subscribers so internet TV services have a guaranteed bandwidth

Multicasting Broadcasting of several programmes at the same time on a digital TV channel.

Multichannel A home that is equipped to receive TV channels other than analogue terrestrial or analogue cable, via Digital Satellite, Digital Cable or Digital Terrestrial.

Multichannel TV home TV homes that are equipped to receive extra TV channels in addition to the locally available free-to-air terrestrial analogue channels. The extra TV channels include additional cable and satellite analogue channels as well as extra digital satellite, cable and terrestrial channels and services.

MultiGrabber Digital recorder of the AGB Nielsen Media Research's TV Events system, recording and storing the audio/video database. The Grabber hosts the ASR (Automatic spot recognition) engine. The Grabbers run under the Linux operating system in a non-attended environment. A Grabber can store up to 40 days of full quality digitalised audio/video, or up to 180 days in limited quality.

Multimedia Generic term used to describe applications that can bring together a combination of media such as text, sound, graphics, animation and video.

Multimedia buys The purchase of advertising in more than one medium owned by a media supplier, or by media suppliers who have a cooperative agreement. Multimedia buys can encompass multiple media vehicles within a media form (e.g. several magazines) or different media forms (e.g. magazines and TV).

Multipacks A term used to describe two or more magazines packaged or banded together as a unit.

Multiple Copy Sales Bulk Sales (sometimes referred to as ‘Multiple Copy Sales’) are copies sold in bulk to a third party usually for onward free distribution to individuals

Multiple Copy Subscription Sales (ABC) More than one copy purchased by a known subscriber for a contracted period with the intention to distribute to the same group of, but unknown, individuals over the term of the subscription.

Multiple Occurrances, Exclusion of The omission of multiple transmissions from a Top Programmes listing. For example, over the space of a year, a Top 50 could theoretically consist entirely of Coronation Street if multiple occurrences were not excluded. Exclusion causes only the top rating episode of a programme to appear in the list.

Multiple Purpose Units (MPU) A square online advert usually found embedded in a web page in a fixed placement. Called ‘multiple purpose’ as it is a flexible shaped blank ‘canvas’ in which you can serve flat or more interactive content as desired. See also Rich Media, Universal Adver

Multiplex A multiplex or mux is a group of TV channels that are mixed together (multiplexed) for broadcast over a digital TV channel and separated out again (demultiplexed) by the receiver.

Multiplex (Cinema) Multiplex is defined as a purpose-built complex with 5 or more screens.

Multiplex (Radio) A carrier of digital radio services. Digital development will begin with two national multiplexes - with one for the BBC and one for commercial services. All the national services are guaranteed places on these multiplexes.

Multiplexing Process widely used in digital television broadcasting (but also possible in analogue) of squeezing multiple channels on to a single frequency by means of digital compression technologies. The signals are subsequently demultiplexed at the point of reception (usually by means of a set-top box). Basic multiplexing variants include time-division multiplexing (TDM) and frequency division multiplexing (FDM).

Multiscreen (multi-screen) A number of screens operating simultaneously

Multiset homes Homes with two or more TV sets.

Mux see Multiplex

MVDS. Microwave Video Distribution System. A television distribution service using microwave transmissions (high frequency wireless transmissions).

MVT Multivariate testing

My5 My5 is the brand name of video-on-demand services offered by Channel 5

MySpace Well-known interactive, social networking web site purchased by News Corporation that allows users to build up a network of friends with whom they can exchange all kinds of materials and create their own personalised profiles of favourite film makers, musicians and assorted media celebrities who contribute to MySpace.

NAB (USA) National Association of Broadcasters: National trade association of TV broadcasters in USA.

NABS The charity for the marketing communications industry; a professional support service for everyone involved in advertising, media, marketing, sales, promotion, direct marketing, public relations and graphic design. NABS' helpline, job workshop, welfare support service and general information network help those in need, both in and out of work.

Narrative Non-Fiction A show that tells a true story.

Narrowband An old cable television system with limited channel capacity - usually just four or six channels.

Narrowcast TV transmissions via a wired network (e.g. cable television system, telephone network, etc.).

Narrowcasting Programmes designed for minority or special audiences. The concept has been used in the US to attract advertisers as a cost-effective way of reaching target audiences.

Native Advertising An ad unit that appears as a seamless part of the app's design, matching it's look and feel.

Natural (panel) turnover Panel turnover due to natural causes (i.e. not enforced by the data supplier), of which the principal category is resignation by the panel household; but also moving house or severe technical problems may be causes of natural turnover.

Natural Search Results The 'natural' search results that appear in a separate section (usually the main body of the page) to the paid listings. The results listed here have not been paid for and are ranked by the search engine (using spiders or algorithms according to relevancy to the term searched upon. See also spider, algorithm, SEO

Near Video on Demand A pay per view facility offered by digital television providers where a subscriber can request from a list of videos a movie with staggered start times (usually half to quarter-hour intervals).

Net Audience Net Audience is the estimate of the number of people who will have at least one opportunity to see or hear a programme or channel/station or an insertion in a given schedule or hear a commercial.

Net Coverage The proportion of a target group who have an opportunity to see or hear one or more advertisement, issue or spot.

Net daily reporting sample (in-tab sample) The final sample yielding audience measurement data on a given day after polling and validation: It is equal to the in production sample less households that were not successfully polled and households that were successfully polled, but rejected during validation for technical or behavioural reasons.

Net Impacts The gross number of opportunities to see an advertisement.

Net OTS Opportunities To See the advertisements in a campaign.

Net TV Televisions which have the ability to dial up to the internet. Often, a manufacturer has integrated or offers a special set-top which permits the viewer to connect online over telephone wires.

Net Zero Net zero requires emissions to be reduced to as close to zero as possible, with any residual emissions addressed through removal based measures where total reduction isn’t possible. The UK’s advertising industry is working to be net zero by 2030, led by Ad Net Zero.

Netflix An American provider of on-demand Internet streaming media available to North and South America, the Caribbean, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands.

Netscape A software company who manufacture browsers and server software. Their browser paved the way for the opening up of the Internet to the mass market. Browsers include Netscape 3.0, Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator.

Network A National or regional station or channel offering common programmes through a series of transmitters or a group of stations or channels affiliated with each other for common programming, at certain times of day.

Network Audiences Network audiences are estimates of all BBC and/or all ITV viewing in the UK, or in a specified group of regions or areas.

Network DVR/Network PVR Performance of DVR/PVR functionality by a network client server instead of by a DVR/PVR device in the user's home.

Network overlap Signal overlap of TV stations belonging to the same network.

Network Rail The company which owns and manages the rail infrastructure in Britain. Route sources passenger count data from Network Rail.

Network TV Ratings Network TV ratings are the percentage of the Network universe viewing at the minute, or an average over the minutes of the period specified. The term is also applied to the TV ratings for any transmission that appears simultaneously in more than one ITV area. In that case the base is the unduplicated universe of the areas concerned.

New Media Generic term used to describe the digital publishing and multimedia sector.

News Media Association NMA - Trade association for regional, local and free newspapers. Activities: dealing with working terms and conditions and safe- guarding members' legal and commercial interests. Provides legal advice and training programmes for members.

Newslink Newslink is Independent Radio News IRN networked solus advertising spot adjacent to the news.

Newsworks Newsworks is the marketing body for national newspapers, helping agencies and advertisers get the most out of newsbrands.

NGA (Next generation access) Used in telephony, NGA refers to the application of more advanced technologies that will allow the upgrade of local loops to provide faster broadband data rates. This generally involves laying fibre-optic cable beyond the local telephone exchange, either to a roadside cabinet or directly to an end user’s premise.

NGN (Next generation network) General term for advanced packet-switching computer network architectures that are beginning to emerge, covering voice and data communications, but with the optional use of other functions, such as carrying video signals. NGNs are to use Internet technologies and involve a more defined separation of the transport functions of the network from the services that ride on it.

NICAM Abbreviation of Near Instantaneous Amplitude Companding And Modulation. A system developed in the UK by the BBC used to transmit digital stereo audio as part of an analogue TV signal that is then decoded by Nicam compatible TV sets and video recorders.

Niche Channel A channel aimed at a niche market.

Niche Market A market that is closely defined as a relatively small number of individuals to be targeted.

Nil viewing Processed daily viewing statements without any registered viewing. Nil viewing may refer to (a) household nil viewing, (b) individual nil viewing or (c) nil viewing by TV set. The different types of nil viewing may all be used as quality controls for checking sample compliance with the button-pressing instructions.

NLRA Net Local Radio Areas - Small geographical units representing a combination of radio stations used to calculate a individual station TSA for Rajar. Defined in terms of postcode.

NMS (National media survey) National media survey covering one or more of the main display advertising media (usually at least print media or radio). A number of European countries use NMS’s that employ interview methodology with large samples as an alternative to establishment surveys.

Noise Disruptive electrical signals caused by electrical devices like power lines and radio transmitters.

Noise Figure Measure of the performance (noise contribution) of an LNB.

Noise Floor The background noise in a recording. Typically refers to the noise produced by recording equipment, but can also refer to the roomtone of a space.

Nomogram Chart used to estimate Confidence Limits. A nomogram for one survey should not be used to estimate the confidence limits of other surveys.

Non-Controlled Free Circulation (ABC) Single copies distributed to individuals or organisations.

Non-interlocking variables (weights) Variables employed on their own, independently of other variables in weighting survey data (e.g. Age on its own, Sex on its own, Region on its own).

Non-intrusive meter Meter that can be installed without any interference with the TV set or other equipment to which it is attached.

Non-linear TV Alternative to linear TV. (see also Linear TV)

Non-RAJAR Station A station which is not part of the currently traded RAJAR survey. It might become part of the survey in the future or might have historic data from earlier RAJAR periods.

Non-standard set use Use of TV set for purposes other than viewing conventional live broadcast/narrowcast programming (e.g. channel tuning via VCR, timeshift video recording and playback, pre-recorded video cassette viewing, video games, etc.).

Non-terrestrial TV TV channels that are both distributed to TV homes via satellite or cable satellite. Precise definitions may vary from country to country. In the UK, for example, non-terrestrial TV is often used to refer to all channels, including DTT-only channels, apart from the five national/regional terrestrial analogue services. Elsewhere, there may be a question of whether channels like MTV, which are broadcast via satellite, received by an intermediary station and re-broadcast terrestrially, should be classified as terrestrial or non-terrestrial. It is a matter of deciding which distinction is most useful in the country or market concerned.

Normalise To automatically apply gain to audio, based on its levels. Peak Normalisation will make the loudest moment match a specified target. Loudness Normalization will make the average loudness match a specified target, which in my experience means that the quiet parts will be too quiet and the loud parts will be too loud. Normalized material almost always requires some further adjustment, but it can be a good start.

Northern Ireland TGI Similar information now available for Northern Ireland based on a sample of 1,500 adults.

Notice An easy to understand written description of the information and data collection, storage, maintenance, access, security, disclosure and use policies and practices, as necessary and required of the entity collecting and using the information and data fro

Noting Score Average number of readers who claimed they noted a specific advertisement/type of advertisement/editorial item expressed as a percentage of the total readership. As in 'reading and noting' checks.

Now TV An internet television service owned by BSkyB launched in July 2012. Service is available to watch via computer, various mobile devices, some game consoles and set-top boxes, with a Now TV branded box launched in July 2013.(wikipedia)

NPA HISTORIC: Newspaper Publishers Association - Trade association for Britain's national daily and Sunday newspapers and the Evening Standard. Aims: to promote and protect national press interests. Activities include: promotion of the national press; monitoring and lobbying activities on UK and European legislation affecting the newspaper industry, especially on advertising, copyright, environmental and social areas; promotion of good practice in advertising; and, provision of accreditation services.

NPM (Non-programme minuteage) The number of minutes of non-programme content screened over a specified period.

NPR “National Public Radio.” A national distribution network that provides shows to local Public Radio Stations. A podcasting powerhouse.

NPVR/Network PVR Form of PVR/DVR, where the viewer stores programming on the network server of a service operator (i.e. TV-over-DSL operator) as opposed to a hard disc in the viewer’s PVR/DVR in the home. Although the two forms of PVR may function in the same way, they may invlove significant legal issues with regard to programme licensing/copyright. (see also PVR (Personal video recorder))

NRS HISTORIC: National Readership Survey was established in 1956 for audience research for print and digital advertising trading in Britain. Replaced by PAMCo.

NRS PADD National Readership Survey Print And Digital Data - A fusion of NRS print data and comScore digital data.

NS-SEC Abbreviation of National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification, the Government's classification system.

NSV (Nullsoft streaming video) Media container designed for streaming video content over the Internet. NSV was developed by Nullsoft, the makers of Winamp. The NSV format is another example of streaming video formats, offered by various companies and media players. Windows Media, QuickTime video, RealAudio and RealVideo streams are just a few examples of these.

NTP (Network time protocol) A protocol for synchronising the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. It is designed particularly to resist the effects of variable latency (jitter buffer).

NTSC US technical broadcast standard for analogue TV transmissions named after the National Television Systems Committee.

NTT (ABC) Normal Trade Terms

Number of days polling Number of days allowed for the collection of definitive viewing data. Where more than one day is allowed, data polled on the first day are augmented with data from homes that were not successfully contacted on the first polling day, but were successfully contacted on subsequent polling days (usually a small addition that improves the overall production levels).

NVOD Near video on demand. Rapid access to program material on demand achieved by providing the same program on a number of channels with staggered start times. Many of the hundreds of TV channels soon to be on offer will be made up of NVOD services.

NVOD (Near video on demand) Restricted form of on demand programming, where the programmes made available for selection are broadcast at staggered (e.g. 15 minute) intervals on a group of channels, so that the viewer can choose the most convenient start-time. PPV services offering premium films are a form of NVOD, as the same film is transmitted a large number of times. NVOD services do not necessarily carry a subscription charge.

NZTBC (New Zealand) New Zealand Television Broadcasters Council: An industry organisation representing the non-competitive interests of the free-to-air broadcasters in New Zealand.

OA Abbreviation of Output Area, a geographical unit for which the Government's Census data are made available to users.

OB Outside Broadcast Unit Known as a “production truck”. In the US an OB unit is a truck containing a mobile TV production studio.

Obb (Opening break bumper) / Cbb (Closing break bumper) A term used for a short bumper slide (usually 5 second) placed at the beginning of a commercial break (Obb) or at the end of a commercial break (Cbb).

OBC Outside Back Cover - placement for advertising within a publication

Object Database Also known as ODB. A database that can manage complicated data such as audio and video images.

Occupational Groups Classification of social status, usually based on the occupation of the head of household.

OCR Optical Character Recognition. This allows a scanner to identify characters on a printed page and can save them as a text document.

OCR (Optical character recognition) Computer software designed to translate images (usually captured by a scanner) into either machine editable text or to translate pictures into a standard encoding scheme. Often used in the field of pattern recognition.

OFCOM Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services.

Ofcom (UK) The independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services.

Off air Events/promotion to support a TV programme, which are not broadcast on TV.

Off directory Installed meter panel households that are out of production because they cannot be polled (e.g. cannot be polled due to non-payment of telephone bills, moving house, undergoing house alterations, problems with the modem of the meter, etc.). The precise criteria for placing homes off directory vary across panels.

Off Portal Point of sale/access on the mobile network, but outside of the operator’s “walled garden”/portal/deck, where consumers can access/purchase information and mobile products/content/utilities.

Off-air Normal broadcast TV signals. A term often used to distinguish aerial reception from cable reception.

Off-net Beyond the reach of a specified network. Term has varying meanings depending on the network under consideration. It is commonly used with reference to LLU telephony networks, where off-net customers refer to customers which the network service operator cannot reach directly using its own network, but finds an alternative solution (e.g. CPS (Carrier Pre-Selection)) for delivering its services.

Off-peak Any airtime which is not peak airtime.

Official source(s) of population statistics National sources of population estimates, such as census data (including interim projections of changes in population size and distribution) or personal or household population registers that are used as basic reference sources for arriving at population estimates. The quality of official statistical sources and the degree to which TAM systems borrow from them vary appreciably across different countries.

Offset Type of dish antenna with the focus and feed-horn below the centre of the dish.

OFTEL HISTORIC: The original Office of Telecommunications. The licensing and monitoring body set up by the Telecommunications Act 1984. Has now been replaced by Ofcom.

OMD (Online movie download) Movies that are delivered to the user’s hard disk storage via IPTV downloads.

Omnibus survey Regular or periodic survey containing a variable battery of questions covering a heterogeneous selection of subjects. Such surveys are occasionally used by TAM systems for collecting establishment data.

Omnibus Surveys Quantitative surveys where the questionnaire is shared between clients. Omnibus surveys provide a cost-efficient means of achieving large samples particularly if only a limited number of questions are asked.

Omnidirectional Microphone A microphone pick-up pattern that is equally sensitive to all directions (mostly). Notable for not getting a proximity effect and being less sensitive to wind noise.

On air Events / promotion that aired / broadcasted on TV.

On demand Content as soon as or whenever required.

On Demand Services which can be accessed as required and at a time determined by the consumer, as opposed to a service (such as a TV programme) which is available at a time determined by the broadcaster.

On Portal Point of sale/access within the operator’s “walled garden”/portal/deck, where consumers can access/purchase information and mobile roducts/content/utilities.

On-demand Service A type of telecommunication service in which the communication path is established almost immediately in response to a user request brought about by means of a user-network signalling.

On-demand streaming Service whereby users may receive audio or video content by streaming on-demand via a network, but where the user can select the time and place of reception.

On-line Shopping Purchasing from the Internet usually over a secure server. Also known as e-Commerce.

On-net Within reach of a specified network (see Off-net). On-net customers of a network service operator are customers directly connected with that operator's network. (see also Off-net)

Online Directly controlled by or connected to a computer.

Online advertising General term for advertising on the Internet. The three main forms constitute search, classified and display.

Online HD Is the delivery of High Definition streamed video media. This typically conforms to 720p standards where 720 represents 720 lines of vertical resolution and p stands for progressive scan.

Online Panels Panels of internet users recruited to carry out research studies online.

Online producer Company or organisation responsible for creating/assembling, arranging and editing the text, image, video and audio materials on a Web site.

Online Research A generic term to describe using the Internet as a research tool.

OOA out of area (radio)

OOAA out of analogue area (rajar reporting)

OOH Out Of Home - All types of advertising that reaches the consumer while he or she is outside the home

Opportunities / Avails The number of ad slots that are considered sellable.

Opportunities To See (OTS)/ Hear (OTH) Opportunities To see the advertisements in a campaign. The term "opportunity" recognises that while everyone who reads/ looks at an advertisement could see that advertisement, not everyone does so. In terms of poster, cinema and radio research OTS occurs when a person passes a poster site, when he/she sits in a cinema and when he/she finds him/herself listening to a radio station at a time when a given commercial is transmitted (OTH- opportunity to hear).

Opt In An individual has given a company permission to use his/her data for marketing purposes.

Opt Out An individual has stated that they do not want a company to use his/her data for marketing purposes.

Opt-In A unique SMTP address that has been added to the distribution list as a result of a positive action by the address user.

Opt-In Email Email that contains advertising that users explicitly ask to receive.

Opt-Out Email When a company states that it plans to send advertising to an individual unless that individual asks to be removed from the company's mailing list.

Optical Character Recognition Also known as OCR. This allows a scanner to identify characters on a printed page and can save them as a text document.

Optical Fibre Cable made of glass fibres through which signals are transmitted as pulses of light. Capacity for a very large number of channels can easily be provided. Not yet widely used in cable systems.

Optimisation A computer programme that calculates the "best" media schedule for a given budget, target group and candidate media eg extend reach, boost click throughs. Optimisations should be used with caution.

Optimisation software Campaign planning software that aims at achieving the best spread of commercial airtime across the spot schedule with respect to selected audience objectives.

Order Effects Differences in survey results, caused by the order in which questions have been asked and items have been presented e.g. the order in which publications are listed in a readership survey.

Organic Search Results The 'natural' search results that appear in a separate section (usually the main body of the page) to the paid listings. The results listed here have not been paid for and are ranked by the search engine (using spiders or algorithms) according to relevancy to the term searched upon. See also spider, algorithm, SEO

OS (Own service) Form of survey organisation in which the data supplier operates the TAM service as a private enterprise, holding multiple contracts of varying lengths with individual client subscribers. It is the most common form of TAM data provision, especially outside Europe.

OSCAR Outdoor Site Classification & Audience Research. The old research system for the Outdoor industry. OSCAR has now ceased, being replaced by POSTAR (now Route). The research classified and evaluated outdoor sites by virtue of a number of various criteria.

OTH Opportunity To Hear (or Frequency). Usually quoted as an average campaign will be heard, Impacts divided by Reach.

OTH/OTS Abbreviation of Opportunities To Hear/ Opportunities To See.

Other Viewing Viewing to broadcast channels other than ITV, Ch4/S4C, BBC1, BBC2.

OTS Opportunity to see (hear) an advertisement. . Eg, the issue readership of a magazine would be considered to have had an opportunity to see an advertisement appearing in that particular issue. Normally shown as an average OTS among the audience reached, such as: 80% coverage with an average OTS of 4. Not interchangeable with impact(s), which is a more precise definition of actual advertisement exposure.

OTS (Opportunity to see) A commonly used term in Europe denoting frequency of media exposure. For television it is synonymous with frequency.

OTT (over the top) In the fields of broadcasting and content delivery, over-the-top content, over-the-top, or OTT for short, means on-line streaming of movies. It also refers to delivering related content such as archival TV shows and other content, services, and applications in a video environment. OTT in particular refers to live video delivery through the Internet. Consumers can access OTT content through internet-connected devices such as PCs, laptops, tablets, set top boxes, and gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Out of Home Viewing The TV audience where people are watching anywhere outside a private house, such as in pubs, clubs, offices, and other work places.

Out of production sample Installed meter panel households that are not available for production, because they have been classified as off directory or have been withheld for other reasons (e.g. newly installed run-in homes or homes with technical problems that are being monitored, etc.).

Outcomes Outcomes are the ability to tie TV ads to business performance, proving that TV campaigns drive immediate response and longer-term brand and sales impact.

Outdoor Generic name for external poster advertising.

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