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.

Outdoor Media Centre (OMC) HISTORIC: The Outdoor Media Centre was the trade body for outdoor media owners. Now called Outsmart

Outsert Advertisement sales material which is attached to and encompasses the outer covers of a press publication.

Outsmart A comprehensive resource for anyone using or thinking about Out of Home. Showcasing the latest campaigns. Privode research and insight, demostrating the mediums effectiveness.

Over the Top Over the Top (OTT) are TV services provided via normal internet - with the traffic issues that this entails

Overclaim When respondents claim to own, purchase, fly more frequently, earn more, to have read a publication, have seen an advertisement (and so on) more than they actually do or have done.

Overlap (TV) Normally those areas of the country where 15% or more of homes can and do watch two or more ITV stations, viewing each for at least two hours out of every ten spent watching ITV.

Overlay An ad type that appears over a web page. Overlays usually run for a period of time, and then deactivate themselves. They lead to increased user engagement and interaction.

Overnight viewing data Viewing data delivered the next day. The term is sometimes used in a narrower sense to refer to initial data output covering a restricted selection of key target audiences that is delivered to clients at the earliest opportunity the next day (i.e. during the morning).

Overnights The previous day's viewing is released to the industry at 9.30am the next day (see also VOSDAL)

Overruns Additional copies of a publication or other printed material that are produced in excess of those needed for distribution. Overruns are typically produced to meet additional needs or unexpected demand, or sometimes in the context of compensation.

Oversampling Used to provide larger samples of certain groups of people than representative sampling would give.

Overspill station TV station, which can be received outside its target market or geographic coverage area. The overspill may be national (see Cross-border overspill) or regional/local and likewise broadcast or via cable retransmission. (see also Cross-border overspill)

OWN Literally 'own' circulation figure. The figure provided by publisher, rather than an external auditor like the ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation).

Own software Application software for analysing viewing data for programming/advertising purposes that has been developed by the data supplier or other party delivering data to the market.

OzTAM (Australia) Private company under ownership of three main commercial networks in Australia that operates a MOC TAM data service. Responsible for the management and marketing of the metropolitan database (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth) and the national subscription television database.

P2P (Peer-to-peer) Peer-to-peer/P2P networks are the alternative to central server networks. Instead of all members feeding of a central server that responds to user requests, P2P networks use the connectivity between participants in the network to handle traffic, whereby requests are handled across the total pool of participants, each of whom contributes to the total computing power, storage space and bandwidth of the network. An important advantage is that the capacity of P2P networks increases as they add members. This is in sharp contrast to client-server networks, where additional customers will cause lower transfer speeds. For content distributors, the appeal of P2P networking is that it reduces central overheads. (see also File sharing)

Package Pre-selected list (eg of TV, Publications poster sites). In radio a package is a syndicated feed that generally plays out on a number of radio stations at the same time. Typically the feed is taken from one master station. The stations that form part of a package are not restricted to a specific sales point. In commercial radio, ad breaks that fall within the defined package times are also syndicated which means that the individual radio stations cannot broadcast their own ads. Current packages include The Big Top 40 Show, Newslink, Newslink 1pm, Entertainment News, Network Drive and GTN Total.

Packet Switching The way in which data is transferred on the Internet.

Packet-switching Method of telecommunications aimed at optimising bandwidth efficiency, whereby multiple users share the same transmission channels and only transmit data when they have data to send, as opposed to establishing a dedicated link (Circuit Switched Data (CSD)).

Page (Internet) Document with a unique URL that comprises a set of files, which contain any combination of text, images, video and audio materials.

Page dominance Extent to which a press advertisement fills a page.

Page Impression In online research, the single display of a website, regardless of how often the same user is counted or how long he/she stays with the site.

Page Impressions/Page Views A page impression is a file or combination of files sent to a user as a result of that user's request being received by the server. In effect, one request by a valid user should result in one page impression being counted. So it is the number of times a page is seen by a user.

Page traffic Volume of users who access a given web page, which can be measured either by the number of different users or by the number of click impressions.

Page Traffic (Score) Percentage of readers claiming to have read or looked at anything on a particular page of the publication.

Page View Anytime a webpage loads, a pageview is created. The more pageviews a website has the more impressions it will have an opportunity to sell.

PageRank Patented method employed by the Google search engine for creating a pecking order in terms of likely importance/relevance among search results on the Internet.

Pagination The breakdown of newspaper and Magazine pages by type, eg. full colour, mono etc.

Paid for listings Paid for listings within general search services. This includes all of the non graphical search advertising formats from keywords to direct feeds, local search and pay per call. Search is sold on a pay per click basis where the advertiser pays only when

Paid Inclusion In exchange for a payment, a search engine will guarantee to list/review pages from a website. It is not guaranteed that the pages will rank well for particular queries - this still depends on the search engine's underlying relevancy process.

Paid Listings The search results list in which advertisers pay to be featured according to the PPC model. This list usually appears in a separate section to the organic search results- usually at the top of the page or down the right hand side. See also Organic search results, PPC (Pay Per Click).

Paid multiple copies (ABC) Includes Paid multiple copies (print) and paid multiple copies (see individual options for definitions)

Paid Multiple Copies (Print) (ABC) Copies purchased by a third party from the publisher, delivered and made available for pick up or receipt by consumers

Paid Multiple Copies-Business Sales (Digital Edition) (ABC) A Digital Edition copy that has been purchased by a third-party and viewed by a consumer.

Paid Search See PPC.

Paid single copies (ABC) Includes retail sales and single copy sales (see individual options for definitions)

Paid Subscriptions (ABC) Includes single copy subscription sales, all you can read sales, requested sponsored subscription sales, multiple copy subscription sales (see individual options for definitions)

PAL Most widespread global technical broadcast standard for analogue TV transmissions.

PAL (Phase Alternate Line) TV system used by terrestrial TV in the UK and on most European satellite channels.

PAMCo The Publishers Audience Measurement Company- The governing body which oversees audience measurement for the published media industry.

Panel Sample of people used for regular, periodic research.

Panel (outdoor) Conventional flat poster site; may or may not be illuminated.

Panel age (distribution) Panel household classification according to length of service on the panel.

Panel balance Conformity of actual panel allocation to the ideal panel allocation for the selected panel control variables.

Panel control Demographic or other variables used for maintaining the representativeness of the panel sample over time as homes leave the panel and are replaced by new panel homes. The panel controls specify target profiles for each selected panel control variable, which the panel management staff tries to match as closely as possible during initial panel recruitment and replacement. The selected variables may be treated individually or employed in cell-matrix combinations with other variables.

Panel fatigue Deterioration in quality of panel measurement that may occur as a function of the length of time that households/individuals have belonged to a panel (e.g. possible increased levels of measured nil or uncovered viewing as panel members cooperate less with their button-pressing instructions over time).

Panel maintenance Panel staff functions of preserving panel balance over time and likewise accuracy of panel classifications and quality of panel response through the exercise of regular and periodic quality control procedures.

Panel member button Button(s) on a remote control handset for registering viewing by panel members, with each member having his/her own designated button.

Panel turnover Index of change in the gross panel sample, which is often defined as the number of homes leaving the panel during the course of each year as a percentage of the installed base at the beginning of the year. Panel turnover, may, however, be defined in several ways depending on the account taken of differences in gross panel size at the beginning and end of the interval and of homes that enter and leave the panel within the interval.

Panel weight Scaling factor used for correcting imbalances in the daily reporting sample with respect to the weighting variables. The weights also contain a "grossing up" factor for projecting from the achieved weighted sample sizes to the population estimates.

Paper Diaries Paper diaries were widely used before the development of people-meters. They consist of short booklets with one page, or double page spread, for each day of the week. The design and layout of diaries can have a considerable effect on the response rate and the quality of data collected.

Paper diary Diary where respondents record their viewing in a paper booklet.

Parabolic (dish) antenna Receiver for collecting and amplifying off-air signals, which is necessary for domestic reception of satellite TV transmissions. Amplification is achieved through the parabolic shape of the receiving surface, which reflects the incoming signals on to a single point. Hence, the larger the diameter of the parabolic signal the stronger the signal reception.

Parallel Poster This is a poster which is positioned parallel to a road and can be seen from both sides of that road.

Parallel Readership When a respondent reads more than one issue of a publication during its Last Publication Period.

Parallel run Side by side running of two different TAM systems for comparison and control purposes. Parallel runs are common when there is a change of contractor in JIC or MOC controlled TAM systems, the objectives being to assess the differences between the new and old TAM, make any necessary adjustments to the new system and assist continuity in the use of the viewing data for programming and advertising purposes.

Parent Survey A survey used to provide either a universal estimate for another survey or the Sampling Frame of another survey.

Parental control Options included in many digital television, Internet and computer game services, that let parents control exposure of their children to the content being delivered.

Parental Lock Receiver's PIN-operated lock to prevent access to a specified channel.

Partial screen The Primary Ad unit is accompanied by content and/or a companion ad unit or some other visual enhancement (such as ticker, clock, or logo).Companion Ads may be text, static display ads or rich media.

Pass-on Readership Readers of a publication who were not initial purchasers, or addressees of a free publication. 'Secondary' readers as opposed to 'primary' readers; also described as 'pass along' readership.

Passages In outdoor research this is a measure of the number of people passing a site.

Passive Sensing An audience measurement method currently under development; infra-red facial images are recorded by the meter, so no active participation from panel members is required.

Patreon A website that allows fans to make monthly contributions to independent creators. Donors, or “Patrons” often get perks like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, behind-the-scenes features, and so on.

Patronage The absolute percentage of people who watch a channel at all over a particular period of time (typically one day, week or month).

Pay cable Cable programming service for which subscribers pay a monthly fee on top of that required for the basic cable service.

Pay for Performance Program Also called Affiliate Marketing, Performance based, Partner Marketing, CPA, or Associate Program. Any type of revenue sharing program where a publisher receives a commission for generating online activity (e.g. leads or sales) for an advertiser.

Pay per Click (PPC) Allows advertisers to bid for placement in the paid listings search results on terms that are relevant to their business. Advertisers pay the amount of their bid only when a consumer clicks on their listing. Also called sponsored search/ paid search.

Pay per lead The commission structure where the advertiser pays the publisher a flat fee for each qualified lead (customer) that is referred to the advertiser’s website.

Pay per sale The commission structure where the advertiser pays a percentage or flat fee to the publisher based on the revenue generated by the sale of a product or service to a visitor who came from a publisher site.

Pay per View (PPV) The on-demand equivalent of pay-per-view. In fact, paying for a single play is unusual and this term simply signifies that there is a limit on use, in contrast to download-to-own. More common is a limited number of plays or a window, of 24 hours say or a month, during which the content can be viewed an unlimited number of times.

Pay to basic ratio Ratio of the number of premium TV service subscriptions (which may be more than one in any given household), to the total number of basic cable TV subscriptions.

Pay-as-you-go Broadband payment method where the customer pays for the bandwidth consumed.

Pay-per-Click In pay-per-click advertising, the advertiser pays a certain amount for each click-through to the advertiser's website. The amount paid per click-through is arranged at the time of the insertion order and varies considerably.

Pay-per-download Form of PPV where the user pays for a video or audio download to the PC.

Pay-per-impression (Online) Pricing model in which advertisers pay according to the number of ad impressions.

Pay-per-Lead An advertising model in which advertisers pay for each "sales lead" generated. For example, an advertiser might pay for every visitor that clicked on an ad or site and successfully completed a form.

Pay-per-lead (Online) Pricing model in which advertisers pay an agreed charge for each sales lead generated.

Pay-per-Sale An advertising model in which advertisers pay agencies/and or media companies based on how many sales transactions were generated as a direct result of the ad.

Pay-per-sale (Online) Pricing model in which advertisers pay an agreed charge for each sales transaction generated directly by their advertising.

Pay-Per-View Pay-TV service enabling users to pay for each programme watched, rather than on a monthly subscription basis.

Pay-TV TV service supported by subscription income rather than by advertising. Includes Pay Cable, and Subscription TV.

Pay/Basic Ratio This is a measure of the number of subscriptions to the pay channels (Sky Moves, Sky Sports, HVC/The Adult Channel, Playboy TV and TVX) as a percentage of total subscribers. This measure may differ from other published results depending what channels are provided on a premium basis.

Paywall An arrangement whereby access is restricted to users who have paid to subscribe to the site.

PBR Payment by results - typically used, for instance, in connection with DRTV campaigns.

PC VOD (PC video-on-demand) VOD services delivered to the PC rather than the TV.

PCA Post Campaign Analysis takes place once a campaign has finished and is used to monitor performance. Usually Post Campaign Analysis will compare what was booked with what was actually achieved in terms of audience.

PCTV TV services delivered to the PC, as opposed to TV services delivered to the TV screen.

PDA Abbreviation for Personal Digital Assistant.

PDA (Personal digital assistant) A handheld device that combines computing, telephone/fax, Internet and networking features, including web browser and personal organiser. In contrast to PCs most early PDAs used a stylus rather than keyboard for input and incorporated hand-writing recognition features. Today, PDAs are available in stylus or keyboard versions and some employ voice recognition features.

PDA Synch The total number of times that a PDA device has requested a site's PDA content in the period being measured.

PDC (Programme delivery control code) Unique code inserted by programming source (e.g. TV channel) in TV signal transmission as a means of identification and used to control video recording functions, with the PDC data telling the recorder when a particular programme starts.

PDF Portable Document Format: file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a device-independent and display resolution-independent fixed-layout document format. Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a 2-D document (and, with Acrobat 3-D, embedded 3-D documents) that includes the text, fonts, images, and 2-D vector graphics that compose the document.

Peak (see also Primetime)

Peak time TV rate card daypart/segment which defines the period of the broadcasting day during which the highest rates will be charged. Also used as informal shorthand for evening time.

Peaks Technically the tops (and bottoms) of an audio waveform, but this usually refers to the biggest peaks of an audio signal during a designated timeframe.

Pearl & Dean One of the UK's cinema contractors - http://www.pearlanddean.com/

Penalty/Reward Analysis A key driver analysis that looks at the Equity statements/ usership areas that are associated with dissatisfaction and those correlating with satisfaction.

Penetration Once synonymous with coverage or reach, but now falling out of use as a media term. However, was widely used in other marketing contexts, such as the proportion of housewives purchasing a product eg 'Product A market penetration is 30%'

Penetration (medium/channel) The percentage of people (or homes) within a defined universe that are physically able to be exposed to a medium/receive a particular TV channel.

Peoplemeter The current method of audience measurement, allowing panel members to register their viewing by means of a remote handset. This data, along with information about the television sets in the home, are stored temporarily in a data storage unit in each panel home, which is then polled nightly through the telephone network.

Peoplemeter measurement General methodology for collecting TAM data by means of a household panel sample equipped with a dual metering system that registers (a) TV set status (i.e. which channel is being tuned to) and (b) viewer presence. Peoplemeter TAM research is currently restricted to measuring in-home audiences with meters attached to each TV set. Introduced commercially during the mid eighties, peoplemeter measurement now predominates over all other TAM methodologies throughout the world. Its key advantages for the advertising community are that it offers highly detailed (minute by minute or even second by second) continuous audience measurement for 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, and is impartial, being free from bias compared with the interview and diary-based recall methodologies.

Peoplemeters Peoplemeters are used to record electronically who is watching TV.

Percentage Bounced The percentage of the total emails sent in a mailing distribution that bounced (see Emails Bounced).

perfect Asosiasi TeleVisi Lokal Indonesia: An association whose members are Local TV stations in Indonesia.

Perfect bound Binding process used in magazines where the spine of the publication is glued and flattened (also known as 'square bound'). The commonest alternative is the 'stapled' or 'saddle-stitched' binding method.

Performance Evaluation of a schedule's achievements after the event, often in terms of coverage and frequency.

Performance pricing model (Internet) Pricing model for online advertising, where the client pays a fee according to agreed performance criteria, such as percentage of online revenues.

Peripheral A generic term used to describe any devices such as printers, modems, joysticks and monitors that are connected to a computer and controlled by a microprocessor.

Permanent downloads Downloads that users can keep as long as they choose and do not self-delete after the expiry of a certain time interval.

Persistence The length of time that a TV set needs to be tuned to a particular channel before this is recorded by the meter.

Persistence threshold Minimum uninterrupted interval required before a meter records a change of either TV set status (TV persistence threshold) or viewer presence (viewer persistence threshold). In the case of TV set status, the main purpose of persistence thresholds is to reduce data loads significantly by cutting out very short viewing statements (e.g. bouts of zapping). Until a permanent change of channel is recorded, the meter will continue to record the most recent channel/set use as if no change(s) had taken place. This entails the assumption that consequent errors of attribution are balanced across channels.

Persistent content Content that is stored digitally on a set-top box disc, PC, DVD, CD or other medium.

Personal Communication Device Also known as PCD. A term used to describe small portable communication devices such as pagers and cellular phones.

Personal Meters A new type of device currently under development to permit the measurement of an individual's overall television viewing, radio listening or both.

Personal Television A TV set-top device that enables viewers to pause, fast-forward and rewind live programmes.

Personal TV PVR or other timeshift TV services that allow personalised media consumption.

Personal Video Recorder (PVR) is a hard disc based digital video recorder most use MPEG technology and enables viewers to pause and rewind live TV. PVR’s also interact with EPG’s to automatically record favourite programmes and have lead to an increase in the number of consumers watc

Personalised media consumption Generic term for the ability of consumers to access, play, pause, fast forward, rewind, store and transfer video content at a time and in a place that suits them and is independent of any broadcast schedule. (see also TV Anytime, TV Anywhere)

Personally Identifiable Information Personally identifiable information is any data that could potentially identify a specific individual. Information that can be used to distinguish one person from another, and can be used for deanonymizing previously anonymous data, can be considered PII.

PEX PEX (relating to QRS) is a measure of page exposures. The PEX score measures the number of times the average reader opens the average page. In effect this means the av number of times the average ad will typically be seen in a single issue of the publication.

PG Certificate Parental guidance, some scenes may be unsuitable for young children.

Phantom Power A small electrical current that is sent from a recorder to a microphone. The power is sent through same wires that are transmitting the audio.

Pharming An illegal method of redirecting traffic from another company's website (such as a bank) to a fake one designed to look similar in order to steal user details when they try to log in. See also Phishing

Phishing An illegal method whereby legitimate looking e-mails (appearing to come from a well-known bank, for example) are used in an attempt to get personal information that can be used to steal a user's identity.

Picture in Picture This is also known as PIP. A facility where some television sets and set top terminals are able to show a small secondary picture from another channel within the main picture.

Picture matching Technique of signal identification in which the meter collects sample visual data from the 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.

Piggy-back offer Direct mail offer which is included free with another offer.

Pistol Grip A microphone holder whose base is shaped like the handle of a pistol.

Pixel Picture element (single dot) on a computer monitor. The metric used to indicate the size of internet ads.

Pixel Tag This is a piece of code embedded on a website and used to capture viewership data pertaining to content and advertising, as well as consumer/visitor usage and behavior.

Placement The area where an advertisement is displayed/placed within a publisher’s mobile content.

Placeshifting The viewing (or listening) of broadcast media via the internet on a remote PC, laptop or other device, or of viewing stored media shifted from, say, a PC to another device, using specially developed software.

Placeshifting (as in viewing) The viewing of programmes delivered to a device in a separate location by means of a router or other call-up technology from a distant location (e.g. Slingbox).

Planning System In radio a system used by media agencies and sales points to plan radio airtime campaigns for stations, groups and/or packages. The planning system allows the user to project the impacts and reach that would be gained if an ad or combination of ads were b

Plasma Flat-screen technology that contains an inert ionized gas sandwiched between x- and y-axis panels. These have become increasingly popular with models 40 inches diagonal and greater being used for computer displays, high-end home theater and digital TV.

Plasma display Electronic flat screen display, which comprises many tiny cells sandwiched between two glass sheets. The cells contain neon and xenon gasses, which emit phosphors when electrically charged. Plasma technology is widely used for large TV screens. (see also Large-screen television technology)

Platform In Radio platform denotes how a listener listens to the radio (so the platform used to listen to the radio). The current platforms recorded in the RAJAR survey are Analogue (AM/FM), DAB, Digital TV and Internet listening.

Platform A term encompassing the various ways in which a home can receive television; terrestrial; satellite; cable

Platform The computer hardware and operating system that applications are run on.

Platform operator Company (usually a pay-TV operator) responsible for delivering television and other services over a specified distribution platform(s).

Play-out Final stage of preparing and delivering a broadcast signal to a transmission operator for transmission over a broadcast network.

Play-Through Rate The rate at which viewers watch a specified portion of a given video. Used interchangeably with "completion rate".

Playback format The final format that the ad unit will be played across the network. Networks shall disclose the playback format.

Playout Is the process of a creative agency delivering a radio commercial to radio stations.

Playout System A playout system is the system used by broadcasters to broadcast (or 'play out') the ads on air, so they can be heard by listeners. This can be a pyhysical piece of equipment such as CD player; or a piece of software or indeed a group of processes used by

Playstation A series of video game consoles with multi-media capabilities created and developed by Sony Computer Entertainment

Plosives A burst of air from a speaker’s mouth that travels directly into a microphone’s diaphragm, causing a moment of deep distortion.

Plug and Play This is the name given to computer systems that can automatically configure a device that is added to it.

Plug-and-play Peripheral devices that can be added to other main devices (e.g. TV sets, PCs) simply by plugging in and without the requirement of reconfiguration by the user.

Plugin Software that can be added to a DAW.

Plus one (+1) Plus one television channels are channels that repeat everything from a main channel one hour after the original broadcast.

PMP Abbreviation of Portable Media Player.

PMP (Portable media player) Handheld hard disc or flash memory device for storing / playing files in one or more formats.

PMRS (Pedestrian market research services) A research company that specialises in the collection and supply of pedestrian footfall information.

PMT Photomechanical Transfer - Paper negative which produces a positive print by a process of chemical transfer.

Pod US term referring to within programme breaks. (see also Within programme break)

Podcast Audio or video clips that can be downloaded as files from the internet for listening/viewing in own time.

Podcast Subscriber A unique User who has asked to be notified about podcast availability.

Podcaster Anyone who makes audio that isn’t music and posts it online.

Podcasting Podcasting involves making an audio file (usually in MP3 format) of content –usually in the form of a radio program that is available to download to an MP3 player.

Polarity Property of satellite signals to differentiate between signals of similar frequencies and squeeze more channels into the available space.

Polite Loading Fixed online advertising placements that load and display additional Flash content after the host page on which the advert appears has finished loading.

Polled sample In production meter sample that has been successfully polled by the central processing base of the data supplier and is available for inclusion in the net daily reporting sample.

Polling Procedure for collecting data from meter panel homes, usually by means of a telephone call from the central processing base of the data supplier, which downloads in the early hours of the morning meter data from the previous broadcast day(s) via a modem connection with the central meter data storage unit in the home. Alternative cellular radio or one-way connections methods may be used in order to collect data from non-telephone households and are becoming increasingly common as an alternative to the standard fixed line modem connections. At the same time, polling takes place in a few systems via telephone calls from the household to the central processing base of the data supplier rather than from the data supplier to the home.

Pollux Pollux is proprietary software of AGB Nielsen Media Research. The Pollux System is a compact software package to collect, validate, weight and calculate television audience data. Audience events are collected by peoplemeters positioned in participating families' houses and connected to their television sets and telephones.

Pop Under An ad that pops up behind the site on which the ad is running on.

Pop Up An ad that pops up in front of the site on which the ad is running on.

Pop-up ad/Pop-up (Online) Online advertisements which automatically "pop up" in a new window when Internet users click on a banner ad or go to a new web page. They generally attract higher click rates than standard banner ads. Pop-up ads which load between two Internet pages are known as interstitials.

Popscreen A screen that’s placed in front of microphone to reduce the number of plosives.

Popular Socio-demographic term primarily applied to newspapers whose readership profile has a bias towards the C2, D and E social grade groupings.

Population The number of people in the survey Universe, sub-universe or Target Group.

Portable media devices Any portable device with on-screen display (e.g. PDA, laptop, iPod, mobile handset) that can be used for playing received and/or stored video and audio content.

Portal A website that often serves as a starting point for a web user's session. It typically provides services such as search, directory of websites, news, weather, email, homepage space, stock quotes, sports news, entertainment, telephone directory information, area maps and chat or message boards.

POS Point of sale

Position in break Refers to the running order of a commercial break and where a specific advertisement fell within that e.g. 2/8.

Positioner Unit to control the position of a motorised dish.

Post (campaign) evaluation Evaluation of a media schedule at the end of a campaign with audience delivery data in the case of TV advertising.

Post campaign analysis software Software for analysing and evaluating the audience delivery of a campaign/schedule of advertising spots.

Post Logs A list of spots that have aired, post-log files contain details on creatives, programs, networks, dayparts, impressions and costs.

Post Production Everything that happens after you’ve recorded the audio. Editing, scoring, mixing, etc.

Post Roll The streaming of a mobile advertising clip after a mobile TV/video clip. The mobile advert is usually 10-15 seconds.

Post-testing Advertising post-testing is designed to assess the reactions of the target audience for a campaign after it has been broadcast.

Postal Survey A survey for which the questionnaire or a diary is wholly or partly completed by the respondent him/herself. The method of placement and /or collection (= return) of questionnaire or diary may be postal.

Postcode Address File (PAF) A list of all the postal delivery points in the UK compiled by the Royal Mail. This is frequently used as a sampling frame.

Poster Posters come in a variety of standard sizes, measured by the number of sheets.

Poster Specialist A company that constructs an outdoor campaign for a client often using sites bought from a number of different contractors.

Postroll Online video advertising where the advertising commercial plays after the content video play.

Pot Short for “potentiometer,” which are the knobs and sliders on a mixing board. A “pot” is also jargon for a channel, and “Pot it down” means to turn down the gain.

Potential The number of people who make up the total population of a selected demographic according to the most recent Census data.

PPA Periodical Publishers Association - Works to promote and protect the interests of the magazine publishing industry. Members: UK magazine publishing houses of consumer, business and consumer specialist magazines.

PPC Pay-per-click; refers to an online advertising model where payment is based solely on the number of click-throughs.

PPC (Pay per click) (Online) Online advertising purchase where webmasters (i.e. web site operators) display clickable links from advertisers in return for a charge per click. This method is widely in search advertising. Advertisers bid for keywords, with their ads displayed on the results pages generated by searches using those keywords. The more advertisers bid per click in relation to other advertisers the higher up their ads appear on the results pages.

PPL Pay-per-lead, an online advertising model where payment is based on the number of leads.

PPM Portable People Meter, carried by the respondent.

PPM (Portable peoplemeter) Peoplemeter carried by the survey participant. The PPM was originally developed to measure radio listenership, There is an ongoing debate as how successfully it may also be used for purposes of measuring television viewing. (see also Personal meters)

PPPI (Indonesia) Persatuan Perusahaan Periklanan Indonesia: An association whose members are advertising agencies in Indonesia.

PPT (Pay-per-title) Form of PPV for on-demand programming where the user pays for a specific title.

PPV Pay per view refers to the process by which viewers pay for content on a single viewing or short-term rental basis.

PPV (Pay-per-view) Programming (usually special live events or newly released films), which viewers must request and pay for in order to view. PPV film services are usually offered in staggered rotation on a group of channels as a form of NVOD (Near video-on-demand).

PR PageRank, an algorithm used by Google to rank websites in their search engine results. PageRank was named after Larry Page.

Pre Roll The name given to the adverts shown before, or whilst an online video is loading. There can be more than one and although they all vary in length, they average 21seconds in duration.

Pre-defined sample Pre-designated interview or self-completion questionnaire sample. The pre-defined list of names or addresses may be drawn from a sampling frame or determined by a specific sample selection procedure (e.g. random route or random telephone dialling).

Pre-empt Sales process used principally in television advertising by which buyers can out-bid previous purchasers for a particular spot, according to the pre-empt rate card structure printed on the medium's rate card, until the 'top of the rate card' level is reached.

Pre-emption The displacement of an advertising spot in a commercial break by another advertising spot for which a higher price has been bid or when an advertising spot in a commercial break is re-assigned to another programme by the TV station.

Pre-recorded (video) cassette viewing Viewing of pre-recorded video cassettes as opposed to timeshift viewing of recorded video cassettes.

Pre-roll Advert Usually 30 or 15 second ads at the beginning of clips that can't be skipped in videos.

Pre-testing Advertising pre-testing is designed to assess the reactions of the target audience for a campaign before it is shown.

Premiere Buying Route Premier works on the same premise as the AGP but offers advertisers extra flexibility by filtering in appropriate film product.

Premium channel Subscription pay-TV channel offered on its own or in small package of channels (e.g. group of premium sports channels), and charged for at an appreciably higher price than other, basic TV channels.

Premium Content This refers to TV programming that is professionally produced in a brand-safe manner and typically has an established, loyal audience (i.e. it’s a popular show). For this reason, these shows are very appealing to advertisers for reach and brand recognition.

Preroll Online video advertising where the advertising commercial plays before the content video play.

Press Feed The way in which the printing machine is fed with paper.

Pressad Database Newspaper Society database holding rate and circulation info. on regional press.

Price categories Term used in AGB Nielsen Media Research's TV Events for commercial spots rate card classification based on TV station, type of programme, day of week and dayparts. Advertisement appearances falling into the same category apply the same rules for the price attribution.

Primary ad unit Refers to the dominant area of advertising displayed on the screen. The Primary Ad unit should be described as either Full screen or Partial screen.

Primary ad unit orientation Should be referred to as either Landscape or Portrait.

Primary Reader In the UK, a primary reader is usually defined as the purchaser of a publication or a member of his/her household, who is likely to show a greater interest in the publication than a pass on reader.

Primary Sampling Units A group of eligible units (geographic areas, post codes, addresses etc.) used as the first stage in the creation of the sample.

Prime Video Prime Video is a video streaming service available for Amazon Prime members

Prime-focus Type of dish antenna with the focus and feed-horn in line with the centre of the dish.

Primetime Evening daypart associated with largest audiences, generally between 19.00 and 23.00, though precise times may vary slightly by country.

Print Order Publishers may supply an unverified statement of their print order. These statements are valid for six months following the date of issue to which they relate. They must state the edition, followed by the print order followed by the phrase "publisher's statement".

Print Run The number of copies of an issue of a publication that were printed.

Private Household A single person, or group of people living together whose food and household expenses are managed as one unit.

Pro-Logic Surround sound decoder system invented by Dolby laboratories to reproduce cinema sound in the home.

Probabilistic This refers to the use of complex algorithms and statistical models to attribute response to spots based on their level of probability.

Probability Model A type of mathematical model used to evaluate media schedules.

Probability Sample Sample designed to strict procedures to ensure that each member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected for interview.

Process This refers to the process used to apply ink to paper.

Processed viewing statements Processed individual viewing statements after editing, validation and conversion of raw meter records into basic units for calculating ratings and reach, as per the algorithms for assigning ratings. (see also Individual viewing statements)

Producer The person who makes a podcast. Can be responsible for anything, up to and including everything.

Product Field A classification of advertisement brands by type.

Product placement Paid for placement of an advertiser's product within a programme.

Product typology A classification of advertisement items based on distinctive types created according to the local market or international standards; typologies are useful as measures for commercial campaigns systematisation and comparison.

Product/Media Data Media audience and product usage, or purchase, data derived from the same informant. Also known as single-source data. The best known example is the Target Group Index (TGI).

Production Recording the audio.

Production House (PH) A production house records radio advertisments and manages the process from start to finish for creative agency they work with.

Production Specifications Details are given of the publishers requirements for the form in which advertisement copy should be submitted. Copy supplied which does not conform to these specifications is usually subject to a surcharge.

Profile The way a TV/radio programme's audience or a publication's readership breaks down across a single variable like age, job title, income, and so on.

Profile (Adhesion) The composition of a channel/programme audience, as defined by the proportionate contribution of different demographic categories against one or more variables, such as age and sex (e.g. a channel profile of 26% for Adults 15-34 means that 26% of the total audience for that channel was aged 15-34).

Profile (NRS) The audience figure as a % of all adults is often referred to as the profile of a publication.

Profile (Radio and TV) The audience or programme profile of a certain programme.

Programmatic supply path optimisation for carbon reduction This process involves optimising the programmatic supply chain to reduce carbon emissions. For example, a media owner might reduce the number of programmatic partners it uses by focusing on those that deliver impressions and revenue, cutting those that don’t deliver impressions but that still generate carbon through ad calls.

Programmatic Programmatic simplifies the ad planning and buying process by using data and analytics to serve ads to the right audience at the right time. Programmatic is a TV ad buy that uses data and automation to target consumers efficiently at a very granular level.

Programmatic Advertising Marketplace/Exchange An online marketplace for advertisers to buy and sell inventory, often through real-time auctions. The process is automated online through AI.

Programmatic Direct An ad buy done directly between a publisher and advertiser through automated ad-buying systems.

Programmatic Non-Reserved The typical automated ad buy. It’s similar to an open auction in which relatively anyone can bid to buy ad space that is up for sale.

Programmatic Reserved An automated ad buy that is only open to a specified set of advertisers.

Programme (release) window Term used in programme rights discussions concerning feature films, TV entertainment series and occasionally other programming. The window refers to a hierarchical sequence of distribution outlets, which are arranged in descending order of the revenues per viewer that they can generate; e.g. feature films made available successively via cinema, video/DVD, PPV, pay-TV and finally free-to-air broadcast release. The window is the period when the programming is first made available in one distribution outlet in the chain of release windows before being made available to the next distribution outlet in the chain.

Programme barter Offer of programming to a TV station by an advertiser or programme supplier in exchange for commercial airtime.

Programme Genre The classification of programmes by type eg. sport, drama, etc.

Programme loyalty Measure of constant programme audience across a series of episodes. Numerous different operational definitions may be used to define programme loyalty.

Programme re-run A term used for a programme which had been broadcast/aired before and is broadcasted again for the 2nd, 3rd, etc. time.

Programme schedule Sequence of programmes scheduled for transmission over a given period (e.g. day, week) that is released in advance in print or electronic form.

Programme secondary description Optional description including additional information of TV programmes (e.g. episode information for TV Series).

Programme Sponsorship A form of promotion where a company associates its name with a programme, usually by references to itself or an associated product at the beginning and/or end of the programme and the programme breaks.

Programme syndication Programming distributed to a group of independent regional/local TV stations. The programming may be broadcast as a network transmission or broadcast at different times on different stations, which may or may not belong to a single network group.

Programme typology (see also Programme genre)

Programme Weight Used in detailed programme analysis to indicate the amount of a programme watched by the audience. A percentage of the total transmission time viewed is given.

Programme, break and spot database By recording the broadcast of each channel, the programme, break and spot database is built ready for integration with the viewing data. (see also TV Events system)

Programme/viewing analysis software Software for analysing viewing to programmes and general audience patterns, including audience shifts/flows between different TV channels, constancy of viewing habits, etc.

Programmer As distinct from Operator, the programmer supplies programmes, product or software for showing on cable TV networks.

Progressive scanning Method of storing, transmitting or displaying moving visual images in which all the horizontal lines in each frame are scanned in sequence. Progressive scanning is used in digital TV sets and computer screens and displays. It contrasts with interlaced scanning used in traditional TV formats PAL, NTSC and SECAM, which display lines in two phases. The first phase shows all the odd numbered lines, while the second displays all the even numbered lines. To the human eye these appear as a single image.

Projectible Universe Either the collection of people whose total number represents the ultimate potential reach of a piece of activity or all of the people researched by a survey or any sub-group of it.

Promo/Station promo Non-paid for promotional message by TV stations aimed at attracting audiences to their programmes.

Promotional clutter Sum total of advertising clutter and additional clutter in the form of sponsorship credits and station promos. (see also Advertising clutter)

Prompt payment discount Discount on airtime costs for early payment within a negotiated time period.

Proofing Once film has been made, a proof has to be produced so that the client and reproduction house can satisfy themselves that the quality and sizing are correct and the printer, too, will require a proof to refer to when printing the finished job. Proofing can be done either on a press or by using photographic/electrostatic methods.

Proprietary software Analysis software that is the exclusive property of an organisation and sold or licensed to other users.

Protocol Standards that identify how traffic and communication are handled by a computer or network.

ProTools The accepted professional standard for a DAW. Subscription only.

PRS / Music Details A reference to any music used in advertisments.

PS: See Playstation Playstation, a series of video game consoles with multi-media capabilities created and developed by Sony Computer Entertainment

PSMS Premium SMS. A text message that is charged at a premium over the standard rate.

PSTN (Public switched telephone network) World network of public telephone networks using circuit-switched telephone technology, as opposed to the IP-based packet-switched technologies used over the Internet. Formerly restricted to fixed line analogue signals, PSTNs are now almost entirely digital and include mobile as well as fixed line telephones.

PSU A group of eligible units (geographic areas, post codes, addressees, etc.) used as the first stage in the creation of the sample.

PSU (Primary sampling unit) Sampling point from which one or more survey interviews are taken. Face-to-face interview procedures invariably entail some clustering of interviews at selected PSUs (e.g. building-blocks, local postal area codes, electoral districts, etc.). By contrast, telephone and postal surveys usually have only one interview per PSU.

Psychographics A term that describes consumers or a targeted group on the basis of psychological characteristics. These are determined by standardised tests to produce an agreed segmentation which can be related to media and product usage, for predictive purposes.

Public Domain Intellectual property that isn’t owned by anyone, and can used by everyone. Works based on Public Domain works can still be copyrighted.

Public Radio Non-profit radio stations that get a significant part of their funding from listener donations. They often air shows from NPR, but they are not owned by NPR.

Public service broadcaster Non-profit organisation responsible for one or more broadcast TV/radio channels/networks, which is publicly or state owned and obliged to fulfil various public service duties as laid down by the government or by other national public broadcast authority. Many public service broadcasters are part or wholly funded by licence fees or other public subsidy, but many also carry advertising and a few offer subscription-based services (e.g. NHK satellite subscription channels in Japan).

Public service remit Public service obligations which a TV broadcaster must satisfy as a condition of its public service charter or its broadcast licence.

Public Switch Telephone Network Also known as PSTN. The name given to the landline telephone network.

Publication Interval The time interval between issues of a publication, also referred to as publication period.

Publication Period The time interval between issues of a publication, also referred to as publication interval.

Publisher Also referred to as an Affiliate, Associate, Partner, Reseller or Content Site). An independent party, or website, that promotes the products or services of an advertiser in exchange for a commission.

Publisher's Statement A document issued by a publisher giving circulation details of a publication and/or one of its regional or demographic editions.

Pull Media A little used term for the form of new media (typically the web) which requires the user to actively seek content.

Pull mode The delivery method in which a subscriber demands and receives data from the provider.

Pull VOD Pull VOD is a form of video-on-demand distribution that uses a permanent 'always-on' connection to deliver video on-demand content upon a user's request. Content is transmitted via cable or broadband networks directly to a set top box.

Push Media A form of new media which uses the Internet as a vehicle to push content directly to the user. Typically this push is linked to screensaver or email technology.

Push mode The delivery method where the service provider transmits on a fixed, predictable schedule, or in response to an event such as the updating of data in the subscriber's database. Push mode applications include downloaded VOD services to subscriber PVRs.

Push VOD Push VOD is a form of video on-demand which uses a digital television recorder to automatically store content, often without requiring the user to perform any form of request. Content is transmitted overnight when broadcast capacity is readily available, and the user can view TV programmes and movies via an on-demand menu.

Push VOD (Video on Demand) This is a technique used by a number of broadcasters on systems that lack the interactivity to provide true VOD, to simulate a true VOD system. A push VOD system uses a PVR to automatically record a selection of programming, often transmitted in spare capacity overnight. Users can then watch the downloaded programming at times of their choosing. As content occupies space on the PVR hard drive, downloaded content is usually deleted after a week to make way for new programmes. The limited space on a typical PVR hard drive means that the flexibility and selection of programmes available on such systems is more restricted than true VOD systems. (see also VOD (Video on demand), PVR (Personal video recorder))

Push-button peoplemeter measurement Push-button refers to the buttons/pads on remote control handsets in peoplemeter measurement, that are used for registering viewer presence and for fulfilling selected other functions, such as collecting guest age and sex demographic details or signalling that the panel home is absent on holiday. (see also Active peoplemeter measurement)

PUT (People using TV) Term mainly used in the USA to denote average percentage of People using TV across all channels within a set time period. (see also HUT (Homes using TV))

PVR Short for personal video recorder, a generic term for a device that is similar to a VCR but records television data in digital format as opposed to the VCR's analogue format. VCRs utilise analogue tapes to record and play programs broadcast over television, but PVRs encode video data in MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 formats and store the data in a hard drive. PVRs have all of the same functionality of VCRs (recording, playback, fast forwarding, rewinding, pausing) plus the ability to instantly jump to any part of the program without having to rewind or fast forward the data stream.

PVR (Personal video recorder) A device, also called Digital video recorder (DVR), which uses a hard drive to record and store digital video content. An important feature of the PVR it allows viewers to pause, fast-forward and rewind live programmes. Some PVR appliances also have the capability to suggest programmes for users by recognising their viewing behaviour.

PVR/DVR Short for personal video recorder, a generic term for a device that is similar to a VCR but records television data in digital format as opposed to the VCR's analogue format. VCRs utilise analogue tapes to record and play programs broadcast over television, but PVRs encode video data in MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 formats and store the data in a hard drive. PVRs have all of the same functionality of VCRs (recording, playback, fast forwarding, rewinding, pausing) plus the ability to instantly jump to any part of the program without having to rewind or fast forward the data stream.

QoS (Quality of Service) Concept of grade of service applied to telephony and broadband traffic, which may be partly assessed in terms of subscriber feedback, but with the advent of digital networks is increasingly measured in terms of engineering parameters.

QR Code Quick response code. A machine-readable code consisting of an array of black and white squares, typically used for storing URLs or other information for reading by the camera on a smartphone.

QRS Quality Of Reading Survey is a major study which aims to give advertisers, agencies, and media owners a greater understanding of the value of print medium and the differences within it. The survey measures a wealth of behavioural and attitudinal characteristics among the readers of magazines and newspaper sections and supplements, including page exposures*** (PEX), time spent reading, number of pick-ups, how a publications is read, and a series of agree-disagree attitude statements. QRS is sponsored by the IPA, ISBA and PPA and conducted by RSL- Research Ltd. QRS research was conducted by face-to-face CAPI interviews in the home, on a total sample of just over 15,000 adults aged 15+. The interviews were conducted in two phases, October 1997 - January 1998 and October 1999 - May 2000 (QRS 2). There are no more surveys due to be carried out. The interview followed NRS methodology exactly, in measuring average issue readership of all publications and the key classification data. Readership data was collected for all national print titles featured on the NRS, creating a media list of more than 240 consumer magazines, newspaper sections and supplements. The study was carried out by IPSOS-RSL, which is the research company responsible for NRS. Click here for a list of QRS titles

Quad crown Poster size in landscape format, equivalent in size to half that of a 4 sheet. Most commonly used by film/cinema advertisers on the London Underground.

Quadruple (quad) play The combination of broadband Internet access, voice telephony, television and mobile services

Qualitative (Research) In media usage, going a stage beyond mere head counting, taking account of attention, reading intensity, editorial environment, etc. In market research, a small scale in-depth study (group discussions, depth interviews, etc) designed to elicit detailed attitudes and information outside the strict, structured confines of a questionnaire.

Quality Socio-demographic term primarily applied to newspapers whose readership profile has a bias towards the A or B social grade groupings.

Quality Control (QC) An important aspect of conducting media research covering all stages of a project including data collection, analysis and reporting procedures. For radio this is an important process where audio is checked to make sure it is up to broadcast standards.

Quality control procedures Systematic and periodic procedures employed by panel management for purposes of checking the quality of data output.

Quantitative (Research) Research based on large samples, using a highly structured questionnaire. Such surveys yield statistically valid data of a 'numeric' type.

Quark A file produced in QuarkXPress: QuarkXPress is a computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment. It runs on Mac OS X and Windows. QuarkXPress is primarily used by large publishing houses to produce the kinds of complex page layouts required by magazines, newspapers, catalogues, and similar printed materials. It is one of two products (the other being Adobe InDesign) that dominate that market space.

Quarter Inch A type of cable connector. Can be balanced or unbalanced.

Query string formation In a search engine, a query string is the set of words entered into a search engine by an individual. For example, a search for “search engine marketing information”. Query string formation is simply the process of thinking of the correct query string to

Questionnaire Document or paper used by the interviewer or researcher, on which are recorded the precise questions and answers required for the survey. It should be emphasised that a questionnaire is a very precise instrument and its construction requires highly specialised skills.

QuickTime (player) Technology developed by Apple Computer for handling a variety of multimedia formats. The QuickTime Player is freely downloadable from Apple's web site.

Quota Sample Sample obtained by deliberately interviewing a pre-set proportion of people with given characteristics. Commonly used quotas are sex, age and social grade.

RA Radio Authority. The regulatory body for all commercial radio. It plans frequencies, appoints licencees and regulates programming and advertising.

RAB Radio Advertising Bureau. The marketing department for the commercial radio industry. Its mission is to increase the levels of familiarity and favourability towards commercial radio as an advertising medium.

Radio Centre (The) UK body representing the interests of commercial radio

Radio frequency Portion of electromagnetic wave spectrum used for audiovisual transmissions that is located above the audio and below the infrared frequencies.

Radio Index The appreciation index for radio programmes is sometimes referred to as an RI-Radio Index.

Radio Ratings Impacts expressed as a percentage of the population group being measured. Calculated by impacts x 100 divided by population.

Radio Targeting Format or Genre

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research. RAJAR is a company specifically established to manage the UK's agreed system of radio audience measurement. It is jointly owned by the Radiocentre (on behalf of commercial radio companies) and by the BBC.

RAJAR Diary The diary that a sample of the population keep to record their live Radio listening (so not listening back or podcasts...)

RAJAR MIDAS A survey designed to provide context and insight into how, when and where radio content is being consumed

RAJAR Regions The 11 RAJAR IR regions (independent radio regions) are created from the existing commercial stations' TSA. As such, they overlap and their geography varies along with TSA changes. The other regions available on RAJAR are the BBC Editorial Areas and the new non-overlapping ITV regions that were introduced by BARB with their new 2010 contract.

RAJAR Survey Period Also known as wave length, the Survey Period is defined as Quarterly (3 months/13 weeks), Half Yearly (6 months/26 weeks) or Yearly (12 months/52 weeks).

RAJAR Wave The quarterly period in which RAJAR data is surveyed.

Random combination A mathematical formula for estimating the reach of two or more media.

Random route Method of face-to-face interview selection, whereby the interviewer follows a set random procedures for contacting households/individuals in a sample, beginning with a set starting point within the designated PSU.

Random Sample Sample designed to restrict procedures to ensure that each member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected for interview. Sometimes called an equal probability sample.

RASP (Random access stored programme) Computing technology used in television that inserts index points in encrypted content, so that it can be easily accessed with video trick modes without sequential decryption.

Rate attribution Rate attribution refers to the price assignment for the commercial events in the AGB Nielsen Media Research's TV Events system.

Rate card A price list for advertising time and/or space.

Rate card adjusted impact delivery Measure of commercial impacts that has been adjusted to a unit interval (standard 30 second spot length), but taking into account different price levels. (see also Impact weights)

Rate cards Rate cards are tables containing prices for the associated price categories available from a broadcaster for a given period of time. They are inserted and updated based on the information provided by the TV station.

Ratecard Published airtime costs, often including a range of incentives, for example volume or expenditure.

Rating (TV) The average percentage of a given population group watching a TV channel/programme across a set time interval. The concept of rating is generally restricted to TV, but may also be used for other media. One rating point equals 1 percentage. (see also GRP (Gross rating point))

Rating - Spot Single half- hour or quarter-hour audience expressed as a percentage of the population group being measured. Calculated by half or quarter-hour audience x 100, divided by relevant population.

Ratings (Rating Points) For a given category of individuals (e.g. men, women or children) this is the number of individuals viewing, expressed as a percentage of all such individuals.

Raw data Polled meter statements prior to data processing and editing/validation.

Raw Log File A text file containing the unfiltered, unprocessed electronic transactions recorded by a server for all processed actions, whether dealing with web, streaming or email content.

RCC Radio Clearance Centre. Commercial radio's advertising clearance body.

RCC Script A radio advertisment script that has been approved by Radiocentre and is valid for 6 months. Usually in the format of #####/##

RDD Random Digit Dialling (RDD) is a method of selecting people for involvement in telephone surveys by generating telephone numbers at random.

Reach The number of unique web users potentially seeing a website one or more times in a given time period expressed as a percentage of the total active web population for that period.

Reach (any medium) The number of different people who are exposed to a schedule of advertisements.

Reach (Internet) 1) Unique users that visited the site over the course of the reporting period, expressed as a percentage of the universe for the demographic category; also called unduplicated audience. 2) The total number of unique users who will be served a given ad.

Reach (or cover/cume) The cumulative percentage or total (usually expressed in thousands) of a population that has been counted as viewers at least once during a specified interval. Examples of commonly used reach measures are TV channel daily/weekly/monthly reach, advertising campaign reach, programme reach/ programme series reach, daypart reach and so on. Commonly used synonyms are Cume and Cover.

Reach (TV) Programme/Daypart Reach assesses what percentage of the population saw a specified amount of programme or daypart. It is also used cumulatively to assess what percentage saw a specified amount of a complete series/month of television etc. The amount which must have been viewed in order for someone to be considered 'reached' can be defined variously, but it often three minutes of a programme or daypart. Cumulative reach does not simply add the reach of individual programmes or dayparts, someone who saw at least three minutes of each programme in a six-part series would be included once, not six times, in the calculation of cumulative reach. Commercial Reach/Cover/Coverage/ is used in conjunction with frequency to reveal the extent to which a campaign was seen by the target audience. In the case of commercials , duration is nearly always a minute or less, so various definitions of reach/cover are not possible - for each spot, the target audience either viewed or did not. Reach/cover can then be calculated for various stages throughout the campaign.

Reach - Campaign The number of different individuals who are exposed to a schedule of commercials.

Reach - Weekly (Radio) The number in thousands or as a percentage of the UK/area population who listen to a station for at least five minutes in the course of an average week.

Reach and Frequency The number of people who, for example, have had an opportunity to see an insertion in a given issue of a publication or who watch a television channel and the frequency of which they read or watch it.

Reach and Frequency Analysis Reach and Frequency Analysis calculate reach and frequency.

Readers Per Copy (RPC) Estimate of the number of people who read an average circulated copy of a publication.

Readership Remembrance (Outdoor) The number and percentage of people who remember having seen individual posters-based on home interviews.

Reading and Noting The readership measurement technique by which page traffic scores are obtained.

Reading Frequency ("How Often") The estimation of the frequency of exposure to a publication.

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

Real Audio Software that permits Internet users to listen to audio in real time.

Real Time The process by which software enables large quantities of fast changing audio/video data to be received almost immediately.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) Software that allows you to flag website content (often from blogs or new sites) and aggregate new entries to this content into an easy to read format that is delivered directly to a user's PC. See also blogs.

RealPlayer iMedia player, created by RealNetworks, that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, and Windows Media formats as well as multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo codecs.

Rebase to full sample Where a question has only been asked to a pre-determined selected part of the respondent base, rather than just seeing the result for that smaller universe, by rebasing to the full sample you can see the results of that question for the full respondent base

Rebate A payment to the advertiser by a medium when the advertising schedule does not satisfy the contractual commitments originally agreed to and the advertising schedule earns a lower rate.

Receiver Inside unit to take signals from the antenna, tune and convert them for display on a TV.

Recency In readership surveys recent measures, for a given publication, the lapsed time between the last reading event and the day of interview.

Recent Reading The term to describe the technique that establishes readership levels by asking respondents when they last read or looked at any issue of each publication.

Reception quality The quality of TV signal received in the home.

Recognition Recognition in a readership survey, the measurement of reading by using issues of the publication, stripped issues, front covers, and/or table of contents.

Recruitment date Date when a home is recruited on to a panel.

Recruitment survey Survey other than the ES conducted for the purpose of recruiting homes on to the panel.

Red button A button on the remote control for certain digital television set top boxes in the United Kingdom and used to access interactive television services.

Reduced screen viewing Viewing which takes place where the main broadcast channel is shown in reduced size within a screen that has other content.

Reference signal Source used for comparisons in picture and audio matching methods for signal identification.

Referral In An arrival to a site from outside (elsewhere on the Internet) by a unique device.

Regional TAM (Australia) Private company under ownership of the five FTA regional commercial networks in Australia that operates a MOC TAM data service. Regional TAM is responsible for managing the Regional TAM contract that is collected and marketed by AGB Nielsen Media Research Australia.

Regional TV TV channels targeted at geographically defined regions within a country.

Registered Address A contactable SMTP address in the distribution list that has requested the email service.

Registered Address/ Reach Metric, Email A contactable email address that a media owner holds as part of a distribution list.

Registered User Account An account set up for a User to request to receive access to a website, service or network.

Registered Users Users of a website who have completed a questionnaire or subscription form before being allowed access top the site. For consumer publications these subscriptions are usually free but allow the publisher to gain key demographic data about their users. To be claimed as a registered user in an audit, registrants must be contactable by the auditing company to enable validation of the claim.

Regression analysis Mathematical technique which has multiple, linear and non-linear forms and is used for the fitting of data points to lines or curves to provde a forecasting model (often used in tracking studies and response campaigns).

Regular Readership Estimate of the number of people who read a publication on a regular basis.

Regular visitor Person who is a regular guest viewer and may be assigned his/her own button in order to avoid the more cumbersome, time-consuming process of recording guest age and sex at the start of every viewing session. Though treated in exactly the same way as panel members with respect to task instructions, regular visitors are still classified as guests in the processed viewing data output.

Regular/Active Internet User A user who uses the internet more than once during a particular period.

Remote control handset / unit (1) Remote device for changing channels or activating other functions (e.g. playing DVDs) on the TV set. (2) Remote control handset employed for registering viewer presence in TAM research. Often referred to as push-button handsets.

Render Outputting your session into an audio file (or sometimes multiple files) that other people can listen to.

Repeat Reading When an issue of a publication or a particular page inside it is read or looked at on more than one occasion.

Replay TV see Catch-up TV

Replicated Readership When a respondent reads the same issue of a publication during two or more different Publication Periods.

Reporting homes The number of panel homes that contribute to the daily ratings. Where failure to meet quality control standards or communications related problems occur, such installed homes are eliminated from the reporting panel. Also known as In-tab homes.

Reporting sample Final validated sample of eligible survey respondents from data are reported.

Reporting universe Demographically or otherwise classified population for reporting viewing data, which is specifically weighted for so as to conform to a constant population estimate.

Requested Download A request for a non-HTML file which can be used offline- such as an mp3 audio file or a spreadsheet.

Requested Podcast A Requested Download of an audio or video file made by a User following automated notification that a file is available.

Requested Sponsored Subscription Sales (ABC) A single copy personally requested by and distributed to a known individual but paid for by a third party sponsor for a contracted period.

Requirement/Reward Analysis A key driver analysis that looks at the Equity statements/ usership areas that are associated with dissatisfaction and those covering satisfaction.

RES Readers Enquiry Service - Publishers may offer a service whereby readers enquiries concerning advertisements will be passed on to advertisers. This will normally be a form which appears in the magazine for the reader to fill in and return.

Resolution The density of a TV image, that is determined by the number of Pixels in the screen display. High definition TV signals are so called because they have higher resolution than Standard definition signals.

Respondent The person providing the information to the interviewer/researcher.

Respondent Level Data In radio this refers to RAJAR data which is analysed at the most granular level, by individual respondents’ diaries.

Respondent level viewing data Same as Disaggregated viewing data - Processed viewing data held at the level of individual respondents.

Response bias Bias in survey data due to measurement methods (e.g. recall bias in diary or day after recall TAM research, or panel fatigue in peoplemeter measurement).

Response Function 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.

Response Rate The number of successfully completed interviews or returned questionnaires expressed as a percentage of those it was attempted to screen or interview/question.

Restricted Service Licence A UK Restricted Service Licence, is granted to a radio station to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by Ofcom.

Retail Customer Magazine This is publication published by or on behalf of a retailer, that is aimed at the customer of that retailer. It is supplied to the Retailer's own outlets for distribution in-store, either paid for or free.

Retail sales (ABC) A copy sold to a retailer, on a sale or return basis, for resale as a single copy to a consumer.

Return Path The means by which messages are transmitted back through the cable system from the subscriber to the headend.

Return Path (or Upstream, or Reverse Path) A data link that goes from a digital television system subscriber back to the system head-end. For a cable system, this may be the same cable. For a satellite or IPTV system, it may be a telephone landline or GPRS link.

Return Path Data Any information sent via a Return Path, including system information such as subscription and pay per view requests, also user interactivity, and potentially research information on audience size by channel.

Revenue sharing Agreement between TV stations and content providers, including production houses, to split revenues earned by programme/s.

Review buffer A buffer on a hard disc that automatically stores a configurable number of minutes of any programme that is being viewed live. This facility is necessary for permitting live pause and rewind functionality on PVRs and other timeshift devices.

RFID Abbreviation of Radio Frequency Identification. RFID tags use radio waves to identify people or objects. The technology is considered as a possible means of measuring readership audiences electronically.

RGU (Revenue generating unit) Metric used by cable operators and broadband ISPs offering a selection of services (e.g. triple play), to denote the total number of paid for services being taken across the customer base. The customer base may also be categorised according to the number of RGUs taken by each customer.

RHP Right Hand Page

Rich Media A method of communication that incorporates animation, sound, video, and/or interactivity. It can be used either singularly or in combination with the following technologies: streaming media, sound, flash, and with programming languages such as Java, Javascript and DHTML. It is deployed via standard web and wireless applications including email, web design, banners, buttons, and interstitials. Examples include Eyewonder, Flash and Eyeblaster advertisements.

Rich media (Online) Online advertising with which visitors to a web site can interact in a web page format.

Rich Media Guidelines Design guidelines produced by the IAB (USA) for effective use of Rich Media technologies in all forms of internet advertising. They aim to protect user experience by keeping them in control of the experience eg: encouraging clearly labelled close, sound and video buttons

RIM (Random iterative method) weighting Method of weighting that puts selected non-interlocking and grouped interlocking variables in isolation through an iterative sequence of weighting adjustments. The sequence adjusts for each rim in turn and then repeats itself as many times as is required in order to obtain a convergence, in which the sum of the weighted rims matches the target population estimates, or is as close as it is possible to achieve.

Rim Weighting Rim weighting looks at each target variable in turn. The sample is weighted to the first variable (e.g. region).

Ripping Process of copying digital or analogue content from one form to another (e.g. transferring CD or DVD content to a hard-disc or vice versa).

RMS Root Means Squared. A short term average of audio levels.

Road blocking Placing a commercial on as many cable (or other minority) services as possible at the same time, to maximise ratings.

Roadblock A programme or commercial scheduling device used by broadcast networks to increase or maximise reach at a given time (e.g. Scheduling a commercial on all local market stations at 9:00 p.m.).

ROAS Return on investment, or the ratio between net income and initial investment, (i.e. how much did you spend on marketing vs. how much business did it drive? Or how much money did you make?)

ROI (Return on Investment) Net profit divided by investment. ROI is the "bottom line" on how successful an ad or campaign was in terms of what the returns (generally sales revenue) were for the money expended.

Roll-out A marketing procedure where advertising is progressively expanded into more geographic areas over time.

Rolling sample Sample for which data is reported at regular intervals for time periods that overlap with preceding time periods (e.g. figures for last 12-months reported quarterly).

Rollover (Internet) The act of a visitor moving their mouse over an ad, resulting in the ad changing its behaviour e.g. expanding.

RON (Run of Network) The scheduling of internet advertising whereby an ad network positions ads across the sites it represents at its own discretion, according to available inventor. The advertiser usually forgoes premium positioning in exchange for more advertising weight at a lower CPM.

Roomtone he sounds of a space when the subject isn’t making any sound. In the physical world, our brains filter this out, and we are usually unaware of it. When editing recording audio, having the roomtone upbruptly cut out (or change) during an edit can create a bad edit. Recording 30 seconds to a minute of roomtone can make editing way easier.

ROP Run of Paper - signifying that an advertisement booked thus may appear in any position within the publication (ie is not guaranteed to appear in any specific position).

ROS (Run of schedule) Procedure for transmitting advertising spots, in which the TV station has the discretion to transmit a given spot at any point in the advertising schedule, but within the terms of the negotiated guarantees of audience delivery.

ROS (Run Of Site) The scheduling of internet advertising whereby ads run across an entire site, often at a lower cost to the advertiser than the purchase of specific site sub-sections.

Rotary Printing from plates on cylinders.

Rotation A change in the order of presentation of publications over the sample of interviews.

Route Provide audience estimates for OOH advertising in Britain. The data they publish tells subscribers how many and what type of people see an advertising campaign, and how often they do so. The information is used as the currency for planning, trading and valuing advertising investment in the medium.

ROW Run of Week - an ad. booked on this basis may appear on any day of the specified week.

Royalty Free Music Music that can be used without paying royalties. Still requires a license, and it often has strict usage restrictions so you often can’t use it anyplace that would actually pay royalties.

RPC Readers Per Copy (RPC) are simply calculated as the average issue readership divided by the circulation.

RR (Response rate) Index of survey response in surveys employing interview or self-completion questionnaires. The RR is typically defined as the total number of successfully completed interviews expressed as a percentage of the total number of addresses/individuals approached during a survey: the main reasons for non-response being absences and refusals. Precise operational definitions are highly variable, though.

RRE Right Reading Emulsion - term used to describe way film is produced by printers, which is then sent to advertisers

RSA Advertising Was known as Cinema Media.

RSS Really Simple Syndication - Software that allows you to flag website content (often from blogs or new sites) and aggregate new entries to this content into an easy to read format that is delivered directly to a user's PC.

RSS Really Simple Script. A feed format that was initially invented for blogs. Podcasting was born when someone realized you can embed a link to an audio file instead of an article, and it’s still the favored way to distribute a podcast.

RSS (Really simple syndication) Software system making use of feed reader or aggregator programmes that facilitates subscriber access to their favourite web sites by helping to check feeds and pick out materials of interest to them.

RSS Referral In A Referral In generated by a click on a headline or link in an RSS feed.

RT Retweet

RTB Real time bidding

RTSP (Real time streaming protocol) Video streaming protocol developed by the IETF that allows client users to control the streaming server by using VCR-like commands such as “play” and “pause”. RTPS is employed in a number of streaming media systems (e.g. RealPlayer, VideoLan, MPlayer, Window Media Player, QuickTimer etc).

Run of station (see also ROS (Run of schedule))

Run-in Period (usually from two to seven days) when a newly installed home is under observation before it enters the panel sample. The home is placed in directory and polled, but withheld from production in the net daily reporting sample.

Running text (CG Crawl) Character Generator Crawl: promo with moving text during a programme.

S4C Sianel Pedwar Cymru (Welsh Fourth Channel) - established under the Broadcasting Act of 1980, and controlled by the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority.

SAARF (South Africa) South African Advertising Research Foundation: Multimedia joint industry organisation responsible for TAM data provision in South Africa.

SaaS Software as a service

Sale When a user makes a purchase from an online advertiser.

Sales House An organisation which sells advertising on behalf of other media owners. These sales houses typically retain a percentage of the revenue they sell in exchange for their services. These organisations may combine a number of websites together and sell them as different packages to advertisers.

Sales House (radio) The company that sells radio activity on behalf of the owner of the radio station. In many cases, the sales point owns the radio stations that it sells the airtime for. In a few cases, the sales point doesn't own the station, but acts as a selling agent for the owner of that station.

Sales Point (radio) The company that sells radio activity on behalf of the owner of the radio station. In many cases, the sales point owns the radio stations that it sells the airtime for. In a few cases, the sales point doesn't own the station, but acts as a selling agent for the owner of that station.

Sallies Small-scale Alternative Location Local Licences or Sallies are the result of a new radio authority policy introduced in 1996.

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

Sample bias Bias due to lack of representativeness within a sample. It is a wholly distinct concept from sample error. Unlike the latter, sample bias cannot be calculated statistically, but can only be established empirically by comparing two or more samples with different known composition. Latent bias is often used to refer to potential unknown or hidden biases in the data which cannot be assessed.

Sample composition Sample structure or profile, as determined by the full set of sample classification variables (e.g. Age; Sex; Household size; Number of TV sets in the home; etc.).

Sample dispersion Geographic dispersion of sample. Dispersion is a function of the clustering of PSUs or number of interviews per PSU. Peoplemeter panels usually apply rules for improving dispersion by limiting the number of homes recruited per PSU and/or restricting the proximity of panel homes with one another.

Sample error Statistical measure of the possible deviation of a sample estimate from the true population value, assuming the sample to be representative of the population from which it has been drawn. The sample error is normally expressed as a margin of difference either side of the reported value within specified confidence limits (i.e. "there is an x% probability that the true population value lies within y units either side of the sample estimate"). Sample error is wholly distinct and not to be confused with sample bias, for which no parametric statistical assumptions can be made.

Sample Free Distribution (ABC) Free copies distributed, on an irregular basis, using an existing ABC Free Distribution category.

Sample Rate How often a recorder takes a sample of a sound wave.

Sample Size The number of respondents (or households) from whom research data was successfully collected.

Sample stratification (see also Stratification)

Sample Weights Different values put on constituent parts of the sample to restore them to the correct proportions e.g. Suppose that a biased sample of 100 people included 20 men and 80 women. A researcher could correct for this imbalance by attaching a weight of 2.5 for each male and 0.625 for each female. This would adjust any estimates to achieve the same expected value as a sample that included exactly 50 men and 50 women.

Sampling Error Statistical term synonymous with Standard Error.

Sampling Frame Known data used to generate the sample. Most specifically a grouping or listing of all the eligible units (such as countries, post codes, addresses, establishments, etc.) which are used to provide a sample.

Sampling interval Fixed interval with randomly chosen starting point for selecting items on a list with equal (or known other) probability of inclusion in the survey sample. The term also applies to the selection of addresses at a PSU, although the term step function is also commonly used.

Sampling Point A geographic district where interviews were carried out. The definition of the districts will be determined by the structure of the sampling frame.

Sampling Procedure Those respondents identified as being eligible to be interviewed or questioned for a survey. It often refers to those actually interviewed or questioned.

SAP Station Average Price - calculation of the average 30" cost-per-thousand for a specified audience group, obtained by dividing total station revenue by total relevant ratings achieved, over a specified time period.

Satellite (analogue vs digital) Television signals received via a satellite and dish

Satellite Master Antenna Television SMATV systems are similar to MATV, but instead of a landbased aerial relaying 'over-the-air' channels by cable, there are large satellite dish receivers with a cable connection running to individual households enabling them to receive satellite TV channels.

Satellite reception Direct reception of satellite TV signals by means of an individual (DTH) or collective (SMATV) satellite dish receiver. Operational definitions employed by TAM systems may differ slightly (e.g. inclusion of SMATV under cable reception) depending on structural distinctions that are found most relevant in the local marketplace.

Satellite station A broadcast station that rebroadcasts the transmission of another station (generally operating in a nearby market) to an area that cannot otherwise be serviced by that station.

Satellite TV General term for all TV channels and other services that are transmitted via satellite and can be accessed via DTH or SMATV reception.

Scart A plug and socket with 21 pins. Used to link audiovisual equipment including set-top boxes.

Scatter Purchasing commercial time in broadcast media in many different programmes. Also refers to the purchasing of network TV time, which is not purchased during an "upfront" media buy.

SCC Single Column Centimetre

Schedule Media schedule - list of media vehicles usually with accompanying data, such as insertion dates, rates, etc.

Schedule Evaluation An estimate of how a schedule or schedules perform against given target markets.

Scrambling In cable television this refers to process of electronically modifying or encrypting a broadcast signal to allow only persons with an appropriate decoder to view the output.

Screen A device or medium designed to deliver Digital Place-Based, Digital Outof-Home, and/or Advertising content whether it be video, audio, or both.

Screen Grabs The name given to the process of capturing images and video stills to a digital file.

Screen Size Measurement of density of half-tone dot formation used to reproduce pictures. Greater density represents a higher print quality. The screen ruling measures the number of lines or dots per centimetre. Different screen sizes are usually applicable to colour and mono copy.

Screen-By-Screen Buying Route Cinema screens have individual weekly rates, with a minimum exhibition of one screen for one week. This route allows precise geographical targeting.

Screening The identification of eligible units (people, addresses, companies etc.) within the Sampling Frame.

SDTV (Standard definition television) Television transmissions with picture resolution that meets accepted industry standards, but offer significantly lower resolution than enhanced television and high definition television (HDTV) services that are becoming steadily more widespread. (see also HDTV (High definition television))

Search The first Page Impression sent to a valid User as a result of that browser's search request being received by the server.

Search Click A Click origination from a set of search results.

Search Engine A web program that helps users find information on the internet. The method for finding this information is usually done by maintaining an index of web resources that can be queried for the keywords or concepts entered by the user.

Search engine marketing Form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote website traffic by increasing their visibility in the search engine results pages.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) The process which aims to get websites listed prominently in search engine results through search engine optimisation, sponsored search and paid inclusion. See also PPC and SEO and Paid Inclusion.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) The process which aims to get websites listed prominently within search engine’s organic (algorithmic, spidered) search results. Involves making a site ‘search engine friendly’. See also organic listings.

Search engine/Search service Internet application which enables users to search for and find material on the world wide web. Mainly used in the context of web searches, search engines typically operate with a list of keywords or phrases that direct users to relevant sites, although natural language search engines are being developed.

Search list List of web sites on results pages of an Internet search. The sites may be ranked according to variable criteria of importance and relevance or, in the case of paid-listings, on how much advertisers have paid. (see also Search listing)

Search listing Reference to a web site on the results page of an Internet search, typically containing some contextual information about the web site (e.g. sentence or phrase(s) containing the embedded search word(s)). (see also Search list)

SECAM TV system used by some French channels. Displays as black and white on UK PAL television.

Second screen Second screen refers to the use of an additional electronic device (e.g. tablet, smartphone or the computer) by individuals who are already watching the television.

Secondary Readers Readers of a publication issue that was not bought by themselves or a member of their household, or who were not the original recipients of a title sent free of charge.

Secure Server Encrypting system that allows confidential information (such as credit card details) to be sent safely over the Internet.

Selectivity Media vehicle's ability to select particular audience categories, e.g. Regionals, Ages.

Self-Completion Questionnaire / Survey Questionnaire either posted to respondent or left by the interviewer to be completed at the respondent's leisure.

Self-mailer Direct mail material in which no envelope is required for mailing.

Sell Side Platform A technology platform that provides outsourced media selling services or applications for sellers that optimizes the yield across demand side partners.

Seller / Supply-Side A digital service from a traditional broadcaster or a streaming audio platform.

Selling Groups A selling group is a combination of titles, which for advertising purposes are sold as a package.

SEM Search Engine Marketing - The process which aims to get websites listed prominently in search-engine results through search-engine optimisation, sponsored search and paid inclusion.

Semi-display Classified newspaper advertisement which contains not just lineage but also a logo and/or other illustrative material. Positioned amongst other ads and grouped together according to 'classifications'.

Semiotics The theory of symbols and signs which explores how people glean meaning from words, sounds, and pictures. Sometimes used in researching names for various products and services. Can be relevant in media planning where the nature of the medium may be thought semiotically significant

SEO Search Engine Optimisation - The process which aims to get websites listed prominently within search engine's organic (algorithmic, spidered) search results. Involves making a site 'search engine friendly'.

Serial Digital Interface (SDI) Is a dedicated digital video interface used to carry broadcast quality video content.

SERP Search engine results page

Served Advertising Served ads are a means of dynamically inserting ads into blank ad spots in a linear broadcast or on-demand programming. This is different to having the ad 'burnt in' by the broadcaster or content provider when it is made. Most are ‘served’ to VOD requests, by region, time of day, content type etc. Sky's adsmart deploys an alternative technology to serve ads using targetted substitutational advertising.

Server A host computer which maintains websites, newsgroups and email services

Server (video) Computer system with large video and audio storage capacity (typically in order of 500 Gb for broadcast services) that is connected to a network of client users and intended for transmission and distant access (e.g. on-demand video programming).

Server initiated ad impression. (see also Ad impression (Online))

Service Provider The company or group that provides access to the Internet or an online service (e.g. AOL, Orange, Netcom etc.)

Session See visit

Session (Online) (1) Sequence of Actions by one user at one web site. (2) Series of actions by a user that can be tracked across successive visits.

Set Meters TV meters which only collect information on set/equipment/channel- i.e. no information on who is viewing.

Set top box A stand-alone device that receives and decodes programming so that it may be displayed on a television. Set-top boxes may be used to receive broadcast, cable, and satellite programming.

Set top box / STB Supplied to cable and satellite subscribers to enable them to receive signals to their television sets.

Set-top box data Digital set-top boxes support communication between providers and their subscribers, and vice versa. This communication link back to the provider also gives that provider the ability to collect information on all activity taking place within the set-top box, including programmes tuned or services selected. This information identifies only commands given to/actions taken by the set-top box actions, and does not provide information on the person or persons viewing.

Set-top box interface Interface between the meter and the set-top box.

Setmeter measurement General methodology for collecting household TV viewing data using meters that only collect information on set/equipment/ channel use: i.e. do not collect any information on individual viewing.

Setmeter, Online Setmeter The audience measurement methods used prior to the Peoplemeter. Setmeters were used in conjunction with diaries - the Setmeter collecting information about the television set(s) in the home and the diary used for recording individual viewing patterns. The Setmeter stored its data on a tape which was returned weekly to the research contractor along with the diary. The Online Setmeter allowed data collection to occur nightly via the television network.

Sets in use Previously referred to as the number of TV sets in use (turned on) at a given time. Currently referred to as HUT. (see also HUT (Homes using TV))

SFX Abbreviation for Sound Effects. Can mean physical sounds like footsteps and doorknobs, as well as music-like elements like whooshes and slams.

SGPID Identification code used in J-ET to represent a station, group or package ID

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

Share of Audience Percentage of selected audience which is tuned to a particular medium at a given time, e.g. the proportion of the target group who are watching a particular TV channel between the hours of 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Share of Listening The percentage of total listening time accounted for by a station in the UK/area.

Share of market Percentage of total category volume sales accounted for by a brand.

Share of Time Defines the % share of time each advertising slot has for a site/frame.

Share of Total Viewing The percentage ot total viewing time accounted for by each channel.

Share of Voice Share of total adspend accounted for by an advertiser or group of advertisers within a defined market sector over a specified time period

Shareware Software that can be downloaded from the Internet for users to try before deciding to buy.

Sheet Printing by separate sheets rather than reels.

Shock Mount A microphone mount that tries to minimize handling noise by using shock absorption.

Shockwave Shockwave allows interactive multimedia content such as sounds and animation to be seen on the Internet.

Short Term Loudness The average loudness of the last four seconds of audio, measured in LUFs. Best measurement to use when trying to even out your levels.

SHOUTcast Multiplatform freeware audio streaming technology, developed by Nullsoft. SHOUTcast uses MP3 or AAC encoding of audio content and HTTP (though multicast can be used) as the transport protocol to broadcast web radio, also known as Internet radio. The most common use of SHOUTcast is for Internet broadcasting. Using SHOUTcast it is possible to set up an Internet broadcasting station cheaply, allowing hobbyists to set up their own networks for a fraction of the cost of a traditional AM broadcasting or FM radio station.

SHR Abbreviation of Share of audience

Shufflecast See Staggercast

SI (Service information) Proprietary information about the applications software in a set-top box, which can be used to facilitate the measurement of non real-time broadcast viewing (e.g. PVR use) and on-demand viewing, but relies on the co-operation of the service provider.

SI Code (Service information code) A code broadcast by a channel that uniquely identifies that channel and contains additional schedule information that can assist viewers in their choice of programmes (e.g. EPG information, schedule listings for PVR timeshift, etc.).

Sibilants Sounds like “sss” and “shh.” Are prone to becoming unpleasantly loud in audio recording.

Signal injection (technology) Technology of facilitating later signal identification by means of boosting the incoming transmission with a high frequency burst which can be detected by a sensor attached to the TV set.

Signal sampling Meter collection of visual or audio data samples that are used later in picture and audio matching methods of signal identification.

Signal Strength Indicator The display on a mobile phone that indicates if a user has a good signal reception for making and receiving calls.

Signature (also known as spot signature) The digital fingerprint extracted from a commercial spot that allows its automatic recognition in the future.

Significance Testing Statistical technique for measuring the significance of research results, taking account of sample size and construction.

SIM Subscriber Identity Module. A removable part the mobile phone hardware that identifies the subscriber.

SIM (Subscriber identity module) Smart card placed in the mobile handset that identifies the mobile telephone subscriber and contains additional subscription information. USIM (Universal subscriber identity module) is a variant used by UMTS.

Sim Card Abbreviation of Subscriber Identify Module Card. A card used inside a mobile phone containing a computer chip which stores information.

Simple Random Sample A single-stage sample where every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.

Simulated Station This term is generally used to refer to a radio station not yet on the Rajar survey that is using simulated data for planning schedules. The simulated data is often based on a percentage of another Rajar station's data.

Simulation The systematic ascription of figures to populations in analysis for which such figures were not obtained by standard interviewing methods.

Simulcast Where channel output is identical (by content/time) between analogue channel and its digital counterpart

Simulcasting Simultaneous broadcasting of a TV channel or programme on two or more different transmission systems (e.g. TV channels broadcast simultaneously in analogue and digital formats). Also, the simultaneous broadcast of the same programme on two or more different channels. Another application is the transmission of the original language soundtrack of movies or TV series over radio, with the television broadcast having been dubbed into a local language.

Single Copy Sales (ABC) A single copy sold to a consumer direct by the publisher

Single Copy Subscription Sales (ABC) A single copy sold and distributed to an individual or organisation for a contracted period.

Single Page Display Full single page of advertising

Single Sign On SSO is an authentication process that allows users to authenticate with multiple websites or apps via one set of credentials in a secure manner.

Single Source In media research, a "single source" survey refers to a survey which collects media, consumer and demographic data from the same respondents.

Single source data Two or more sets of data from the same sample. The term is often used in media research to refer to surveys that combine the collection of product/service purchase/consumption patterns with media consumption habits from a single household or individual source.

Single-Copy-Sales The sales figure applicable to the single copies of a publication which are sold, on a "casual" basis, by the retailer to the buyer; that is, it excludes "committed" sales via subscriptions, or via regular orders from a newsagent.

Single-Source Data See Product/Media Data and Single Source.

SIR Abbreviation of Specific Issue Readership.

Siri Siri is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, and tvOS operating systems

Site Two or more interconnected Web pages presented as a unified place on the Web.

Site Analytics The reporting and analysis of website activity - in particular user behaviour on the site. All websites have a weblog which can be used for this purpose, but other third party software is available for a more sophisticated service.

Site Brand URL The single URL that a site (or a network of sites) uses as shorthand to identify itself and all its content.

Site-Centric Measurement In internet research, the method of measuring website audiences through counting page requests for the given site regardless of where they came from geographically or whether they come from work-place or home-based computers or any other devices, including mobile phones.

Size (Outdoor) Also referred to as 'Format'. Including but not limited to 4, 6, 12, 16, 32, 48 & 96 Sheets.

Skeletonised Copies Stripped-down copies of publications consisting of the front cover and a number of key pages/articles, occasionally used in magazine research, also known as the Through the Book method (TTB)

Sky 3D Sky 3D is the broadcast channel dedicated to 3D content from UK satellite TV platform Sky. It was officially launched on 1st October, 2010 and was Europe's first 3D broadcast channel.

Sky Digital Sky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service

Sky Go Formerly known as Sky Player, Sky Anytime on PC and Sky By Broadband, Sky Go is an online television service from Sky which launched in January 2006. The service allows users to watch live and on demand video content from their Mac, Windows PC, mobile pho

Sky Player Sky's catch-up service

Sky+ Brand name for digital television recorder (DTR) service produced and marketed by Sky. It enables its users to pause, rewind and record live TV channels.

Skype Proprietary peer-to-peer Voice over IP (VoIP) network. (see also VoIP (Voice over Internet Procotol))

Skyscraper A 120 x 600 ad position that usually appears on the right-hand (or sometimes left-hand) side of the website.

Slave meter Meter installed on a TV set or other equipment that is "subservient" to another "master" meter in the household, which controls some of its functions (e.g. time synchrony) and collects data from it for temporary storage and delivery to the central processing base of the data supplier during polling.

Slingbox Connects to a user's home set-top box and broadband network, and enables them to view their TV services on a mobile device when connected to the Internet, using software called the SlingPlayer.

Slot A commercial break within one or between two programmes, containing several advertisements.

SMA TV/Satellite Master Antennae TV Set A SMATV or satellite master antennae TV set is a set receiving a TV signal by wire from a communal satellite dish on a multi-occupancy building.

Smart assistant A smart assistant – also known as a virtual assistant – is a form of software installed in a smart device (such as a smart speaker or a smart phone) that can perform tasks or services, or answer questions.

Smart card A plastic card (the size of a credit card), which is inserted into the set-top box and whose functions are to verify the user's entitlement to access a given TV channel or other service and monitor use. Smart cards are normally used for determining pay-TV access, but may also be required by some free-to-air channels.

Smart speaker A smart speaker is a type of speaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant

Smart TV see Connected TV

Smart/intelligent antenna System of antenna signal arrays that is able to detect the location and track movements of a signal source. A basic distinction exists between switch beam smart antennas, which select from several available fixed beam patterns, and adaptive array smart antennas, which are steered in the direction of the signal beam.

Smartcard Credit card-sized electronic key put in a decoder to unscramble a protected channel.

Smartphone Any handheld electronic device that combines the functions of a mobile telephone and PDA or other information appliance.

SMATV Satellite Master Antenna Television - Relatively small cable systems, often serving a single block of flats for example, built to deliver a range of satellite television channels to the homes connected to them.

SMATV (Satellite master antenna television system) MATV system equipped with one or more satellite receivers for picking up additional TV channels via satellite. (see also MATV (Master Antenna Television))

SMCS Short Message Service Centre. A network switch for routing SMS traffic.

SMM Social Media Marketing

SMM Social media marketing

SMO Social media optimisation

SMPP Short Message Peer to peer Protocol used for exchanging SMS messages.

SMS Short Message Service (SMS) is a service available on most digital mobile phones (and other mobile devices, e.g. a Pocket PC, or occasionally even desktop computers) that permits the sending of short messages (also known as text messages, or more colloquially SMSes, texts or even txts) between mobile phones, other handheld devices and even landline telephones. Other uses of text messaging can be for ordering ringtones, wallpapers and entering competitions. There are also many services available on the Internet that allow users to send text messages for free.

SMS (Short message service) Text messaging service available on most mobile phones.

SMS (Subscriber management system ) Management system employed by subscription platform operators for handling subscriber payments and queries.

Snapchat Snapchat is a multimedia messaging app

SNG (Satellite News-Gathering) Use of satellite TV technology to send news material from portable uplink stations.

Sniffer Software Which identifies the capabilities of the user's browser and therefore can determine compatibility with ad formats and serve them an advert they will be able to see/fully interact with (eg: GIF, Flash etc).

Social Advertising Running paid ads on social media platforms

Social Class Classification of social status, usually based on the occupation of the head of household.

Social Grade A Upper Middle Class - Higher managerial, administrative or professional.

Social Grade B Middle Class - Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional.

Social Grade C1 Lower Middle - Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional.

Social Grade C2 Skilled Working - Skilled manual workers.

Social Grade D Working Class - Semi and unskilled manual workers.

Social Grade E Those at lowest levels of subsistence - State pensioners or widows (no other earner), subsistence casual or lowest grade workers.

Social Grade Explanation The Social Grade counts provided represent the Social Grade of the “Household Reference Person” (HRP), and is only provided when the HRP is between 16 and 74. Therefore, any household where the HRP falls outside this range will be excluded which will explain the vast proportion of the discrepancy between the SG_TOT and H_HOLDS. Additionally, where the data was collected at low level geographies, some demographic detail may have been restricted

Social Grading Social Grading is the longest-standing classification system, familiar from almost every population survey, originally developed for the National Readership Survey.

Social Media We refer to social media, in a commercial sense, as: the creation of useful, valuable and relevant content and applications by brands, or by consumers with specific reference to brands, that can be shared online, facilitated by web 2.0 technology.

Social media Websites and applications used for social networking.

Social network (Online) Web site, that serves as an online meeting-place, where users are able to connect with friends and make new contacts.

Social TV Social television is a general term for technology that supports communication and social interaction in either the context of watching television, or related to TV content.

Socio-Economic Data Indication of 'class' based on the occupation of the head of the household or chief income earner. Example: A Upper middle class B Middle class C1 Lower middle class C2 Skilled working class D Semi-skilled and unskilled working class E Those at the lowest levels of subsistence.

Socio-Economic Groups Classification of social status, usually based on the occupation of the head of household.

Soft Floor The minimum price for inventory, as specified by the publisher. This price can be lowered if a second-price auction option is in place. The bid will not be rejected if it comes in below the soft floor.

Software house Third party company developing its own software applications and undertaking TAM data analysis on behalf of licensed users.

Software supplier Company supplying application software for purposes of programming/advertising analysis.

Solo-Viewing Defines the condition where the members of a reference target are the focus of an analysis only when they are watching television alone.

Solus An advert not adjoined on any other side by other advertising display or classified

Solus Email Solus e-mail is a term used in the e-mail marketing industry. A solus e-mail would be a third-party advertisement that is sent to an opt-in subscription e-mail list that is comprised of demographics of target consumers that the third-party want to advertise to. The e-mail advertisement will generally not show any information about the website or company who owns the e-mail list, but will appear to come directly to you from the third-party brand. Solus e-mail marketing is also called direct e-mail marketing

Solus email advertising where the body of the email is determined by the advertiser, including both text and graphical elements, and is sent on their behalf by an email list manager/owner. Solus email advertising is conducted on an opt-in basis where the recipient has given the

Sound Vibrations in the air that our brains can decipher into a staggering amount of information, including speech, music, and an understanding of the physical world around us.

Sound Design Creating soundscapes. The specifics of the job can vary wildly, and may include composing music, adding library music, adding sound effects and reverb treatments. In music, it typically refers to making exotic sounds with a synthesizer.

Sound Designer Someone who creates sound design.

SOV Share of voice

SOV (Share of voice) Percentage of advertising impressions generated by all brands in a category accounted for by a particular brand. SOV also often refers to share of advertising spend in a given medium.

Spam Unwanted email that the user does not request.

Spamming The sending of unrequested mass email-shots. This practice has created a huge backlash from the net community which will typically see the sender bombarded (or flammed) with abusive email.

Sparklies Small white and black flashes on a satellite-delivered TV picture caused by too weak a received signal.

Special Positions A special position is a mono advert which does not appear run of paper.

Spectrogram A visual representation of audio that shows both the frequencies in the audio and their relative intensities. See “Waveform.”

Spectrum Shortened term for the electromagnetic or radio frequency spectrum, portions of which have been allocated by international agreement for specific classes of application, including radio, broadcast television, mobile TV, etc. Use of the radio frequency spectrum is regulated by national governments as well as subject to international co-ordination agreements aimed at minimising interference between neighbouring territories.

Spider A programme which crawls the web and fetches web pages in order for them to be indexed against keywords. Used by search engines to formulate search result pages.

Spill-in/Spill-out Spill-in is viewing of television broadcast from a different market (e.g., people in San Diego viewing Los Angeles stations). Spill-out is viewing outside the originating TV market (e.g., Los Angeles stations delivering audiences in San Diego).

Splash Page A preliminary page that precedes the user-requested page of a website that usually promotes a particular site feature or provides advertising. A splash page is timed to move on to the requested page after a short period of time or a click. Splash pages are not considered qualified page impressions under current industry guidelines, but they are considered qualified ad impressions. Splash pages are also known as supertitial and interstitial.

Split screen TV screen partitioned so as to allow simultaneous display of two or more video tracks.

Split-Transmitter This term is used when an analogue radio station has multiple transmitters and chooses to play out different programming or ads on one or more of the transmitters.

Sponsored Search See PPC (Pay Per Click).

Sponsorship A form of promotion where a company associates itself of/and a product with a particular activity or event.

Sponsorship Research Research to aid the understanding of this communication method in the multi platform world.

Spontaneous Recall Ability of respondent to recall any details of any particular subject without prompting.

Spot An individual occurrence of a commercial.

Spot Colour These are additional colours printed on two a black and white background. These require an extra run through the press, but do not involve filtered colours.

Spot Length The length of time an individual spot plays for

Spot Plan Organisation of individual spots

Spot purchase Purchase of TV commercial time on a market-by-market basis as opposed to network (national) purchases. Also commonly used in lieu of "commercial announcement".

Spot Rating Single half hour or quarter hour average audience expressed as a percentage of the population group measured: calculated by half or quarter hour average audience x 100 divided by reach.

Spot ratings Spot ratings are the estimated audiences for a specific commercial slot, expressed as a percentage of the total target market. They are used to buy and sell TV advertising.

Spot-Length The length an advert is shown, typically on Rotating/Scrolling or Digital sites/frames.

Spotify Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and video streaming service

Spread a shortened form of 'double page spread'.

Spread Traffic Spread Traffic is the percentage of a publication's readers who claimed to have read or looked at anything on a particular double page spread of that publication.

Sprite Two-dimensional image or animation entered into a larger scene.

Spyware Computer software designed to get information from a PC without the user's informed consent. It may used for criminal (e.g. theft of credit card details) or other purposes, including commercial objectives, such as monitoring Internet use in order to assist targeting, or deliver unsolicited advertising. Term is interchangeable with adware and malware.

Squeeze frame Method of “squeezing” the programme frame in order to make space for an advertisement or promo.

SS7 Signalling System 7. A worldwide standard for telecommunications hardware to talk to each other.

SSP An SSP is a software designed for publishers to be able to see demand for inventory from networks, exchanges, and other platforms all from one interface.

Staggercast Broadcast of channel output on a secondary channel a fixed time after the original broadcast. The most commonly used time lag is one hour, and such secondary channels are often labelled "+1".

Staggercast (or shufflecast) Where output is identical on a digital channel as analogue channel but shown at a later time.

Stand Alone Computer Name given to any computer that is not part of a network and not connected to any other computers.

Standard Error A statistical measure of the amount by which a survey finding may differ from reality.

Standard Rates These are the single insertion ROP (run of paper) rates mono page, mono scc, full colour page and recruitment SCC.

Standby Time The amount of battery power time that a mobile phone has whilst not in use for conversation and left on to receive calls.

Station average price Estimated cost of unit audience delivery on a TV station based on advertising Costs per rating point (CPRs) or advertising Costs per thousand (CPTs or CPMs). SAP is normally calculated with reference to specified time periods (usually calendar months) and selected target audience(s).

Station promo (see also Promo)

Station relay (see also TV Pool)

Statistical efficiency value Index of sample variance, usually expressed as a percentage, which compares the variance of the actual sample with the variance of a simple random sample of the same size. Thus, a statistical efficiency value of 85% means that the measurement accuracy of the weighted reporting sample is the same as the measurement accuracy of a wholly representative unweighted sample that is 0.85 raised to the power 2 (= 0.72) of its size.

STB (Set-top box) Device that receives, processes, converts and displays incoming TV signals, for display on TV sets. The set-top box may be designed to receive signals in analogue or digital form and from cable, satellite and terrestrial sources.

Stem An output of a specific part of a mix. The narration stem has just the narration, the music stem has just music, and so on.

Step interval Common term for the fixed sampling interval between addresses selected for interview at chosen PSUs. (see also Sampling interval)

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

Stickiness The degree to which an Internet site can keep online users and encourage return visits.

Stratification If some important detail is known about the population which is being sampled, and this is associated with the variables that are to be measured, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the sample.

Stream A request made for a site's streamed content (e.g. live broadcasts) by a User of that site in the period being measured.

Streaming Streaming involves the ad starting to play as the remainder of the ad downloads in the background, in order to cut down on ad file sizes.

Streaming Audio/Video Compressed digital multimedia files either audio and/or video that are transmitted one-way over the Internet in real time.

Streaming Media A form of sponsorship linked to streamed video and audio content. Very effective branding, particularly amongst teenagers and kids and very effective when used for the advertisement of events.

Street Furniture Advertising displays, many that provide a public amenity, positioned at close proximity to pedestrians for eye-level viewing or at a curb side to impact vehicular traffic.

Strikeweight The weight of advertising bought per week

Strip scheduling Programme timing technique employed by some television stations whereby the same (or very similar) programmes begin and end at the same time each day.

Stripping Scheduling a programme (such as a series) at the same time, every day of the week. This is the opposite of checkerboarding, which is the standard method of scheduling programmes on primetime. (see also Checkerboarding)

Studio Monitors Speakers which are designed to accurately playback sound, as compared to consumer speakers which are designed to “sound good,” often by emphasizing, minimizing, or smearing frequencies. Studio Monitors help an engineer create a mix that sounds good on many systems.

Sub-Categories, Sub-Demographic Groups This is the division of the main category audience or population (of individuals/adults/men/women/children/housewives), usually by age and social grade or other demographic or special interest group. The usual social grade breakdown is into the groups AB, C1, C2 and DE. These grades are determined at the household rather than the individual level, by the occupation of the head of the household or chief income earner. The grade is then assigned to all members of the household. The age divisions generally used are: 4-9 years, 10-15, 16-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55+. Housewives are often classified by the presence or absence of children in the household.

Sub-contractor (TAM research) Research company(ies) sub-contracted by the main data supplier to handle part of the data provision. This practice occurs most often with the ES (Establishment survey).

Subcarrier Auxiliary signal associated with a satellite TV signal used for carrying the audio soundtrack or additional radio stations.

Subject The person being interviewed, usually in the field. See “Guest.”

Subliminal Very short commercial messages below the threshold of conscious perception that could be inserted in advertising, rules permitting.

Subscriber TV household or other entity (e.g. hotel) that pays a regular subscription charge in order to receive a specific TV channel or programme service offering a variety of TV channels and other services.

Subscriber Someone who receives automatic updates for a podcast.

Subscription TV System usually transmitted over the air but scrambled to stop non-subscribers viewing. A device attached to the TV set decodes the signal for subscribers.

Subscription Video On Demand A service offered by pay systems, which charges their subscribers a monthly fee for accessing unlimited programs. (wikipedia)

Subsited Traffic Pages which have been pushed into a User's browser, usually by a new window opening 'under' the page actually requested by the User.

Subsiting Entering into arrangement to have your site opened under another one, so generating subsited traffic.

Sugging Selling under the guise of research.

Sum-Difference A way of processing stereo signals that can create fun stereo effects that are usually not needed in podcasting. Commonly called “Mid-Side Processing.”

Summer time (see also DST (Daylight saving time))

Supercardioid A microphone pick-up pattern that is most sensitive to sounds in front of the microphone, even more so than a cardiod.

Superside Banner shaped bus-side poster site, most often situated on the nearside of the bus, to be seen by a pedestrian audience.

Supersite Poster site which is larger than a 96 sheet.

Supersize Banner A 728 x 90 banner ad.

Superstitials A form of rich media advertising which allows a TV-like experience on the web. It is fully pre-cached before playing

Supply-side Platform (SSP) A supply-side platform allows publishers to offer their available ad inventory to ad exchanges and DSPs. The SSP is the counterpart to a DSP in the programmatic ad space. “Supply side” refers to the supply of advertising, which is what the publisher is offering.

Surfing The process of moving between Internet web pages/sites by clicking on links to go from one page to the next.

Survey coverage area Area that has been covered in a survey.

Survey frequency Frequency with which a survey is carried out.

Survey Population The number of people in the survey Universe, sub-universe or Target Group.

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

Survey Universe The number of people in the survey Universe. Often used interchangeably with Population, which is the number of people in the universe.

Sustainability This is a broad term and, in a business context, refers to an industry or business’s ability to prevent the depletion of natural or physical resources so that they will remain available for the long-term. Sustainability is often broken down into three key areas: economic, environmental and social.

SVOD An on demand service offered by pay systems, which charges their subscribers a periodic fee for accessing content.

SVOD (Subscription video-on-demand) Any VOD service paid for on a subscription basis.

SVP (Secure video processor) Hardware-based solution to content protection and authorisation involving an SVP-compliant chip. The SVP may be embedded in a piece of equipment or carried separately (e.g. like a memory stick) and installed when needed. SVP is an open technology specification developed by an alliance of members.

Sync measurement scanning Channel identification method used when there is no scart (or similar) connection in place and an internal tuner is connected to the same signal source as the household TV. An external pick-up compares sync pulses from the TV set with sync pulses coming from the internal tuner.

Syndication The packaging of a radio or TV programme for sale to individual stations.

Systematic sorting procedure A systematic objective procedure for organising a sampling frame list of names or addresses for subsequent selection with equal or known probabilities.

T-Commerce Electronic commerce on interactive television.

T1 Line Connection A high-speed phone line composed of fibre optic cabling used by companies to access the Internet.

Tablet A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a mobile computer with display, circuitry and battery in a single unit. Tablets are equipped with sensors, including cameras, microphone, accelerometer and touchscreen, with finger or stylus gestures replacing compu

Tabloid Newspaper format which is approximately 34cms deep by 26cms wide.

TAC (Australia) Technical Advisory Committee: Forum comprising representatives from the media industry where technical issues regarding the ratings service are discussed with a focus on continuous improvement.

Tagging Traffic measurement using browser-side methods such as additional tracking code which runs when a page is rendered, rather than server-side methods such as log files. This method is often used to overcome caching issues with measurement.

Talk Time This is the period of time that a mobile phone can transmit using a single battery charge.

TAM Widely used acronym for Television Audience Measurement.

TAM system/service Data supplier system/service for measuring television viewing and delivering TAM data.

Tape Recorded audio, almost never on tape anymore.

Tape Sync A way to record a phone interview but with better sound quality. The interviewer records themselves in their own studio, while a local producer records the subject’s side of the phone call with professional equipment. After the interview, the Tape Syncer sends the recording back to producer, who combines the two recordings.

Target (Universe/Audience) The people or market that the campaign is designed to reach.

Target Audience The specific group of consumers most likely to want your product or service, and therefore, the group of people who should see your ad campaigns. Target audience may be dictated by age, gender, income, location, interests or a myriad of other factors.

Target Group Generally used interchangeably with Target Market or Group. However Target Audience is sometimes used to mean the nearest meaningful approximation to the Target Market or Group specified in the creative brief.

Target Market A campaign's primary target defined either in terms of lifestyle or by standard demographics - age, sex and class.

Target Ratings Total number of ratings that a time-buyer aims to achieve by area in a given time.

Targeted Advertising 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.

Targeted 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.

TARP (Target audience rating point) Unit GRP with reference to a specified target audience.

TARPs Target Audience Rating Points. A term used in audience research for assessing the audience to a commercial. If a TV commercial is watched by 10% of the target audience it achieves 10 TARPs. When all the TARPs for individual commercials are added up, they become Gross Rating Points (GRPs).

TBG (New Zealand) New Zealand Television Broadcasters Council: An industry organisation representing the non-competitive interests of the free-to-air broadcasters in New Zealand.

TC (Trusted computing) Technology developed and promoted by the Trusted Computing Group (TCG). The term is taken from the field of trusted systems and has a specialised meaning. In this technical sense, "trusted" does not necessarily mean the same as "trustworthy" from a user's perspective. Rather, "trusted computing" means that the computer can be trusted by its designers and other software writers not to run unauthorised programmes.

TCTA (Thailand) Thailand Cable TV Association.

TEA (Terminal education age) Classification variable based on age at which individual completed his/her educational studies.

Tear sheet Cutting from a magazine or newspaper which is sent to the advertiser as proof that the ad. has appeared or that colour reproduction is of the required standard.

Teaser Single advertisement or advertising campaign aimed at arousing interest and curiosity.

Telebus Omnibus survey conducted over the telephone instead of face-to-face. (see also Omnibus Survey)

Telemarketing Use of telephone as a medium to sell, promote or take orders for goods and/or services. The expressions 'inbound' and 'outbound' are often applied to distinguish between selling and order-taking.

TelePad The user interface of AGB Nielsen Media Research's TV Events system, it facilitates the workflow of the TV Events production, which includes: Data Entry, Rate Attribution, Cleaning, Export and Programmes/Products tables editing. TelePad is also the interface to ASR recognitions stored in the Grabbers. From TelePad, user can select the reference signatures to be used in the real time ASR recognitions.

TelePad server The storage of the database of emissions inserted using AGB Nielsen Media Research's TV Events system. In addition, the same machine is storing the audio/video signatures library and the video clips of the spots saved by the user to facilitate the visual recognition of commercial spots.

Telephone Interview When the respondent is interviewed by telephone either for the main interview or at the Screening stage of a survey.

Telephone Screening When eligible units (usually people or addresses) within the Sampling Frame are identified by telephone.

Telescoping Telescoping occurs when a respondent overclaims behaviour or events, I.e. they believe they have seen/read/heard/done something more recently that is in fact the case.

Teletext The reception of broadcast textual information on a specially adapted TV set. Transmission occurs in the vertical blanking interval of the normal over-the-air signal. Includes Ceefax and Teletext UK in Britain.

Teletext code Signal code carried by TV channels offering teletext services that provides an additional means of channel identification.

Teletext use Measured viewing of teletext pages. TAM systems vary greatly in the level of detail with which they measure teletext use and in how they treated it later: in particular, over whether they report it separately or ignore it, assigning all teletext use to the channel carrying it.

Television Rating Points/TVRs Television Ratings are the percentage of the potential TV audience who are viewing at a given time. TV ratings (TVRs) can apply to any time period, such as one minute, a quarter hour, an individual commercial, a commercial break or a programme.

Teleworkers Workers that operate from home, communicating with the office via telephone and the Internet.

Telnet An Internet protocol that allows you to log in to other computer systems on the Net.

Tenancy The 'renting' out of a section of a website by another brand who pays commission to this media owner for any revenue generated from this space. EG: dating services inside portals or bookstores inside online newspapers

Terrestrial analogue only TV home TV home that is only equipped to receive locally available channels broadcast in analogue via aerial reception. The category is mutually exclusive and exhaustive with Multichannel TV home.

Terrestrial only TV home Formerly used instead of Terrestrial analogue only TV home when digital terrestrial television did not exist. But with the introduction of digital terrestrial TV services, reference to analogue has become necessary in order to avoid misunderstanding, when that is the intended meaning. Nowadays terrestrial only TV homes means any home that is equipped only to receive analogue and/or digital terrestrial broadcast channels, as distinct from additional cable and satellite channels.

Terrestrial TV TV channels broadcast terrestrially in analogue or digital and which can be received off-air.

Terrestrial Viewing Terrestrial viewing as defined to any of the following channels: BBC1, BBC2, ITV (including GMTV), Channel 4 (including S4C) and Channel 5.

Test market A market (or markets) chosen for the purpose of conducting a media test.

Text Ad A static appended text attached to an advertisement.

Text Link Creative use for mobile advertisements – represented by highlighted and clickable text(s) with a link embedded within the highlighted text. Usually limited to 16-24 characters.

TFL (Transport for London) The organisation responsible for London’s transport. TfL supplies count (passenger) data for the Route model.

TGI Target Group Index. Product/media survey produced by Kantar Media (previously BMRB). Syndicated amongst media owners, agencies and advertisers, and covering over 5000 brands.

TGI (Target group index) Market interview research that combines questions about media use with product/service consumption habits. The research is aimed at indexing the levels of product/service consumption for a specific media title (e.g. TV channel, radio station, newspaper, magazine etc.) or category.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Outdoor (IPAO) Works to promote reputation of outdoor specialists who plan and place advertisements on outdoor sites to advertisers, agencies and contractors.

Thematic channel TV channel specialising in a particular kind of programming (e.g. showing children's programming, films, sports, weather, news, different kinds of documentary, etc.).

Thinkbox The television marketing body for all the UK commercial broadcasters : Channel 4, five, GMTV, ITV, Sky Media, Turner Broadcasting and Viacom Brand Solutions. It works with the UK marketing community with a single ambition - to help customers get the best out of television.

Third party access Data access by parties other than the primary user group of advertisers, media buyers and media owners.

Third Party Data This is data collected from sources that don’t have an direct relationship with the user.

Third-Party Ad Server Some independent companies specialise in managing, running, serving, tracking, and analysing the results of online ad campaigns - this is third party ad tracking.

Threshold (TV) Measure of the sensitivity of a satellite receiver; the lower the more sensitive

Through The Book Methodology that establishes readership levels by showing the respondent copies of a specific issue of each title and asking him or her whether or not they have read or looked at that particular issue.

TIAK (Turkey) JIC responsible for TAM data provision in Turkey.

Tiering Offering of subscription packages of TV channels and other services in a tiered sequence, such that subscribers must first sign up to a basic package before being allowed to subscribe to additional packages at extra cost.

TIFF Tagged Image File Format: TIFF is a popular format for high colour depth images, along with JPEG and PNG. TIFF format is widely supported by image-manipulation applications such as Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Ulead PhotoImpact, Corel Photo-Paint and Paint Shop Pro, by desktop publishing and page layout applications such as QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign, by scanning, faxing, word processing, optical character recognition and other applications.

Time Shift / Timeshift Time-shift viewing is the recorded viewing of programmes or recordings on video and viewed in real time (i.e. not fast forwarded,) within a week of transmission.

Time Shift Audience / Timeshift Audience For a particular broadcast, the timeshift audience is the cumulative audience who view that particular broadcast as video playback within seven days of transmission.

Time-Related Filter In readership research, a filter question referring to a specific time period stated.

Timeshift recording Recording of live TV transmissions on video cassette or hard disc for viewing at a later time.

Timeshift viewing Later viewing of timeshift video recordings of live television transmissions (i.e. Playback of recorded live transmissions).

Tints Where a flat area of colour is required, this is normally produced by the reproduction house using tints. A tint is not solid ink but made up from dots of the three process colours - yellow, magenta and cyan (black can also be used). The solid colours are screened in percentages, usually in increments of ten per cent and each colour is combined with one, or both, of the other colours. In practice, this yields 1,100 combinations and another 300 can be achieved if black is incorporated. The tint required is selected from a tint chart, which can be obtained from the reproduction house or printer. The client specifies the colour in percentages of yellow, magenta, cyan and black in this order, for example 90Y + 30M + 10B.

Tip-ons Item, leaflet, postcard, sachet, stickers etc glued to ad page.

Tiscali Now owned by TalkTalk - was an IPTV platform that provides access to a mix of linear digital TV channels, as well as a selection of on-demand programming.

Tiscali TV IPTV platform that provides access to a mix of linear digital TV channels, as well as a selection of on-demand programming.

Title Confusion This occurs when respondents mistake one title for another. They might confuse, for instance, two titles with similar-sounding names or two titles with similar-looking mastheads.

Title Rotation A change in the order of presentation of publications over the sample of interviews. Rotations may be applicable to titles within publication groups.

TiVo US device manufacturer that makes advanced digital television recorders. It was the first provider to sell DTRs in the UK before the launch of Sky+.

Token pay-per-View Pay-per-view in which user entitlement is paid for by a card. The card may be rechargeable.

Tolerance margin Latitude of acceptance of the deviations of the actual sample allocation from the target sample allocation before attempting corrective action.

Top Up TV Top Up TV is a subscription digital TV service. It provides access to the full range of Freeview channels, as well as a selection of on-demand content from digital channels.

Total Average Net Circulation (Print) The total average amount of print copies circulated across the reporting period. Eg If there were 777,000 titles sold over a period of a year and there were 6 issues that year the average circulation would be 777,000/6= 129,500

Total Brand Reach (TBR) Total Brand Reach (TBR) is a measure of the reach of all related content for each publisher brand.

Total Hours (Radio) Total amount of time spent listening to a given station by all individuals who listen to it in an average week.

Total Hours of Listening/Viewing Total amount of time spent listening to the radio/watching television or a given radio/TV station by all individuals who watch/listen to it in, for example, an average week.

Total Internet Users The total number of people who have accessed the internet during a particular period. This can be just the once or on a more frequent basis.

Total Survey Area (TSA) (Radio) The area within which research is to be conducted for a particular station or service.

Total video playback Sum of pre-recorded video cassette viewing and timeshift viewing of recorded video cassettes.

Total viewing (see also Amount of viewing)

Touch Screen Computer monitors that respond to either heat or pressure generated for example by a finger.

TouchPoints The IPA TouchPoints survey aims to shed new light on how consumers are spending their time in today's multi-media world. It offers a week in the life picture on both consumer and media behaviour and is set to become a new industry standard for planning of advertising budgets. TouchPoints 1 launched in 2006, TouchPoints 2 in 2008.

Track (n) In the analog world, a track is where an audio signal is recorded. If four channels are fed into one track, you can adjust the channels individually before recording, but after recording, they are married together. If recording to four tracks, all four tracks can be manipulated after recording. DAWs use “Track” as an analogy for their interface, and a basic track is a lane or layer of audio, that will be mixed with the other lanes into a final mix.

Track (v) To record pre-written narration or copy.

Tracking Tracking studies monitor the extent to which a variable is changing over time.

Trading Desk A trading desk is a collection of human, organisational and technological means implemented to optmize digital advertisers’ budgets mainly through real time bidding and ad exchanges. It’s a service dedicated to help advertisers and agencies buying online

Traffic The volume of users, impressions, hits and visits a website gets.

Traffic Count Counting the movement of people or vehicles past a given point.

Traffic System The system used by the stations in order to schedule the spots based on the spot plan

Trailing gap Interval of uncovered viewing at the end of a viewing session.

Transcoder Device to translate from one TV format to another - e.g. Secam-PAL

Transcribe To write down what has been said. Can apply to raw tape or completed piece. This used to be a common first job in the documentary world, is quickly being replaced by computers.

Transients Very short sounds, such as the beginning of a drum hit.

Transit Displays affixed to moving public transportation vehicles or in the common areas of transit terminals and stations.

Transitional Ad An ad that is displayed between web pages. The user sees the ad as they navigate between pages. Also known as an interstitial.

Transitional ad (Online) An ad displayed between web pages, also known as an interstitial.

Transitional Pop-Up An ad that pops up in a separate ad window between content pages.

Transmission Logs Transmission logs are records (usually electronic) of exactly what was transmitted on television.

Transmission unit Meter installed in every household that has the function of storing and retrieving the data from the base unit. Polling of the household data is achieved through a phone connection, which downloads the data to the central processing base of the TAM supplier. (see also Master meter)

Transmitter The location where the broadcast is made for a station, stations may have one or in many cases multiple transmitters to broadcast the output

Transnational TV TV channels targeted at audiences across two or more countries with limited modification in terms of locally sourced programming and advertising.

Transponder Equipment inside a satellite responsible for receiving a single uplinked channel and rebroadcasting it back to earth.

Transport stream A digital broadcast transmission stream comprising a number of elementary streams (e.g. separate video, audio, and EPG metadata streams for each channel in a multiplex broadcasting system). The basic unit of data in each stream is the packet, which has its own identification tag (PID). The stream is processed in several players. In the case of multiplexed signals, the goal is to achieve de-multiplexing and synchronisation of output with minimal error.

Transportable A high-powered portable phone that can be used on the fringes of a networks' coverage. These are often used in remote areas.

TRCC (Tripartite research company contract) Form of survey organisation whereby the contracting party delivering TAM data to the market is itself a research company, but with tripartite ownership of media owners, advertisers and advertising agencies/media buyers. The research company/ organisation at the centre of a TRCC contract may sub-contract part or all of the fieldwork to other market research companies.

Tree And Branch Distribution system in which the final distribution to subscribers is made by running a distribution cable along a street and tapping off each subscriber's cable at intervals along the cable adjacent to the subscriber's premises.

Trick mode Pausing, rewinding and fast forwarding live or stored video content.

Trim size Size of a magazine or newspaper after its pages have been printed and trimmed.

Triple play The combination of broadband Internet access, voice telephony and television services.

TRP Television Research Partnership. Provider of analysis, reporting and consultancy in the field of media measurement.

TRP (Total rating points) Total GRP delivery over a campaign period. (see also GRP (gross rating point))

TRPs (Target tating points) (see also TARP (Target audience rating point))

True Crime Any show that discusses non-fiction crimes, often murder.

TSA Total Survey Area. The area within which a station's audience is measured. This is defined by the station using postcode districts as building blocks.

TTM (Through the Middle) TTM (Through the middle) is a term coined by Virgin to explain an area of dedicated bandwidth spectrum that Virgin Media is dedicating to managed Internet video, which sits between the managed linear TV and VOD services on the one hand, and the open and unmanaged Internet, made available via its DOCSIS broadband, on the other. By dedicating 10Mbps of bandwidth to Internet video services, the company can guarantee that even streamed HD Internet video does not impact other broadband services in the home (including unmanaged OTT video).

Tuner meter Meter that identifies channel frequencies by subsuming the functions of the TV set tuner or other receiving equipment (e.g. VCR, satellite dish) that may be used to select channels on the TV screen.

TV Anytime, TV Anywhere General umbrella term embracing all those technologies and associated devices (e.g. PVR, DVD recorder/players, 3G mobile handsets, Slingbox, media players) and on-demand services that empower users to view any TV programme at any time an in any location they choose.

TV channel Identity of single TV service transmitting programmes usually on a specific frequency (-ies), but sometimes sharing frequency with other TV channels/services, which transmit on the same frequency at different specified times of the day. The term "TV channel" is almost always used interchangeably with "TV station", though it is more likely to be used when the emphasis is on a single specific service, whereas TV station is most likely to be used when emphasis is placed on the programme service or organisation operating the TV channel.

TV clutter Another term for advertising or promotional clutter. (see also Advertising clutter, Promotional clutter)

TV Events system TV Events is the broadcast monitoring system of AGB Nielsen Media Research that offers a complete, highly reliable and easy to use suite of tools for the creation, collection and maintenance of high quality TV events databases.

TV market Designated geographic reception area or population at which a TV service is targeted for commercial purposes. It is distinct from and may be smaller or greater than the technically defined coverage area. (see also Channel coverage)

TV Pool A programme that is broadcast/transmitted at exactly the same time simultaneously among two or more TV stations.

TV Ratings For Homes If a multi-set home has one set tuned to ITV and another to BBC1, it is counted both in the ITV and BBC TV ratings, but only once in the all channels homes TV ratings. If a multi-set home has two sets tuned to ITV, then it is counted only once in the ITV TV ratings and once in the all channels homes TV ratings.

TV Ratings For Individuals For a given category of individuals (e.g. men, women or children), this is the number of individuals viewing, expressed as a percentage of all such individuals, provision being made for guests. Children under the age of 4 are excluded.

TV station TV channel or organisation operating one or more TV channels. Depending on context, TV station may also cover sales houses that sell television airtime on behalf of one or more TV channels/stations. Although the term TV station is most often used interchangeably with TV channel, the terms can carry different points of emphasis. (see also TV channel)

TV-M (Finland) TV Mittaritutkimustoimikunta: JIC responsible for TAM data provision in Finland.

TV-over-DSL Television services delivered over a wired telephony network using DSL technology.

TVCAB (New Zealand) Television Commercial Approvals Board: New Zealand is a fully deregulated broadcasting environment. The TVCAB was established by the commercial networks to support self-regulation. The TVCAB views all commercials prior to broadcast to ensure compliance with advertising codes.

TVCR The name given to a television set with a built-in video recorder.

TVIRC (Hong Kong) Television Research Committee: JIC responsible for TAM data provision in Hong Kong.

TVM series Series of Peoplemeters developed by AGB Nielsen Media Research.

TVOD Transactional video on demand is a distribution method by which customers pay for each piece of video-on-demand content

TVR Television Ratings - The TVR is the currency of the television industry, and measures the popularity of a programme, daypart or commercial break or advertisement, by comparing its audience to the population as a whole. For example, if Coronation Street achieved a Housewife TVR of 30 in Yorkshire, this means that 30% of all Housewives in the Yorkshire region watched an average minute of Coronation Street - while the other 70% either watched another channel or were not watching television at all. TVRs are calculated for each minute for all channels. Programmes, dayparts and commercial breaks, all of which are longer than one minute, take their TVRs from the average of the relevant minute TVRs. A commercial, usually shorter than a minute is assigned the TVR of the minute in which it started, unless it is weighted. Commercial campaigns are frequently assessed by totalling the TVRs of their individual spots (even though TVRs are percentages in origin).

TVR (Television viewer rating) Term used in place of GRP in the UK and in Ireland.

TVRC (Philippines) Television Research Committee: JIC responsible for TAM data provision in the Philippines.

TVRO (Television receive only) Satellite system equipped only to receive signals from, but not to transmit signals to a satellite.

Tweet To make a posting on the social networking service Twitter.

Twisted pair Early wired electrical transmission system, now superseded by coaxial and fibre-optic technology, formerly employed by cable television systems with low channel carriage capacity for purposes of extending reception of off-air terrestrial signals for a limited number of TV channels.

Twitter Microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets"

Two screen Two screens

Type of reception Method of receiving television pictures (e.g. cable, satellite, terrestrial, etc.). It may also include pay-TV reception, otherwise classified under channel reception.

type over enter text

Typology (see also Programme genre, Product typology)

U Certificate Universal, suitable for all ages.

UCR Under-colour removal - This technique is used particularly when the printing is to be by web-offset. Where a subject has a dark area, the four-colour process will normally reproduce this using large dots of all four colours, whereas an identical effect can be achieved using only one or two colours. When heavy dots of all four colours overprint each other, there are drying and other problems, and more ink is used than is necessary. To avoid this situation, the scanner can be set to remove most or all of the magenta and yellow in the dark areas, leaving mainly black, sometimes with some cyan to improve the density. The printer should inform the repro house of under-colour removal requirements before reproduction work starts.

UDP User Datagram Protocol. A simple protocol that enables an application program on one machine to send a datagram to an application program on another machine.

UDP (User datagram Protocol) One of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite. Using UDP, programmes on networked computers can send short messages sometimes known as datagrams to one another.

UGC User Generated Content - Online content created by website users rather than media owners or publishers - either through reviews, blogging, podcasting or posting comments, pictures or video clips. Sites that encourage user generated content include MySpace, YouTube, Wikipedia and Flickr.

UGC (User generated content) Multimedia content created by users and posted on the Internet for access and consumption by other users. (see also Consumer generated media)

UHF (Ultra High Frequency) Ultra High Frequency 300mHz+ which includes Bands IV (470-582mHz) and V (614-854mHz) in which all UK terrestrial television broadcasting takes place.

UID 2.0 Unified ID 2.0 is an alternative approach to “cookies” that aims to solve for identity across the open internet, increasing privacy while supporting targeted advertising. UID 2.0 utilizes individuals’ anonymized email addresses; this is gathered by a user logging into an app or website.

UKOM UK Online Measurement company, set up to develop an online measurement system and funded by the AOP and the IAB.

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

UKTV Play UKTV Play is a video on demand service owned by UKTV

Ultra high definition video Experimental format with a resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 pixels now being proposed by NHK in Japan. The new format is four times as wide and 4 times as high as and offering 16 times the resolution of the existing maximum format for HD, which consists of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. A particular advantage of the proposed standard is that the height of 4,320 pixels is a lowest common multiple of all NTSC and ATSC TV resolutions, making it possible to scale up pictures from other formats without distortion.

UltraViolet UltraViolet (UV) is a digital rights authentication and cloud-based distribution system that allows consumers of digital home entertainment content to stream and download purchased content via multiple platforms and devices. With respect to both physical packaged media and digital media, UltraViolet adheres to a 'buy once, play anywhere' approach that allows users to store digital proof-of-purchases under one account to enable playback of content that is platform- and point-of-sale-agnostic.

UMTS Universal Mobile Telephony Service or ‘3G’ offers comprehensive voice and multimedia services to mobile customers by providing very high data rates and new functionality such as data streaming. 3G phones are backward compatible and can access all the ser

UMTS (Universal mobile telecommunications system) A 3G mobile phone technology that uses W-CDMA as the underlying standard. W-CDMA is the standard used in Europe.

Unbalanced A simple audio connection with just two wires. Almost all professional audio cables will be balanced, except for headphones.

Uncorrelated viewing Unidentified viewing measured by picture or audio matching techniques, whereby the data production system is unable to match the meter statements with centrally generated records of the channels being monitored.

Uncovered viewing/ set use Meter statements indicating that the TV set is switched on, but without any persons registered as present.

Underclaim When respondents claim to not own, purchase, fly more frequently, earn more, to have read a publication, have seen an advertisement which they have actually do or have done.

Unduplicated Net Readership The part of the readership of a publication (or schedule of publications) which does not overlap with another specified publication (or other publications within the schedule).

Unexpected viewing Viewing to an unexpected source, as defined by the TAM system.

Unicast Sending of information packets to a single destination. Often used to mean streaming content to a single user at a given time.

Unidentified channel viewing Viewing to an unknown frequency as ascertained by DFM or tuner meters. The frequency is usually presumed to belong to a channel, although it may indicate a separate output source (e.g. video games console).

Unidentified viewer Persons (not a guest) registered as present in the viewing records, but not found in the records for the panel home.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) refers to the format used by World-Wide Web documents to locate other files, effectively the 'address' for a Web site.

Unique Audience In internet research, the un-duplicated audience to a website.

Unique Browser A unique and valid identifier. Sites may use IP+User-Agent and/or Cookie.

Unique Browser Duration The total time in seconds for all Visits of two or more Page Impressions, divided by the number of Unique Browsers making such Visits.

Unique cover Pertaining to audience coverage which is achieved by using specific media or advertising units (commonly TV spots) only. The omission of the specified units would result in a fall in net coverage, so their contribution to coverage-building is 'unique'.

Unique Host The total number of unique IP addresses that have made requests for content to the site in the period being measured.

Unique RSS User A Unique User who has made requests for RSS feeds. Must be measured by cookie.

Unique User Duration The average time of all visits (of more than one Page Impression) per Unique User made in the period being measured.

Unique Users The number of different people that visit a website. In an ABCe audit a user is an individual IP address, registration ID, cookie or other identifier which distinguishes different users visiting the sites.

Unique Visitors In internet research, the un-duplicated number of individuals who have visited a website at least once during a specified time period.

Unique Web Feed Browser A valid Unique Browser (measured by Cookie) that has requested a web feed from the source site.

UNITAM An audience measurement system developed and produced by Media Instruments (an AGB Nielsen Media Research company) which is based on its proprietary CTS technology and comprises an integrated TAM panel system, including peoplemeters, a full featured polling system and multi-purpose centralised processing software.

Universal Advertising Package A set of online advertising formats that are standardised placements as defined the by the IAB. See also banner, skyscraper, button, MPU and embedded formats

Universal player Is a platform agnostic media player that will allow video and audio to be played on any hardware / software configuration from a single source file.

Universal Remote Control A remote control unit that is able to control more than one brand of Television, video recorder or set top box etc.

Universe Collection of people whose total number represents the ultimate potential reach of a piece of activity (advertising, research, etc) eg 'All housewives in the South East'.

Universe Reach (Internet) 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 the specific reporting period.

UNIX An operating system commonly used across the Internet.

Unscrambled TV signal that is transmitted in the clear and which viewers can receive without the need of a decoder.

Unsubscribe The act of resigning yourself from a Usenet newsgroup, or more commonly known an Internet mailing list.

Unweighted 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.

Unweighted Sample Those survey respondents who are successfully interviewed or who returned usable questionnaires (I.e. the Analysis Sample) before sample weights have been applied.

Upfronts The period, typically in spring, when media companies outline their program lineup for the next programming year (which usually begins in September) and try to sell as much ad space as possible. Upfronts get a lot of attention due to the promotion of new shows and major tentpole events; it’s all about convincing advertisers of the need to be associated with certain programming.

Upgrade An old cable system installed for broadcast relay purposes but now utilised for the provision of new programme services.

Uplink The transmission from an earth station to satellite.

UPS Abbreviation of Uninterruptible Power Supply. A device that provides battery back-up supply and protects against power surges. Computer owners often use these.

Upstream The direction of signals transmitted from a cable subscriber to the operator's headend.

URL Uniform Resource Locator - a site's address which is entered to access that site. eg http://www.mediatel.co.uk/

USB (Universal serial bus) Widely used standard for interfacing devices, which was originally designed for PCs, but is now a commonplace feature of TV sets and peripherals.

USENET A group of systems that exchange debate, chat, etc in the form of newsgroup across the net. See News

User Generated Content Online content created by website users rather than media owners or publishers - either through reviews, blogging, podcasting or posting comments, pictures or video clips. Sites that encourage user generated content include MySpace, YouTube, Wikipedia and Flickr.

User generated content (UGC) Online content created by website users rather than media owners or publishers either through reviews, blogging, podcasting or posting comments, pictures or video clips. Sites that encourage user generated content include MySpace, YouTube, Wikipedia and

User Session A user session is normally defined by someone with a unique address that enters or re-enters a website each day (or some other specified period). A user session is sometimes determined by counting only those users that haven't re-entered the site within the past 20 minutes or in a similar period. User session figures are sometimes used, somewhat incorrectly, to indicate visits or visitors per day. User sessions are a better indicator of total site activity than unique visitors since they indicate frequency of use.

User-Centric Measurement In internet research, the measurement of website audiences through sample-based panels of respondents, whose online activities are monitored by specialist research providers.

User-Initiated Logged Event Any logged event that can be attributed to a particular Unique Browser.

Username The name chosen by a user of an on-line system, the same as an account name, or user id.

Users (Internet) The total number of people that visit a website.

UTC Co-ordinated Universal Time. An international standard time reference, formerly called Greenwich Mean Time.

UTPC (Universal television programme code) Unique TV transmission code indicating identity of source. (see also AMOL (Automated measurement of line-ups), PDC (Programme delivery control code), VPS (Video programming system) codes)

UUNET PIPEX One of the major suppliers of Internet connections to the corporate sector in the UK. http://www.uunet.pipex.com/

VAC A visibility adjusted contact or VAC is the audience rating for an advertising panel. It is not a measure of quality but simply one of the scale of the audience. As such it is comparable to a television or radio spot rating.

VAI Visibility Adjusted Impacts: the amount of people who view a poster site. VAIs use computer experiments to measure eye movement when passing a site and are calculated by measuring this information against the gross number of people who pass the site. The better the panel, the closer the VAI to the gross.

Validation The validation of audience or readership claims obtained by one method via another thought to be more accurate (but which may only be viable in specific conditions).

Van Westendorf Van Westendorf is a powerful technique used in pricing research.

VAST Tag VAST is URL's that tend to be generated by ad servers, these enable ad servers to serve normal standard ads or in some cases give them the ability to play dynamics ads on multiple ad inventories.

VCR Videocassette recorder.

VCR (Video cassette recorder) Device for recording and playing video cassettes.

Vertical publications Publications in which editorial content covers a specific industry, e.g. Engineering magazine.

VFD Verified Free Distribution is an accepted industry standard for certifying the validity of net free distribution of newspapers, magazines or directories that are hand delivered to separate households and business addresses within a defined geographical area. No multiple copies, or intermittent deliveries are included.

VHF Very High Frequency 30-300mHz+ including Band 1 (41-68mHz) and Band 111 (174-216mHz) used in the UK until early 1985 for 405-line black and white television. Band 11 (88-108mHz) is used for VHF/FM stereo-sound services.

VHF (Very high frequency) Former bandwidth reserved by international agreement for television broadcast channels, but now replaced by UHF. (see also UHF (Ultra high frequency))

Video clip Short clips in video formats, mostly less than 15 minutes and often much shorter; now heavily used over the Internet (e.g. for news, sports, programme trailer and vblogs) and in fast growing use as mobile TV downloads.

Video Conferencing Sound and video links that allow people in different locations to engage in a virtual meeting.

Video On Demand Short for Video-on-Demand, an umbrella term for a wide set of technologies and companies whose common goal is to enable individuals to select videos from a central server for viewing on a television or computer screen. VoD can be used for entertainment (ordering movies transmitted digitally), education (viewing training videos), and videoconferencing (enhancing presentations with video clips).

Video On Demand (VOD) Allows users to watch what they want, when they want. This can be either ‘pay per view’ or a free service usually funded by advertising.

Video playback (see also Total video playback)

Video Podcast Video of people sitting around and talking to each other.

Video timeshift (see also Timeshift viewing)

Video-capable handsets Mobile handsets that can receive and display video images.

Videocrypt Smartcard -operated encryption system first used by Sky subscription channels.

Videotex Generic term for broadcast, textual or graphic information, via television receivers and includes both teletext and viewdata systems.

Viewdata Interactive communications service between a TV set and a central computer. May operate via cable or telephone lines. In the UK, Prestel is the trade name for British Telecom's public viewdata system.

Viewers per 1,000 households The number of people within a specific population group tuned to a TV programme per 1,000 receiving households.

Viewers Per Set Average number of individuals 'present in the room' (as defined by BARB) when the 'set' is switched on.

Viewing A panel member (or guest) is defined to be viewing when they are present in a room with a TV set switched on.

Viewing behaviour analysis software Software for analysing viewing of programmes and general audience patterns, including audience shifts/flows between different TV channels, constancy of viewing habits, etc.

Viewing card (see also Smart card)

Viral Marketing The term "viral advertising" refers to the idea that people will pass on and share striking and entertaining content; this is often sponsored by a brand, which is looking to build awareness of a product or service. These viral commercials often take the form of funny video clips, or interactive Flash games, images, and even text.

Virgin Media Virgin Media Inc. is a provider of television, telephone and broadband internet services to domestic and business customers in the UK, delivered primarily through its fibre-optic cable network

Virgin V+ Virgin Media's digital television recorder (DTR). It provides the user with up to 80 hours recording capability, alongside all of the standard linear content and channels, and the wide selection of on-demand programming available through the Virgin Media subscription

Virtual LAN/VLAN Wireless LAN connecting a group of hosts that can communicate with one another regardless of their physical location. VLANs may be defined by a set of switches.

Virtual world Computer-based simulated environment in which users interact with avatars as if in the real world. Virtual worlds have attracted massive popularity and feature in many computer games, but their applications may also include teleconferencing and chat-rooms.

Virus A programme that is passed from one computer to another via infected files.

Visit A request made for a page on a website which is more commonly known as a user session. It includes all activity for one user of a website. By default, a user session is terminated when a user is inactive for more than 30 minutes.

Visit Duration The average time of each visit (of more than one Page Impression) in the period being measured.

Visual Clutter (Outdoor) A poster against a background of trees has less distractions than a poster in a busy high street, and existing experimental evidence suggests that this can be at least as important as whether the poster is solus or shares the site with other panels (which is another aspect of clutter).

Visual units A collection of frames that are in sync; one ad will play on all the connected frames at the same time.

Vlog A vlog is a video which uses a blog as its method of distribution. Regular entries are made and presented in reverse chronological order. A typical vlog entry combines an embedded video or video link with supporting text, images, and metadata. Vlogs often take advantage of web syndication. Web syndication allows the distribution of video over the Internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.

VM Viral marketing

VMNO Virtual Mobile Network Operator. A company that uses the infrastructure of an existing (licence owning) telecoms network operator. Tesco and Virgin are two of the largest VMNOs in the UK.

Vocal Rider A plugin that claims to automatically level your audio.

VOD Short for Video-on-Demand, an umbrella term for a wide set of technologies and companies whose common goal is to enable individuals to select videos from a central server for viewing on a television or computer screen. VoD can be used for entertainment (ordering movies transmitted digitally), education (viewing training videos), and videoconferencing (enhancing presentations with video clips).

VOD (Video-on-Demand) Programme service where the content is not broadcast, but stored in a library, which users can access on-demand. Typical VOD content offerings include recently aired television programmes (as in catch-up TV), popular series, selected categories of thematic programming (e.g. music, children’s programmes), and movies. There are three models of VOD content - free VOD, Pay-per-title, where the user pays an individual fee per programme or event, and subscription VOD, where the user pays a flat fee for access.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) Technology that allows the use of a broadband Internet connection to make telephone calls.

VoIP Stands for "Voice Over Internet Protocol," and is often pronounced "voip." VoIP is basically a telephone connection over the Internet. The data is sent digitally, using the Internet Protocol (IP) instead of analogue telephone lines. This allows people to talk to one another long-distance and around the world without having to pay long distance or international phone charges. VoIP is also referred to as IP telephony, Internet telephony, and digital phone.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Voice telephony services delivered over network infrastructures using the Internet Protocol.

Voltage-Switched LNB Combined LNB/polariser used on Astra systems with polarity selected by changing the voltage.

Volume How loud something is. Usually “turning up the volume” means “turn up the speakers,” but it can also mean to make something louder within a mix, make the mix louder, or perhaps add more bass.

Volume discount Price discount offered to advertisers who purchase a specified volume of advertising from the TV station. Volume discount deals may be negotiated in various ways. Common examples are volume discounts based on (a) total TV advertising spend on TV station by advertiser, (b) proportion of TV advertising budget allocated to the TV station, (c) year on year increase in total allocated advertising budget, or (d) total volume purchased by the media buyer acting on behalf of the advertiser.

VOSDAL Viewing-On-Same-Day-As-Live. Time-shifted viewing that has been viewed on the same day as the original broadcast is included in overnight viewing which is released at 9.30am the following day (see Overnights).

VPN (Virtual private network) A private communications network often used within a company, or by several companies or organisations, to communicate confidentially over a publicly accessible network.

VPS (Video programming system) code Programme code identifying source of transmission.

VR Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment

VRML Short for Virtual Reality Modelling Language, VRML pronounced ("Ver-mul") is the navigation specification behind 3-D objects and environments on the Web. HTML creates 2-D environments. 3-D VRML worlds are used to host things like chatting and gaming, where users represent themselves using avatars, which crawl, hop, or crunch (depending on the avatar). To view VRML files, which have the wrl suffix (short for world), you need to add the proper plug-in to your browser.

VSS (Video signal scanner) Variant of picture matching technology consisting of an internal TV tuner connected to the same source as the TV set, which scans sequentially through a pre-programmed list of channels and compares them with the video signal displayed on the TV screen until a match is found.

W-CDMA (Wireless code division multiple access) A 3G mobile telecommunications protocol that uses the direct sequence CDMA signal method in order to achieve faster transmission rates and support more users.

WACL WACL is a communications and marketing industry networking organisation that brings together the most senior female leaders in the business.

Walled Garden On the Internet this refers to a browsing environment that controls which Web sites a user can access.

WAN Abbreviation of Wide Area Network. A computer network that covers a wide geographical area.

WAP Wireless Application Protocol - Standard for providing mobile data services on hand-held devices.

WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) Standard for providing mobile data services on hand held devices. Brings Internet content such as news, weather, travel, etc to mobile phones and can also be used to deliver formatted content such as wallpapers, ringtones, video, games, portals and other

WAP Impression The total number of requests made for a site's WAP content by Users of that site in the period being measured.

WAPI Abbreviation of Web Aided Personal Interviewing.

WAPI (Web aided personal interviewing) (see also CAWI (Computer aided web interview))

Wastage The proportion of an ad. campaign's expenditure or advertising weight which is not seen or heard by the specified target audience.

Wave machine Type of poster site in which the whole display is changed at regular short intervals (eg every ten seconds) by rotation of (usually vertical) slats, to which different advertisements (usually for different products) are applied.

Waveform A visual representation of audio which graphs the recorded audio signal. When there isn’t processing afterwards, it mostly coincides with the movement of the speaker/soundwave. See “Spectrogram.”

Wearout A level of frequency, or a point in time, when an advertising message loses its ability to effectively communicate.

Web (Printing) Printing from a continuous length of paper (i.e. a roll or reels).

Web 1.0 The world before web 2.0. The appellation Web 1.0 came as an afterthought after the coining of Web 2.0; recalling days of slow-speed narrowband 50K dial-up connections and where most sites offered no interactive facilities.

Web 2.0 The term Web 2.0 - with its knowing nod to upgraded computer applications - describes the next generation of online use. Web 2.0 identifies the consumer as a major contributor in the evolution of the internet into a two-way medium. See also user generated content

Web 3.0 Web 3.0 is a term used to describe the future of the World wide Web.

Web Analytics Web Analytics is the study of the behaviour of website visitors.

Web banner (see also Banner ad)

Web based Requiring no software to access an online service or function, other than a Web browser and access to the Internet.

Web Based Discussions Also known as newsgroups or communities of forums. Internet based bulletin boards that allow people to post comments about specific topics.

Web browser Software application that allows users to access and interact with content at websites on the world wide web.

Web Enabled This refers to the facility on digital handsets such as PDAs and mobile phones that allows users to access the Internet using these devices.

Web Feed Referral In The first Page Impression served to a valid User as a result of that User's click on a link in a web feed.

Web Page Represents a single location on the Web, designated by an internet address (URL)

Web portal A website or service that offers a broad array of resources and services, such as email, forums, search engines, and online shopping malls.

Web Site A collection of hyper-linked web pages at one domain name.

Web TV Internet services, including e-mail and online chats, that are displayed on the TV screen via a special web TV set-top box.

Webcam Web camera designed to upload digital images on to a web server, either via a PC connection or dedicated hardware.

Webcasting Delivery of mostly non-interactive (i.e. linear) streamed video or audio content over the Internet using streaming media technology and analogous to broadcasts, delivering the stream to multiple recipients simultaneously.

Webisode Similar to a mobisode, a webisode is refers to programming that has been specifically scripted and shot for playout over the Internet, and viewed on a PC screen.

Webmaster Person(s) responsible for creating, maintaining and marketing a web site.

Website Traffic The amount of visitors or visits a website receives.

Webvertising Another new buzzword for online marketers. Simply web advertising.

Weekly channel patronage Measure of channels’ weekly reach, as recommended by the GGTAM guidelines, that employs a raised 5 consecutive minute threshold (basis of most reach estimates is a one minute interval), as the minimum duration of genuine viewing to a channel. Term is mainly intended for public broadcasting use.

Weekly Reach Weekly Reach is the estimated number of people who viewed a particular television channel in an average day/week, or whoever listened to a particular radio station in an average day/week.

Weight (Media) Value given to a section of the population based on actual or probable product consumption/purchase, when assessing media vehicles.

Weight factor Multiplication factor for converting the size of a sample to the population estimate for the survey universe.

Weighted average Generally refers to the arithmetic average obtained by adding the products of numbers "weighted" by a predetermined value.

Weighted Sample A sample to which all the necessary Sample Weights have been applied.

Weighting (TV) The requirement to weight TVRs and impacts stems from the fact that these data are calculated at the minute level and not at the more detailed level of individual seconds. Each commercial length is assigned a different weighting. The 30 second commercial, as the most popular and 'middle' length commercial, is given a weighting of 1.00, i.e. it is assigned the actual TVR and number of impacts of the minute within which it started. Commercials of other durations are weighted accordingly, those shorter than 30 seconds receiving a weighting of less than 1.00 while those longer than 30 seconds receive a weighting of more than 1.00. the actual weight is decided by the type of weighting. 'Duration' weights take into account just the length of an advertisement - for example, a 10 second commercial lasts a third as long as a 30 second and is given a weighting of 0.33. ' Expenditure or 30 second ratecard equivalent weighting is calculated by referring to regional ratecard costs of differing commercial lengths. For example, a 10 second commercial usually costs half as much as a 30 second commercial, so the 10 second will be given a weighting of 0.5.

Weighting Matrix Cell weighting is the traditional form of sample weighting and involves target variables (e.g. sex, age and region) being interlaced to form a matrix of target cells in the population.

WFA (World Federation of Advertisers) International trade association of advertisers.

Where Listened The location of the respondent when listening (I.e. work, car, home)

Whiteboard A video conferencing device that allows users in different location to draw on a shared virtual surface.

Whitelist An e-mail whitelist is a list of contacts that the user deems are acceptable to receive email from and should not be sent to the trash folder.

Whole gap Term used in data editing to denote an interval of uncovered viewing that lasts the entire viewing session.

Wi-Fi Short for "Wireless Fidelity." (derived from "Hi-Fi," or High Fidelity, which refers to high-quality audio or surround sound.) Wi-Fi refers to wireless network components that are based on one of the Wi-Fi Alliance's 802.11 standards. The Wi-Fi Alliance created the 802.11 standard so that manufacturers can make wireless products that work with other manufacturers' equipment. So, if you have a "Wi-Fi Certified" wireless network card, it should be recognised by any "Wi-Fi Certified" access point, and vice-versa.

Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) The ability to connect to the internet wirelessly. Internet ‘hotspots’ in coffee shops and airports.etc use this technology.

Wideband Cable system with the capacity to carry a large number (e.g. 25 or more) TV channels. Interchangeable with broadband.

Widescreen TV or signal with a wider picture of 16:9 aspect ratio instead of the conventional 4:3.

Widget A web widget is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation.

Widget (Online) Element of a graphic user interface (GUI) for arranging information (e.g. text box, window) that can be changed by the user.

wifi A facility allowing computers, smartphones, or other devices to connect to the Internet or communicate with one another wirelessly within a particular area.

Wii/Wii U Video game consoles with multi-media capabilities manufactured by Nintendo. Released in 2006 and 2012, respectively.

Wiki A wiki is a type of website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration.

Wikimedia commons Media repository that is created and maintained not by paid-for artists, but by volunteers. Its name "Wikimedia Commons" is derived from that of the umbrella project "Wikimedia" managing all Wikimedia projects and from the plural noun "commons" as its contents are shared by different language versions and different kinds of Wikimedia projects. Thus it provides a central repository for freely licensed photographs, diagrams, animations, music, spoken text, video clips, and media of all sorts that are useful for any Wikimedia project.

Wilfing (What Was I Looking For) 7 in 10 of Britain's 34 million users forget what they are looking for online at work and at home. Wilfing is an expression referring to browsing the internet with no real purpose.

WiMAX WiMAX is the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access.

Windows media center Windows application intended as a home entertainment hub. Designed to be viewed from distances up to 10 feet, its use can be extended to organising and relaying content for display on other screens in the home.

Wireless Although the old fashioned term for a radio transceiver, in modern usage wireless is a method of communication that uses low-powered radio waves to transmit data between devices. The term refers to communication without cables or cords, chiefly using radio frequency and infrared waves. Common uses include the various communications defined by the IrDA, the wireless networking of computers and cellular mobile phones.

Wireless broadband Generic term for wireless technologies (including WiMAX or 3G mobile technologies) Internet solutions) that deliver high-speed Internet and data network access over wide areas in the order of several kilometres.

Wireless cable Local distribution systems using broadcast technology (e.g. MMDS) for delivering extra channels locally to subscribers.

Wireless Markup Language (WML) aka WAP 1.0 Where the mobile internet started many years ago. Hardly supported any more.

Wireless Multimedia Adapter A device to transfer files from a computer to a televison across a wireless network, for example Apple TV.

Wireless router Wireless device for relaying incoming signals to selected destinations (e.g. routing incoming broadband signals to the TV set or PC).

WLAN (Wireless LAN) Wireless Local Area Network is any network linking two or more computers by means of radiocommunications technology and without the use of wire. The associated technologies and supporting standards enable communications within a specified area, offering significant advantages in terms of mobility, ease, flexibility and scalability of deployment.

WMA (Windows media audio) Compressed audio file format developed by Microsoft, initially a competitor to the more popular MP3 format and more recently the Advanced Audio Coding now being used by the Apple iTunes media player.

WOMM Word of mouth marketing

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

Worldwide Readership Research Symposia A bi-annual conference run jointly by Ipsos MediaCT and the KMR Group to foster the spreading of best practice in readership research.

WRE Wrong Reading Emulsion - term used to describe way film is produced by printers, which is then sent to advertisers

WWW World Wide Web - the graphical and most user friendly part of the internet.

WWW (World wide web) Global telecommunications network giving access to the Internet.

Xbox A series of video game consoles with multi-media capabilities manufactured by Microsoft

XLR A type of cable connector, very common on microphones. Are usually balanced connections, but can also be used for unbalanced stereo connections, as well.

XML The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose specification for creating custom markup languages.

Xvid Free and open source MPEG-4 video codec. Xvid was created by a group of volunteer programmers after the OpenDivX source was closed in July 2001. Xvid is a primary competitor of DivX (Xvid being DivX spelled backwards). While DivX is closed source and may only run on Windows, Mac OS and Linux, Xvid is open source and can potentially run on any platform.

Yahoo An internet search engine (a searchable subject-based catalogue of the Net.) http://www.yahoo.com/

Yellow Pages (Internet) An on-line database of machine names and address which form part of the InterNic service. Also a well liked Internet resource directory that mimics a telephone directory in style.

Yield Optimisation A technique used by ad servers to determine the value of ad impressions and to maximize revenue from potential advertisers.

YouTube A video-sharing website owned by Google.

YouView Youview is an open, internet-connected television platform in the UK, launched in July 2012. The venture is a partnership between four broadcasters (BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and ITV plc) and three communications companies (Arqiva, BT and TalkTalk). The platform, previously knows as Project Canvas, allows consumers access to a range of third-party services (tv, radio, on-demand services and internet content) using a compliant device (such as a set-top box) built to a common technical standard and through a broadband internet connection.

Z-test A statistical way of undertaking tests of significance of survey results.

Zapping Zapping includes: a) the rapid change across channels made by viewers during a commercial break, b) the exclusion of commercials when recordings are made of programmes.

Zipping Zipping is fast-forwarding through recorded commercials when watching a home-recorded tape.

Zoom (company) A brand of audio recorders. Their H-series handheld recorders are a very common first recorder for podcast producers.

Zoom (video) Video conferencing software. Zoom and other similar software is often used by podcasters to record multiple people in multiple locations.

using website header

Glossary

Cookies on Adwanted UK