TV advertising glossary

This beginner's guide to TV advertising jargon is divided into four sections: click on the tabs above to go to the section you need.

If you’re looking for terminology relating to mobile advertising, click here.

If you’re looking for terminology relating to online advertising, click here.

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.

AFP
Advertiser Funded Programme – a programme funded by an advertiser rather than by a broadcaster.

Analogue
Analogue broadcasts are based on signals of constantly varying frequency such as radio waves, and can suffer from degradation during transmission.

ARPU
Average Revenue Per User subscribing to pay-TV services – includes transactional revenue such as gambling and video gaming.

Audience
Population or target group viewing a television programme or an advertising campaign.

Average audience
Calculated by adding together the audience for each individual minute of a programme and dividing it by the programme's total duration.

Average frequency
Estimate of the average number of times the audience had an opportunity to see a commercial.

BARB
Broadcaster's Audience Research Board, the Joint Industry Committee responsible for TV audience measurement in the UK.

Branded content
See AFP

Bumpers
Short (usually 5-second) branded sponsorship credits appearing either side of a commercial break during a sponsored programme.

Campaign period
Interval from first to last day of an advertising campaign.

Clearcast
All finished advertisements appearing on member stations must be cleared by Clearcast prior to transmission.

Commercial break
A break in television programme transmission, during which advertisements are shown.

Commercial minutage
The number of minutes (per day, per week etc) on television, during which commercials are transmitted.

Commercial share
The share of viewing taken by a commercial broadcaster, where total share excluding all BBC channels equals 100.

Consolidated viewing
The total of real time (at transmission time) and video playback viewing (occurring within an agreed period, e.g. seven days of the first transmission time).

Cost per thousand
The cost of reaching 1000 viewers within a target audience with your advertisement. The CPT is also sometimes known as 'average station price'.

Coverage
The proportion of a target group who have an opportunity to see one or more commercial transmissions.

CRR
Contract Rights Renewal – the CRR mechanism sets out the rights, under Ofcom guidelines, held by advertisers when buying ITV commercial airtime.

DAL
Dedicated Advertiser Location. Accessed via the red button, it allows viewers to enter an advertiser environment outside the broadcast stream.

Daypart
The broadcast day is split into several dayparts, e.g. 06:00-09:30 = breakfast, 09:30-17:30 = daytime, 17:30-20:00 = early peak etc.

DCAB
Digital Cable – the distribution platform utilised by the cable operators, generally combining television with telephony.

DCMS
Department for Culture, Media and Sport – the Government department with responsibility for overseeing broadcasting.

Demographics
Basic descriptors used to classify respondents – such as age, sex, marital status, occupation, social grade etc.

Digital/digitisation
Analogue data converted to binary code (1s and 0s) may be said to have been digitised.

DSAT
Digital Satellite – the means of broadcast distribution typically associated with BSkyB.

DTT
Digital Terrestrial Television – the distribution method most commonly referred to as the ‘Freeview’ platform.

DTR
Digital Television Recorder – a device which uses a hard-drive to record and store digital video content. Well-known brands include Freeview Playback, Tivo and Sky+.

Enhanced TV
TV programming supplemented with extra datacast material, in order to enhance its viewer appeal, generally accessed through the red button.

EPG
Electronic Programme Guide – an on-screen guide to channel programme listings and other services carried by a platform operator.

Establishment survey

BARB conduct an annual establishment survey, which is then used in panel design, to ensure the panel is reflective of the total UK viewing population.

FIB
First In Break – the first commercial to appear in a commercial break.

Free-to-air
TV channels broadcast by various means but offered free to end-users, who do not have to pay any subscription in order to receive them.

Frequency
The number of times the target audience of a TV campaign has the opportunity to see the campaign, expressed over a period of time.

Guest viewing

Guest viewing information is collected by BARB, through specific buttons on the panel-member handset, together with limited demographic data.

HDTV
High Definition TV – signals transmitted with at least double the horizontal and vertical resolution of conventional broadcast material.

Hours of viewing
The average number of minutes or hours viewed per day or per week to a channel by an audience.

Household
A group of people who live together and manage their bills and expenses as one unit.

Housewife
The member of the household (male or female), who is solely or mainly responsible for household duties, including shopping.

IA
Interactive advertising – commercials broadcast on digital TV with an overlay prompting the viewer to ‘press red’ for additional information, sample etc.

iDTV
Integrated Digital TV – sets with inbuilt converters that can receive and display digital channels without the need for a set-top box.

Impacts
One impact is equivalent to one person viewing one 30-second spot on one occasion.

Impressions
Another term for impacts.

In-home viewing
TV viewing which takes place in the home (excludes out of home viewing).

Infomercial
An extended commercial message, generally lasting between three and 30 minutes and including product demonstration.

Interactive TV (iTV)
Broadcast television combined with interactive enhancements and extensions, allowing viewers to control content and interact with the broadcaster.

Internet TV
Content being transmitted over the public internet. Can include short form programming such as YouTube and on-demand content viewed over broadband such as 4OD and Joost.

IPA
Institute of Practitioners in Advertising – the trade body for leading agencies in the UK's advertising, media and marketing communications industry.

IPTV
Internet Protocol Television – a system where digital television is delivered using Internet Protocol over a closed network infrastructure. IPTV services include Tiscali TV.

ISBA
Incorporated Society of British Advertisers – the industry body representing the interests of advertisers.

Lifestage
Household classification system based on family time-of-life characteristics, e.g. ‘couple with grown-up children who have left home’ etc.

Lifestyle
Classification technique based on individual behavioural preferences, such as leisure activities or recreational habits.

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).

Multi-channel home
Homes that are equipped to receive TV channels other than analogue terrestrial, via Digital Satellite, Digital Cable or Digital Terrestrial.

Multi-platform home
Homes that receive channels other than just analogue terrestrial, delivered via more than one platform (i.e. Satellite and Cable, or Cable and DTT).

Multiplex
The vehicle on which digitally-compressed channels are compressed and combined onto the same carrier frequency.

Ofcom
Ofcom – the independent regulator and competition authority for all the UK communications industries.

OTS
'Opportunities to see' an ad. Also referred to as frequency, it is the average number of times an ad is seen by the target audience.

Out of home viewing
Defined as the TV audience viewing outside private homes, typically meaning pubs, clubs, offices, hospitals, hotel rooms etc. (excluded by BARB).

Overlap
Approximately 15% of households in the UK are in an overlap area between two ITV regions and so can, and often do, view two or more ITV stations.

Overnights
Term used to describe viewing data made available the following day. Comprised only of ‘live’ viewing.

Panel
Representative survey sample from which data are collected over time.

Penetration
The percentage of people or homes within a defined universe, physically able to watch a channel.

People-meters
Used by BARB to record electronically the TV viewing of the panel, comprising a set meter and separate handset.

Persistence
Minimum interval required before a setmeter records a change of either TV set status, or viewer presence.

Platform
The means by which broadcast material is delivered to the home, e.g. analogue terrestrial, digital satellite, digital cable etc.

Population
In the case of TV, the total population is defined as all individuals aged four or over in UK private households who contain a TV set in working order.

Profile
A means by which viewers to a channel, programme or daypart may be broken down across a single variable such as age or class, always totalling 100.

Programme sponsor
Promotion whereby an advertiser pays for association with a given programme.

Promotion
Promotional message placed by broadcasters, aimed at attracting audiences to forthcoming programmes or events.

Ratings (Rating Points)
Television ratings (TVRatings, TVRs) are expressed as a percentage of the potential TV audience viewing at any given time.

Reach
The cumulative percentage of a population measured to have viewed at least once, for a specified consecutive period of time (typically 1+, 3+ or 20+ mins).

SAP
Station Average Price – the estimated cost of audience delivery on a TV station, based on advertising cost per thousand for a specific audience category.

Share
The share of total viewing time is equivalent to the percentage of total viewing time accounted for by each channel.

Simulcasting
The simultaneous broadcasting of a TV channel or programme on two or more different transmission systems.

Social Economic Group
Classification of social status, usually based on the occupation of the head of household and most commonly summarised as grades AB, C1, C2 and DE.

Staggercast
Broadcast of channel content on a secondary channel at a fixed time after the original broadcast. Usually one hour and thus commonly labelled '+1'.

Strikeweight
The weight of advertising bought per week.

TVR
See Ratings. Television ratings are expressed as a percentage of the potential TV audience viewing at any given time.

Universe
The total population that is being measured or reported, as defined by a selection of demographic, geographic or other criteria.

Widescreen
Term for TV screen displays with a wider aspect ratio than the traditional 4:3. HDTV employs a 16:9 aspect ratio.