Glossary
References: Digital Signage Press, Google Ad Manager glossary, DPAA, DOOH Glossary
“Gross” vs. “Unique”: Audience measures can be reported as either “Gross” or “Unique”, where “Gross” is the total number of incidences occurring during a period and “Unique” is the total number of individuals during a period
Account: Term commonly used within the advertising business to refer to the corporate entity employing an advertising agency
Ad: Advertisement
Ad Copy: All spoken words or printed text in an advertisement
Ad Exposure Frequency: The number of separate ad exposures of an ad audience member during the venue visit, or other period
Ad Exposure Reach: The net number of viewers, of specified characteristics, in the vehicle zone who watched and listened to the ad, during a time period
Ad Exposure Time: The number of seconds spent watching and listening to the ad
Ad Impressions: Exposure to an out of home video network, program, or message
Ad Rotation Duration: The number of seconds required to view all of the ads in a rotation or group
Adjacencies: A commercial time slot immediately before or after a specific ad or program
Advertising: Advertising is paid, one-way communication through a medium in which the sponsor is identified, and the message is controlled. Variations include publicity, public relations, product placement, sponsorship, underwriting, and sales promotion. Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including television in and outside the home, radio, movies, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, and billboards.
Advertising Manager: A client representative responsible for overseeing marketing efforts related to product, including budgeting, creative activities and liaison with agency.
Advertising Plan: An explicit outline of what goals an advertising campaign should achieve, how to accomplish those goals, and how to determine whether or not the campaign was successful in obtaining those goals
Advertorial: An advertisement that resembles a news article or editorial in a print or electronic communication that promotes a single program, service, or point of view
Affidavit: Legitimate proof of posting by the vendor that the advertiser’s message ran as scheduled
Agency: A company in the business of creating advertisements, packaging and names for products and services, as well as providing marketing and merchandizing advice and general business and promotional counsel to its clients
Agency Commission: The agency’s fee for designing and placing advertisements. Generally, this is calculated as 15 percent to 20 percent of the amount spent to purchase space or time in the various media used for advertising
Arbitrage: The purchase of inventory on one market for immediate resale on another market in order to profit from a price discrepancy
Art Director: The person responsible for the graphic design and creative positioning of an advertisement or campaign; the person in charge of an agency’s production department.
Assets: Audio, video, still photography, logo graphics, etc. and similar elements which are used as components to create finished advertising spots
Audience: The number and type of people exposed to the specific ad, with an opportunity to see
Audience Composition: The demographic and/or socioeconomic profile of the network’s audience that is inclusive of the percentage of the total audience falling in each segment
Avail: Inventory available for repurchase in specific time periods
Average (Ad) Audience: The number and type of people exposed to the average ad unit. For most networks this is identical to the Average Unit Audience
Average Ad Unit Impressions: The sum of exposures vehicle audiences for a schedule of out-of-home video network announcements. See Gross Impressions
Average Ad Unit Reach: The net number of people exposed to the out-of-home video network during a given period of time, often one or four weeks. See Reach or Net Reach
Average Frequency: The average number of times a person is exposed to a message, program or network within a given period of time, often one or four weeks
Average Unit Audience: The Vehicle Traffic, with Notice for a unit of time equal to the typical ad unit
Awareness: Knowledge or understanding of an object, idea or thought. In this case, the consumer is cognizant of the out-of-home video network, the programming, and/or the advertising contained within
Back to back: The running of more than one ad with one immediately following the other.
Banner Ad: Banner advertising displays along the bottom of the screen when either the video advertising is playing or during programming as a part of a sponsorship
Billboard: An outdoor sign or poster. Costs for a specific billboard are determined by the board’s size and the amount of traffic that passes its location
Bumper: Short (usually 5-second) branded sponsorship credits appearing either side of a commercial break during a sponsored program
Campaign: The planning and execution of a marketing plan, including advertising schedules, promotions, events and other media
Campaign Period: Interval from first to last days of an advertising campaign
Cancellation Policy: The terms under which a customer can cancel an ad unit or units scheduled that has already been purchased and scheduled, including the required amount of advance notice and any applicable financial penalty or consequence for early termination
Captive Audience: An audience confined to an area in which consumers have a strong likelihood of being exposed to the messaging (e.g. line or waiting area)
Channel: Any medium through which a message can be sent to a receiver, including oral communication, print media, TV, and the internet
In regards to out-of-home media, this refers to a particular group of displays within a network that is tuned to the same unique content programming
Closing Date: The date by which all advertising must be ordered from a specific medium in order to secure dates, times, and placements
Commercial: An audio or video advertising announcement, usually presented on television, radio or in a movie theater
Compliance: Fulfilling the terms and requirement of a buy; delivering what is due
Concept: The general idea behind a slogan, pitch, or campaign
Confirmation: Written verification that the order has been received and will clear
Consumer: A private individual at whom advertisements are aimed; a buyer
Consumer Market: A defined group of consumers
Coop: The practice of a national brand subsidizing local advertising costs incurred by a company that sells its product. Typically, the national brand has stringent rules about the advertisement in which the product appears
Copy: The written part of an advertisement. Effective copy is critically important, even in visually oriented advertising messages
Coverage Area: Geographic area covered by network installations
CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand): The cost to generate 1,000 impressions
CPP (Cost-Per-Point): The cost to buy one rating point, or one percent of the populations in a defined geography or universe
Creative Assets: Content elements necessary for running a campaign on a given medium (e.g. video, audio, graphics files)
Creative Due: Final date that creative assets are due to media supplier in order to run on schedule
Creative Team: The art director, copywriter, and artist, working together to develop an advertisement or campaign
Daypart: A section of a medium’s operating hours, during which program and/or advertising can be customized to appeal to a particular demographic or target audience
Demographics: Designates the mix of people according to specific age or income brackets that watch a particular program or station
Designated Market Area (DMA): A geographic area defined by Nielsen Media Research as a group of counties that make up a particular TV market, in which the preponderance of TV viewing is from TV stations located in the particular market
Digital Sign: A display device that has the ability to display dynamic advertising and replaces static billboards and posters
Digital Signage Network: Digital signage is defined as a network of centrally managed digital displays that are addressable for delivery of targeted information, entertainment, merchandising, advertising, training, and communication
Discrepancy: When an invoice and the original order for an advertisement do not match
Display: A television, monitor or other digital screen capable of displaying programming
DOOH: Digital Out Of Home
Duration: The length of viewing/listening/broadcast time (in hours:minutes:seconds) for a radio, television, webcast, podcast, CD, video, or other electronic formatted production
Dwell Time: The amount of time a viewer is in a vehicle zone; the number of seconds the viewer is in a location from which the vehicle is visible and, if appropriate, audible
Editorial Calendar: The part of a magazine or newsletter media kit that describes the editorial content planned for each issue in the coming year.
Engagement: The degree to which consumers focus or pay attention to a particular program or message
Equal Horizontal/Vertical Rotation: Term used to rotate media equally throughout the loop in any given time period
Exposure: A consumer’s experience with an advertising medium or message
Flat Rate: A media rate that allows for no discounts
Flight: The advertising campaign period for a particular advertising spot or spots, expressed in days or weeks. Also known as duration
Focus Group: A group of potential consumers used in a market research effort, which is usually designed to determine the likely effectiveness of a product or advertising strategy
Frequency: The average number of times a person is exposed to a message, program or network within a given period of time, often one or four weeks
Frequency Distribution: The percentage of respondents reached at each level of exposure to an advertising schedule
Full-Service Agency: An agency that handles all aspects of the advertising process, including planning, design, production, and placement
Gross Impressions: The sum of exposures to a schedule of out-of-home video network announcements
Gross Opportunity to View Audience: The total number of incidences, over a period of time, where consumers are in an area where they have the opportunity to view an installed network. This number can be reported by demographic segment
Gross Viewers: The total number of viewing incidences, over a period of time, to an installed network. This number can be reported by demographic segment
GRP’s (Gross Rating Points): The total number of rating points achieved for a particular period of time or schedule of advertisements
Impacts: Aka impressions. One impact is equivalent to one person viewing one 30-second spot on one occasion
Impression: Exposure to an out-of-home video network, program or message
Insertion Date(s): The day or issue month an advertisement appears in a given media vehicle
Insertion Order: The insertion order tells the Network Operator that an AD Buyer has reserved certain advertising slots. This document or auto-generated message tells the Network Operator to reserve the inventory for the Ad Buyer.
Insertion Order (IO): A written authorization for a publisher to run an advertisement in a specific media vehicle on a certain date at a specified price
Interactive: The online, Internet, or web environment is the primary interactive media for advertising. It is dubbed interactive because the user, or advertising target, can typically interact with the content and advertising.
‘interactive’ arms within media agencies, often charged with planning and placing buys in emerging media such as web, mobile and DOOH
Interactive TV (iTV): Broadcast television combined with interactive enhancements and extensions, allowing viewers to control content and interact with the broadcaster
Lifestyle: Classification technique based on individual behavioral preferences, such as leisure activities or recreational habits
Local advertising: Advertising to a local merchant or business as opposed to regional or national advertising
Long Form: A television commercial that lasts longer than two minutes
Loop: Segments of content and advertising programmed to a specific length that then repeat on standard intervals
Lowest Unit Rate (LUR): The lowest rate offered by the network to any advertiser for a specific class of time.
Make-Good: Refers to an advertisement that did not run as originally scheduled and is being run again with the intent to fulfill the original order/contract
Marketing Campaign: A specific series of strategies, tactics, and activities designed to get desired marketing messages to intended target markets. A marketing plan should be researched and developed to include an outline of what goals the campaign is to achieve, how to accomplish those goals, and how to measure the success of the campaign in achieving those goals
Media: The forms of publication used to convey information, news, entertainment, and advertising messages to an audience. Traditional advertising media include newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio and television. Digital interactive advertising media includes the Internet, DOOH, interactive television (e.g. Video on Demand), cellular devices and mobile and outdoor locations. Media is plural for medium
Media Buyer: An individual working directly for an advertiser, or for an agency, charged with the responsibility of negotiating and purchasing advertising space
Media Kit: Information offered to potential advertisers by publishers to help the advertisers understand the publisher’s rates, visitor demographics, terms, etc.
Media Outlet: A publication or broadcast organization that transmits information, news, entertainment, and advertising messages. Media outlets can include print publications, electronic newsletters, websites, billboard, radio stations, broadcast and cable TV stations, DOOH networks, etc.
Media Planner: An employee of an advertiser or agency who coordinates media aspects of a campaign and selects the most effective media to use. Important factors in media planning include: the campaign; the budget, size and character of the market profile; and the positioning opportunities in the media. In some cases the Media Planner and Media Buyer roles are fulfilled by the same person/s
Media Planning: Media Planning are those activities that, after having received an objective, defines targets, identifies key factors and elements essential in attaining these objectives while keeping in mind these factors; and then selecting various media based on past experience (either by self, through research or through external help) while sticking to a reasonable adhering to a budget. This process, in its entirety forms the entire spectrum of Media Planning Activities.
Media Vehicle: A specific form of media used
Multi-Panel: Multiple displays/televisions/screens (panels) showing a single programming signal
Multi-Zone: Aka multi-pane, split-screen
National Advertising: Any advertising that is placed by a company, organization, or individual that operates on a national or regional (multistate) basis. Some of the advertising may be placed directly with local advertising media, but it is likely that this advertising would be part of the nationwide advertising effort of the company, organization, or individual.
Network: In DOOH, a physical network of connected displays controlled by the same central ownership and operationally responsible party
Network Owner: Owns the infrastructure of out-of-home network; could be all or partial operating costs of hardware and/or software used to operate network, may outsource ad sales or manage directly
Network Operator (NO); A primary customer user of the ADX system, using the system to post/offer and sell media time
Notice: Looking at a vehicle while in the vehicle zone
Opportunity to See (OTS): The probability of being exposed to a medium’s content and/or the advertising it contains. OTS does not require actual exposure to all content or advertising
OVAB (Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau): The official resource for information on out-of-home video advertising, marketing and metrics
Panel: Representative survey sample from which data are collected over time
Point of Purchase (PoP): Point of Purchase (PoP)
Proof of Play (PoP): Documentation provided to Media Buyer confirming that the purchased campaign order was fulfilled (i.e. ran or played)
Presence: The most basic qualification for vehicle audience exposure is to be in the Presence of that vehicle. For a vehicle with sound, it means being in a location where the vehicle is audible. In all cases, it requires being in a location where the vehicle is visible
Prime Time: Highest level of Broadcast TV viewing (8 to 11 p.m. EST)
Production Manager: The person responsible for overseeing details in the creation of a television or print advertisement
Promotion: A method of increasing sales of merchandise through advertising; any activity designed to enhance sales
Psychographics: Generic term for consumers’ personality traits (serious, funny, conservative), beliefs and attitudes about social issues (opinions about abortion, environment, globalization), personal interests (music, sports, movie going), and shopping orientations (recreational shoppers, price-sensitive shoppers, convenience shoppers)
Rate: A cost-per-space-unit of print advertising or cost-per-time-unit in radio and TV advertising. Newspapers usually publish rates per column inch or line. The electronic media sell 15-, 30-, or 60-second time units
Rate Card: Information cards provided by both print and broadcast media that contain information about advertising costs, mechanical requirements, special issues, closing dates, cancellation dates, circulation data, etc.
Rating: The estimate of the size of the audience, expressed as a percent of the audience population. The percent sign is not shown and the rating may represent overall viewing or a specific segment of audience viewing within a defined geography or universe
Reach: The net number of people exposed to the out-of-home video network during a given period of time, often one or four weeks
Remnant: Media inventory space that is left over and sold at a discount at the last minute
Reservation Date: Space set aside for advertising during a particular time period
Rotation: One ad position within a loop
Run Date: The day/s advertisement appears in a particular media vehicle; also known as insertion date
Run-of-Schedule (ROS): In broadcast, a station’s option to place an advertisement in any time slot they choose; also known as run-of-station
Run-of-Site: A website’s option to place an advertisement on any webpage of the targeted site
Sidebar Ad: An online ad (also known as a skyscraper ad) that is vertically oriented and positioned on the left or right edges of the webpage
Space Reservation: Notification to a media vendor, either written or verbal, of intentions to run an ad
Sponsorship: The ability for an advertiser to have their logo associated with a particular piece of content
Spot Television/Spot TV/Spot: The purchasing of radio and television time on a local or market-by-market basis. This contrasts with the purchase of nationwide exposure by using national television networks or national cable television channels
Storyboard: A series of panels roughly depicting scenes, copy, and shots proposed for a television commercial. The storyboard provides a good representation of the concept for a commercial before extensive production charges are incurred
Submission Date: Date by which advertisement must be provided to the medium in order to appear on or in a specific date, time, or place
Synchronized Ad: Advertisement that runs adjacent to a specific type of
programmed content (i.e. Financial Brokerage ad running next to a stock market ticker)
Syndication: In ADX DSaaS context – The ability to have multiple layers of people submitting content. E.g. like a television station where the TV Stations general manager submits one piece of content and then the producer submits another piece, then the system adds both of those to the playlist. It is the marriage of all content from different sources into one playlist (e.g. the marriage of content form the local venue, the headquarters manager and the advertiser into one playlist)
Target Audience: A defined group of people at which an advertiser’s message, product or service is aimed
Time Slot: A specific period of time bought for airing a commercial on radio or television.
Traffic Count: The number of people who enter a venue
Transaction Traffic Network: A network’s traffic count is defined by transaction count vs. number of people who entered the venue. An example would be gas station networks that use transaction data for counting traffic
Up-front: The buying of national television advertising time for a full broadcast year via one negotiation
Vehicle Audience: Vehicle Traffic with Notice. A vehicle Audience metric suitable for comparison to static media
Vehicle Exposure Frequency: Number of separate exposures of a vehicle audience member during the venue visit or other time period
Vehicle Reach: The net number of viewers, of specified characteristics, in the vehicle zone who noticed the vehicle, during a time period
Vehicle Traffic: The number of visits, over a period of time, with presence in the vehicle zone
Vehicle Zone: The physical area in which a person is able to see and/or hear a specific, place-based advertising vehicle
Vehicle Zone Dwell Time: The number of seconds the viewer is in the Vehicle Zone with Notice
Venue: The place and location of the video advertising network’s displays/screens/signs
Venue Reach: The net number for visitors to the venue during a time period
Venue Traffic: The total number of visits, over a period of time, occurring in venues (i.e. Locations) where a network is installed. This number can be reported by demographic segment.
Venue Visit Frequency: Number of venue visits per visitor during a time period
Venue Visit Time: The time spent in the venue during the total visit time
Video Advertising: Full-motion video, with or without audio; commercial can play full screen or with an enhancing graphical banner
Video Advertising Networks & Screens: Video networks integrating targeted entertainment and/or information program content with advertising narrowcast through digital networks and/or screens in place based venues such as big box and small retail, transit, malls, grocery, health clubs medical offices, gas stations, office buildings, hotels and other out-of-home consumer venues
Voice Over: A recorded narrator who is heard but not seen in a television commercial, or narration that is distinct from the scene portrayed in a radio commercial
Volume Discount: A price discount offered to advertisers willing to commit to a certain quantity of advertisements at a certain rate
Wait-Warping: An effect of certain types of out-of-home advertising, whereby customers who are entertained while waiting for service experience reduced perceived wait times and increased satisfaction levels