The jargon of the media industry is complex and you can quickly lose track of it. We have summarized and defined general and TV-specific terms in a glossary for you.
Media terms
Affinity
A metric for how effectively a medium is able to reach a particular target group. Ratio of the target group reach to that of the sampled universe (average = 100).
Average opportunity to see / to hear (OTS/OTH)
The Avg OTS of a media plan is arrived at by dividing the gross reach by the net reach.
CATI
Computer-assisted telephone interview.
CAWI
Computer assisted web interview.
Cost per thousand impressions/readers (CPM/TCP)
Cost for 1,000 impressions/readers based on the actual advertising costs (advertising costs / readers or impressions × 1000).
Cross media
Cross media is a multi-channel marketing strategy in which content is developed for and distributed across different media channels in order to maximise advertising effectiveness.
Demographic characteristics
Description of population characteristics, usually of a social or economic nature, such as gender, age, income, etc.
Double reader
Reader of a print medium who also reads another title.
External overlap
The overlap between two or more different media.
Gross reach
The sum of all of the audiences or potential audiences exposed to a medium.
Intermedia comparison
A comparison of the performance of different media genres with respect to coverage, communication, technical and economic criteria.
Internal overlap
The readership overlap across several issues of a title.
Intramedia comparison
Comparison of the performance of advertising media of the same type in terms of reach, exposures, costs, etc.
Media selection
The process of choosing advertising media with the aid of computer analysis. – Evaluation Measuring the effectiveness of media plans – Ranking Measurement of the effectiveness of advertising vehicles
Projection
Reach in absolute figures. Extrapolation from sample values to the sampled universe.
Reach (net)
The number of individuals reached by a medium at least once during a specific period of time.
Representativeness
How characteristic the random sample is of the universe from which it is taken.
Sample
A subset of the population or universe.
Structure
Breakdown of a universe into subgroups, e.g. the total population by age group.
Target audience
A group of people defined in terms of their demographic, consumer and attitudinal characteristics.
Universe
The total number of persons from which the sample is pulled.