Glossary of Terms

Please click here (PDF, 94KB) to download the complete list of Glossary of Terms.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z


Analogue TV
Television platform using analogue signal wavelengths.

Audience
The potential or expected number of people having the opportunity to view.

Audience Profile (Audience Composition)
The audience profile shows how a main audience category is divided into its subcategories (such as age or sex) in percentage terms. For example, if a programme achieves a Male profile of 45%, this means that 45% of adult viewers were men, while the other 55% were women. An audience profile can be compared with the equivalent population profile to produce an index.

Audience: Break Audience
A commercial break audience is defined as the duration weighted average of all the commercial spot audiences in the break.

Audience: Commercial Spot Audience
The commercial spot audience is defined as the audience for the minute in which the commercial starts.

Audience: Programme Audience
A programme audience is the average of all the minute audiences covered by the programme transmission, excluding any commercial breaks and promotions.

Audience: Time Segment (Daypart) Audience
A time segment (e.g. quarter hour) or daypart audience is the average of the one minute audiences in that time segment/daypart.

Cable
Television services which are transmitted over wires rather than over the airwaves.

Commercial Minutage
The number of minutes on television during which commercials are broadcast.

Cost-per-rating point (CPRP)
The cost of reaching one percent of a target audience. Cost-Per-Rating-Point (CPRP) is used when purchasing and measuring the efficiency of advertising campaigns.

Cost-per-thousand (CPT or CPM)
The cost of reaching one thousand impacts of a target audience. Cost-Per-Thousand (CPT or CPM) is used when purchasing and measuring the efficiency of advertising campaigns.

Daypart
A daypart is a section of the viewing day, for example breakfast (0600-0924) or peak time (for which there are various definitions).

Demographics
Terms used to describe audience classifications such as age, sex etc.

Digital TV
Television platform using digital signal wavelengths. The digital wavelengths are transmitted in a binary format which allows more information to be carried within the same bandwidth than analogue, resulting in more channels, better quality picture, sound and interactive services.

DTH
Direct To Home. Homes that receive television directly via a satellite dish attached to a single building.

DTT
Digital Terrestrial Television.

DVDR
DVD Recorder.

Encrypted Channels
A viewing card is required to enable viewing to these channels.

EPG
Electronic Programme Guide. Channel and programme listing service available on digital TV.

Establishment Survey
Survey undertaken to determine the ownership of television equipment and demographic characteristics of the population. Results are used to determine the panel controls against which the panel is maintained.

Exclusive Reach
The exclusive number or percentage of people who have seen a particular piece of broadcast output (e.g. a programme, daypart, channel, TV advertising campaign). (See also Reach).
For advertising campaigns exclusive reach is also known as unique cover.

Free-To-Air Channels
No subscription fee is payable in order to view the channel.

Frequency (Average Frequency)
The (average) number of times a commercial is seen by those within the target audience who see it at all. Average frequency is sometimes referred to as average OTS (see OTS).

GRP (Gross Rating Point)
The cumulative number of ratings achieved by an advertising campaign (see also Rating)

Guest Viewing
Viewing by non panel members within panel homes. Guests are asked to provide details of their sex and age group via the peoplemeter handset. Regular guests may be allocated their own button on the handset, though their viewing will continue to be treated as guest viewing.

Handset
A device similar to a remote control which panel members use to register and deregister their presence in a room where a television set is on.

HDTV
High Definition Television. A television service containing a high number of pixels which delivers a clearer and sharper picture.

Head of Household
The Head of Household is the household member who either owns the property, is responsible for paying the rent, has use of the home as a result of his/her job, or is related to the owner or main tenant (where the owner or main tenant is not a regular member of the household).

Hours/Minutes of Viewing
The amount of television watched by a particular audience. This is usually expressed as an average over a given time period.

Household Size
The number of individuals who regularly live in the household.

Housewife
The member of the household who is solely or mainly responsible for the household duties. A housewife may be male or female. There is only one housewife per household.

Impacts (or gross impressions)
A measure of viewing to commercial spots. One impact is one member of the target audience viewing one commercial. Impacts are added together to give, e.g. the total impacts delivered by a particular spot, the gross total achieved by a particular advertising campaign or the total supplied by a given channel.

Interactive Television
Mixing traditional television with interactive content on digital TV via the handset. Information can include links to further programmes, interactive games, commercial advertiser content etc.

IPTV
Internet Protocol Television. A method of delivering television services via broadband.

Index
A measure of relative performance in which targets are indexed against a base audience. An index of 100 means the target performed as well as the base audience. Over 100 means the target performed better, and under 100 the target performed worse.

Multi-Channel Home
A home able to receive cable, satellite or digital terrestrial transmissions.

Multi-Set Home
A home possessing more than one television in working order (see Television Home).

OTS
Opportunity-To-See ads in a campaign.

Out-of-Home viewing
Viewing by panel members outside their permanent residence. On many peoplemeter systems only ‘guest’ viewing is measured as out-of-home viewing.

Overnights
The previous day’s viewing is released to the industry the next day.

Panel
Sample of people used for regular research.

Pay-Per-View
Pay TV service allowing users to pay for each programme they watch rather than via a monthly fee. For example, box office films may be watched via pay-per-view.

Pay TV
TV service that requires a viewer to pay a one off or regular subscription fee in order to view.

People Meter
Generic name for the electronic measurement system which monitors the channel that a TV set is tuned to and the individuals present in the room while the TV set is switched on.

Personal Meters
Meters which are carried by an individual.

Population
The number of people in the ‘universe’ or ‘target group’.

Programme Genre
A classification of programmes into particular types (e.g. drama, sport, documentary).

Programme Sponsorship
A form of promotion where a company or product associates itself with a programme. This is done via credits at the beginning and end of the programme and in the programme breaks.

PVR
Personal Video Recorder.

Rating (also known as Target Audience Rating Point ‘TARP’)
The rating is the measure of the popularity of a programme, daypart, commercial break or advertisement by comparing its audience to the population as a whole. One rating is equivalent to one per cent of a target audience.
Commercial campaigns are frequently assessed by adding the TVRs of their individual spots to produce a Gross Rating Point total (see GRP).
A rating is often referred to as a TARP (Target Audience Rating Point) when it relates to a specific target (i.e. Adults 15-24).

Reach
The net number or percentage of people who have seen a particular piece of broadcast output (e.g. a programme, daypart, channel, TV advertising campaign).

Sample Size
The number of individuals in a sample group.

Set-Top Box
Supplied to satellite, cable (both analogue and digital) and digital terrestrial homes to enable them to receive signals to their television sets.

Share (Share of Viewing)
The percentage of the total viewing audience watching over a given period of time. This can apply to channels, programmes, time periods etc.

Simulcast
The simultaneous broadcasting of the same programme on different TV channels.

SMATV
Satellite Master Antenna Television delivers television services to a number of homes from a communal satellite dish, e.g. those living in a block of flats.

Spot
An individual occurrence of a commercial.

Television Home
A household which has at least one television in working order is classed as a TV home.

Terrestrial Television
Television received via a normal rooftop or indoor aerial.

Transmission Hours
The length of time that a channel broadcasts in any given day.

Transmission Log
A detailed description of the events (programmes, commercials etc) broadcast each day by a particular channel. The logs are combined with minute-by-minute BARB audience data so that audiences can be reported for particular programmes, commercial breaks or individual commercial spots.

Universe
The total population of a particular audience.

VCR
Video Cassette Recorder.

Video-on-Demand
A facility offered by digital television providers where households can access a movie or programme that can be watched at any time.

Viewing
A panel member (or guest) is defined to be viewing when they are present in a room with a TV set switched on.

Zapping
Channel hopping through different television channels.

Zipping
Fast forwarding through recorded commercials when watching a pre-recorded programme