GLOSSARY OF ADVERTISING TERMS

Aided Recall : A measurement technique in which respondents are

helped to remember portions of an advertisement or the complete
advertisement by having an interviewer providing cues.

Agency of Record (AOR): An agency that purchases time or space

for another agency or a group of agencies servicing the same client.

Audience: The number of people or households who are exposed to

the medium.

Primary: Total number of people exposed to a medium which have

direct access to the medium.

Secondary: Total number of people exposed to a medium not having

access to the medium (e.g. pass – along – readers)

Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC): a non-profit, self-regulatory

organization of advertisers, agencies, magazines and newspaper
publishers, which verifies the circulation figures of publishers and
members and reports this data to advertisers and agency members.

Average Frequency (OTS): The number of times the average person

reached by a media schedule is exposed to the schedule.

Bleed: An advertisement in which part or all of the illustration or copy

runs past the usual margins out to the edge of a page.

Brand Development Index (BDI): An index which measures relative

per capita consumption of brands across a geographic area. It is
calculated by dividing the percentage of brand sales in a geographic
market by the population percentage in the same market.

Cable TV: A system of broadcasting television whereby programmes

are first tuned in by a community antenna and then distributed to
individual homes by cables.

Category Development Index (CDI): Essentially, the percentage of

total sales of a product related to the population percentage in a
geographical market.

Circulation: In print, the number of copies of a vehicle distributed

based on average number of issues.
Clutter: Excessive amounts of advertising carried by media vehicles

Coverage: A medium’s geographical potential

….2/-
Continuity: Method of scheduling advertising so that audiences have
an opportunity to see advertisements uninterrupted.

Co-sponsorship: The participation of two or more sponsors in a single

broadcast programme where each advertiser pays proportionate share
of the cost.

Cost-efficiency: The effectiveness of media as measured by a

comparison of audience, either potential or actual, with cost and
expressed as a cost per thousand.

Cost-per-thousand (CPT): A measure of evaluating cost efficiency of

media vehicles. CPT is the cost to deliver 1000 audience and
calculated by dividing the cost by audience delivery and multiplying
the quotient by 1000.

CPRP: Cost per television rating point. Used for comparing/evaluating

cost efficiency of programme/programme mixes.

Cumulative Audience: The net unduplicated audience of a

campaign, either in one medium or a combination of media.
Sometimes called reach or cume.

Day-After-Recall (DAR): A research technique measuring the

amount of audience recall one day after exposure to an ad.

Day Part: A part of the broadcast day. In TV, the day parts are
usually day times (morning and afternoon), early evening, prime time
and night.

Demographics: A term that describes the composition of an audience

in terms of parameters such as sex, income, age, education, etc.

Direct Mail Advertising: Letters, folders, reprints, or other material

sent through the mail directly to prospective purchasers.

Direct-to-Home (DTH): Satellite transmission that delivers a signal

directly to a home via an earth station.
Duplication: The number or percentage of people in one vehicle’s
audience who are exposed to another vehicle.

Effective Reach/Frequency: The reach of a medium or media

schedule at a pre-determined level of frequency (as opposed to total
reach).

Fighting: A method of scheduling advertising for a period of time,

followed by a period of no advertising, followed by a resumption of
advertising.

Frequency distribution: An array of reach according to the level of

frequency delivered to reach group.

….3/-

Gatefold: A folded advertising page which, when unfolded, is bigger in

dimension than the regular page.

Gross Rating Points (GRP): A measure of the total gross weight

delivered by a vehicle. It is the sum of ratings for the individual
announcements of a programme. They are duplicated ratings. Also,
reach times frequency equals GRP.

Hiatus: A period of time during which there is no advertising activity.

Insert: A special page printed on different paper stock by the

advertiser and forwarded to the publisher to be bound into the
publication or inserted loose.

Insertion: An advertisement in the print medium.

Integrated Ratings: Ratings as measured by an Integrated Panel.

This panel as compared to the previous basic panel of IMRB has C&S
homes represented in proportion to the satellite penetration in the city.

IRS: Indian Readership Survey

Island position: A newspaper or magazine advertisement entirely

surrounded by editorial matter or margin.

Market opportunity index: A measure of the potential provided for

the brand by a specific geographical market. Calculated as a ratio of
CDI to BDI.
Media Reach: Size of the audience exposed to an advertisement
through a particular medium (usually expressed as a percentage of the
target audience universe).

Mile Rate: A means of comparing rates of newspapers. It is the cost

of one column centimetre per million circulation.

NRS: National Readership Survey

Net unduplicated audience: The combined cumulative audience for

a single issue or a group of magazines or broadcasts.

OTS: The ‘Opportunity To See’ a TV commercial or a

Press/Cinema/Outdoor ad. Similarly, OTL (Opportunity To Listen).

Pass-along-reader: A person who reads a publication that he or a

member of his family did not purchase.

….4/-
Peoplemeter: It is an electronic device for measuring the number and
kinds of people watching TV programmes. It is connected to the TV
monitor channels being watched and requires a remote control with
buttons to operate.

Post-test: Study of the response to finished advertising after it has

been published and telecast by media.

Primetime: The period of peak viewing television/radio usage.

Psychographics: Criteria for segmenting consumers on the basis of

some psychological traits, behaviour, attitudes, beliefs, values or
lifestyle.

Pulsing: A media scheduling technique which produces alternating

periods of heavy activity followed by lower activity periods.

Roadblock: The placing of advertisements in a number of different TV

networks at the same time.

Readership: The total average number of persons who are exposed to

a publication as distinguished from the circulation or number of copies
distributed.
Run-of-schedule: A broadcast commercial for which a definite time
is not specified.

Schedule: A statement indicating dates on which each planned

insertion will appear in media vehicles. Scheduling relates to the act of
deciding the schedule of the media plan.

Share of voice: A brand’s share of the total advertising for a product

category.

Split Run: The running of advertisements in selected copies of the

same magazines or newspapers.

Target Audience: The desired audience as described or determined

by the advertiser. Usually defined in demographics, purchase or usage
terms.

TRP: Television Rating Point. A rating point means an audience of one

percent of the coverage base.

Unaided Recall: The process of determining whether a person saw or

heard a given advertisement or commercial or brand some time after
exposure with only minimal cueing such as mention of product class
(not brand).

Universe: Total persons or households in a given population.

…5/-
Urban Town: A town with a municipal corporation, cantonment board,
notified area or a town with a population not less than 500, and a
population density of 400 persons per sq. km or more.

Vehicle: A particular component of a media class i.e. a specific

publication, a programme or a site.

Zapping: Using a remote control device to change television channels

from across the room. The technique is usually applied to commercial
avoidance.

Zipping: Using a remote control device to skip ahead of any portion of

a VCR programme. Usually applied to skipping over commercials.