Common TV Advertisement Abbreviations
TV advertising is one of the main ingredients in creating brand awareness and generate top of a top-of-a-funnel audience. However, TV acronyms and industry jargon can be confusing for advertisers who are not very familiar with the media buying language.
In this blog, I will share some of the most common terminologies and acronyms in TV advertising. Let’s go!
Rating:
Is the average audience per minute of an entire TV program including commercials. It’s a percentage of the total target audience exposed to the program. For instance, a 30-minute program that in minutes 1, 2, and 3, respectively, had 10,000, 15,000, and 14,000 viewers out of a total target size of 100,000. The rating would be (10,000+15,000+14,000)/3 = 13,000 / 100,000 = .13 or 13%.
Share
Is the percentage of the targeted audience exposed to media divided by the available viewers. So, If there are only 20,000 targeted viewers available out of 100,000 that could be reached then the share would be 20,000 / 100,000= 20%
Index
An index is a way to evaluate the value of a program against its target audience. It’s the composition of a target audience watching a specific program or network, compared to the average audience size in the television population.
Hypothetically speaking, if you’re targeting W35-54 who have kids and also read books. That audience makes up about 5% of the total TV viewing population. If 5% of a particular show’s viewers are readers with kids, then that program would have an index of 100. If 10% of the viewers were within that target audience, then the index would be 200.
Impression
The television advertising landscape is evolving, with most TV stations transitioning from a ratings-based system to an impression-based approach. This shift reflects a broader focus on the total number of times an advertising message is displayed, regardless of whether it is actively viewed.
For example, if you’re targeting Jacksonville, FL—a market with a population of approximately 1.5 million—your TV schedule may include various programs designed to reach around 750,000 viewers. This means your campaign would generate approximately 750,000 impressions, representing the total instances your advertisement is displayed across that audience.
This move to impressions provides advertisers with a more precise and scalable way to measure reach, making it an essential metric for modern TV advertising strategies.
Reach
The number of audience/ people who actually see your content/message regardless of frequency.
Frequency
Is the number of times an advertising message is exposed to someone in an audience. A good frequency number is at least 3, meaning your audience has been exposed to your ad or message 3 times within a particular time frame.
CPM
It is the cost per thousand impressions. Let’s say you want to deliver 1,000,000 impressions in a particular market. The cost of delivering 1,000 is $10 which means this campaign will cost you $10,000. You can use our CPM calculator to calculate your campaign based on CPM, budget, or the number of impressions.
GRP
Is the gross rating point. It’s the total impressions, regardless of targeted impressions. You can calculate GRP as follows: Impressions / TV universe x100
Reach Point
Is the number of different households or people who are exposed at least once to an advertising schedule over a certain time. You can calculate reach points by dividing GRPs by frequency. Mostly is a percentage.
CPP
Is the cost per point which is the cost of reaching 1% of a target audience based on GRPs, Reach, and Frequency. You can calculate CPP by dividing the number of GRPS by the cost.
Upfront
Is buying and selling local and national TV advertising time on an annual basis for the October–September broadcast year. ~80% of TV media transactions are Upfronts, media sellers get more accurate revenue forecasts, and ad buyers can negotiate pricing advantages, impression guarantees, and to some degree reduce preempts cases.
Scatter
It is buying and selling TV spots on a bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis not upfront. It’s best suited for advertisers who like the flexibility to advertise whenever they want based on their business and marketing strategy. However, this method can be more expensive than buying upfront.
Remnant
It Is the leftover. It’s a legacy term meaning the unsold spots. Nowadays, it’s rare to hear that term due to the high demand from advertisers.
Preempt
Is to take the place of another advertiser due to priority, rates, reconsideration, supply, and demand. Preempts happen for many reasons such as breaking news, the president is speaking, or simply because there is no inventory available. This happens often when two or more advertisers booked to run their spot in the same program, when the inventory is low and the demand is high, TV stations/networks they’ll most likely preempt the spot with a lower rate first.
Spot
It’s referred to as the TV ad/commercial. It can be :07, :15, :30, :60 or :120
Some of the common TV schedule abbreviations:
UD: Underdelivered
AV: Added Value (bonus)
FTP: system to upload TV spots
AM: Early morning
DT: Daypart
EF: Early Fringe
EN: Early News
PA: Prime Access
PR: Prime
LN: Late News
LF: Late Fringe
OV: Overnight
SP: Special
RT: Rotator
DR: Direct Response
PI: Per Inquiry
Trade: Exchange service with airtime
Bookend: Is a :15 Ad that runs at the beginning of the break and before air time
Standalone: Is a :15 spot
Billboard: Is a :05 spot
Hotspot: Is a :07 ad
Snipe: Is a banner ad
Projection: Most recent
Hut: Last year’s number
Donut: First or last
I hope you learned something new today. If you have a business and would like to discuss your TV advertising, go ahead and schedule your Free consultation now.
