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Adjacency A commercial time slot immediately before or after a specific program.
Affidavit Written legal proof-of-performance from a radio or television station that a commercial ran at the time indicated.
Affiliate A broadcast station (usually independently owned) which has a contractual relationship with a network to carry the network's programs and announcements in specific time periods.
Analog A method of data storage/transmission by continuous or wave-like signals of greater or lesser intensity (current television signals).
Availabilities Programs or time periods a station offers for sale.
Average Quarter Hour Audience/Rating The average number of persons, or percent of a demographic, listening to a station during an average quarter hour.
Back-to-back scheduling Two or more commercials which are run one immediately following the other.
Billboard Sponsoring announcement/identification at the beginning, end or break of a radio or television program.
Block programming Programming of shows with a common demographic appeal one after another.
Bookends Spots airing at the beginning and end of a commercial cluster.
Breakfast/Day/Drive/Evening In radio, basic dayparts sold. Time blocks are usually 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. to midnight respectively.
Cable substitution as regulated by the CRTC Any Canadian television stations airing US programming has to remove the US advertisements and replace them with Canadian advertisements.
Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) A federal government-appointed body that regulates all aspects of the broadcast and telecommunications industries.
Census Agglomeration (CA) Geographical area, defined by Statistics Canada, with a population of 10,000 to 99,999.
Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) Geographical area, defined by Statistics Canada, with a population in excess of 100,000.
Central Market Area (CMA) Geographical area, defined by BBM, usually centered around one urban centre.
Churn Turnover in subscribers. Primarily refers to pay TV. Circulation Daily and weekly audience of a station.
Closed captioning Service offered to hearing-impaired television viewers that translates program audio into scrolled text.
Cluster The set of different commercials within a commercial break, usually two to three minutes in total.
Community Antenna Television Antenna arrangement that receives distant signals and re-transmits via cable to subscribers.
Conjunction A large purchase of broadcast media time in dollar terms, usually extending to a 52-week period. It is designed to enable short- term advertisers to participate in top-rated shows and receive the discounts normally available only with a 52-week purchase.
Coverage Percentage of homes or individuals in a specific area that receive a broadcast and/or cable signal.
Cumulative Audience (Cume)/Percent Cume The number of different people who tune for at least one quarter hour to a station within a specified time block. Often expressed as a percent.
Cut-in Regional (or station) insertion of an alternative commercial replacing a spot carried nationally (or provincially) on a network.
Day-After Recall (DAR) Proportion of audience who can recall sales messages and attributes of specific commercials. A survey is conducted by telephone on the day after the commercial(s) ran.
Dayparts Divisions of the broadcast day into general time periods. In television they include: day, early fringe, weekend and prime; in radio, breakfast, day, drive and evening.
Decoder Set-top device which enables a subscriber to view an electronically scrambled pay TV program.
Designated Market Area (DMA) Geographical area comprised of a market and adjacent counties or census divisions, as defined by Nielsen Media Research.
Digital The primary computer method of data storage/transmission in which each code is given a unique combination of bits and each bit indicates the presence or absence of a condition (on/off, yes/no, true/false).
Digital convergence The computerized linking of TV, telephone and other media to produce online services and other products.
Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) Satellite which broadcasts directly to a subscriber's home dish antenna.
Extended Market Area (EMA) Geographical area comprised of a market and adjacent counties or census divisions, as defined by BBM.
Format Type of programming featured on a radio station, e.g., news/talk, adult contemporary.
Full coverage Audience that encompasses a station's total reach.
Grid card Rate card that reflects audience delivery and demand at different times, resulting in a variety of rates for that program.
High Definition Television (HDTV) A digital-format system with higher resolution or pictorial clarity, as more lines per picture frame are transmitted.
Homes Using Television (HUT) Percent of households with one or more sets tuned in at a given time.
Hours tuned Usually expressed as the average amount of time spent per person with a given station in a weekly period. It is an indication of the loyalty that a given audience has to a station.
Infomercial A long commercial which at first glance appears to be a program.
Interactive Two-way communication system.
Interstitial Mini information segment, usually :30 or :60 in length.
Lead-in/Lead-out Programming leading into or out of a time block.
Local program Non-network program airing on a station.
Make-good Commercial announcement offered to an advertiser as compensation for a pre-empted spot or one that ran incorrectly.
Narrowcasting Programming designed to reach specific vertical targets. Often developed to appeal to special interest or age groups.
Net (Unduplicated) audience Number of households or people reached by a particular broadcast schedule or program.
One Time Only (OTO) A spot which is available only once.
Pay TV Channels for which a subscriber pays over and above the basic cable fee. The signal is descrambled by use of a decoder.
People meter Device attached to the television set to electronically measure individual viewing patterns.
Pre-emption Cancellation/postponement of a regularly scheduled program due to special programming.
Pre/Post release A pre-released program airs before the U.S. episode and post-release airs after.
Prime/fringe/day In television, the basic dayparts sold. Prime runs 6:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m., fringe 4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. until sign-off, and daytime sign-on until 4:30 p.m.
Program substitution Substitution, by the cable company, of one program for another on a given channel.
Personal Video Recorder (PVR) A set-top box that stores video information in digital form.
Quarter hour audience Same as Average Minute Audience but information is measured in 15-minute blocks. Viewers/listeners must tune in for five or more minutes to be counted.
Rating The average percentage of target group population within a defined geographic area tuned to a particular program at a specific time period. Rating = average target audience/target population x 100.
Repeat The re-broadcast of an original program, also called a rerun.
Roadblock Scheduling of commercial time on all available stations at a fixed time.
Rotation Scheduling of a pool of commercials through a set schedule, on a rotating basis.
Run of Schedule (ROS) Scheduling of a commercial in variable time blocks, days or programs.
Satellite TV Refers to station signals from anywhere in the world which are intentionally beamed to a satellite from a station. Operators use satellite dishes to receive signals to feed their subscribers.
Sets-In-Use (SIU) Total number of sets viewed at a specific time.
Share The percentage of the total television-viewing or radio-listening audience tuned to a particular
program or station at a specific time.
Share = average program audience/average people viewing or listening during that time period x 100.
Simulcast Two broadcast stations carrying the same program at the same time.
Simultaneous program substitution Cable replacement of American identification and commercials with Canadian where the U.S. and Canadian stations are telecasting the same episode of a program at the same time.
Specialty Channel Television channel that programs to a vertical interest group.
Spill-in Broadcast signal from one market received in another.
Split commercial A commercial from the same advertiser devoting part of its time to one product, part to another, each being able to stand alone. Sometimes referred to as a "piggyback" commercial.
Spot TV Purchase of broadcast time on a station-by-station basis, i.e., non-network time. Sometimes referred to as Selective.
Strip programming A program scheduled at the same time (usually during fringe) on successive days (usually Monday-Friday).
Super A slide superimposed on a television commercial to provide additional information.
Superstation Station whose signal is available to cable systems across the country via satellite transmission.
Syndicated program A program independently produced and sold to local stations.
Teletext Data transmission system that enables users to obtain and display pages of alphanumeric or graphic information. The system uses television channels, FM radio broadcasting, phone line circuits or a combination of the three.
Tiering Optional packages of pay-cable or basic-cable services available to subscribers.
Video on Demand (VOD) A planned system using video compression to supply programs to viewers when requested, via ISDN or cable.
Zapping Channel switching to avoid commercials.
Zipping Using a fast-forward device on a VCR to reduce commercial viewing while watching a pre-recorded television program.
Source: Canadian Media Directors Council
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