A commercial announcement positioned immediately before or after a specific program or programming segment. For example, a race track might request their spot to run “adjacent” to the sports report.

Sworn proof that an advertiser’s commercials were actually run as scheduled. The affidavit indicates the day and time of each broadcast and accompanies the station’s bill to the agencies.

Audience Duplication
The percentage of a station’s audience that is shared with another station or medium.

Audience Flow
The movement of the audience between programs and stations. By scheduling programs consecutively that appeal to similar audiences, the networks and local stations try to maintain the same audience and minimize the flow to other networks or stations. All program schedules are devised with audience flow in mind since programmers have found that when two shows are juxtaposed which appeal to different kinds of viewers, neither will do well.

An announcement identifying a sponsor at the beginning or end of a program..



Segments of the television broadcast day. These include:
Daytime: 9:00 a.m.-4:00p.m.
Late Night: 1:00a.m.-5:00a.m.

Designated Market Area. An A.C. Nielsen market segmentation system whereby each county is assigned exclusively to one television market ranked by population. The DMA rating is based on counties where originating stations enjoy a high proportion of viewing compared to outside station viewing.

Fixed Position
A guaranteed position for a TV ad that will not be preempted.


The average nuumber of times a household or a person viewed a given television program, station or commercial during a specific time period.

Frequency Distribution
A media planning term describing exactly how many times each person is exposed to a message by percentage of the population (reach). For example, with an average frequency of three times, the frequency distribution shows you what percentage of the people heard the message once, twice, three times, etc.

Gross Impressions

Gross Ratings Points (GRPs)
The sum of all rating points achieved for a particular period of time or schedule of commercials. GRPs are used by a media buyer or advertiser as criteria to determine the saturation level of a particular campaign. The more GRPs, the heavier the ad campaign. GRPs equal the percentage reach times frequency.

Nielsen Station Index. A report issued by A.C. Nielsen Company that provides audience measurements for individual television markets.

Nielsen Television Index. NTI reports are issued by A.C. Nielsen Company and provide a national audience measurement for all network programs.

O & O Station



Run of Station. Commercial announcements which can be scheduled at the station’s discretion anytime during the period specified by the advertiser. For example, ROS 20 spots 6 AM-Midnight, Monday through Friday.

An estimate of the size of an audience shown as a percent of a total group of people surveyed. This may be expressed in terms of households or individuals. For example, a “Men 18-24 rating of 2.1” for a radio station means that 2.1% of all Men 18-24 in a market listen to that particular radio station during an Average Quarter Hour. For TV, an 8 rating means that 8% of all homes with sets in the coverage area were tuned in to the particular program.

Reach (Cume)
The number of different persons or unduplicated households who will be exposed to an advertiser’s message at least once during the average week for a reported time period.

A specified time for a TV spot to run simultaneously on all stations in a market or on the networks.

The number of TV households tuned in at a particular time in relation to the total possible number of sets in a given universe.

Share of Audience (Share)
The percent of Households Using TV (HUT) or Persons Using TV (PUT) tuned to a specific program or station at a specified time. Many people confuse ratings with shares since both are shown as percentages. A rating always relates to a total population (e.g. Census Data), whereas audience “share” always is expressed in terms of the total viewing activity taking place during a particular time period.



The purchase of broadcast time from an independent station.

The layout for a television advertisement, showing the action and copy in frames.

A TV station that receives its signals from satellite and transmits the signal to a receiver, thus enabling the receiver to tune into programming from great distances.


Syndicated Program

TV Penetration
The number of households owning TV sets.

Ultra High Frequency (TV channels 14-74) and Very High Frequency (TV channels 2-13). Generally VHF stations have the greatest range of coverage whereas UHF stations cover a much smaller area.