Media Glossary
We've put together a guide to commonly used media terms, so you can dive into reports, campaigns, and strategies with confidence. Get a clear understanding of the language that powers media planning and buying.
Common Terms:
Ad spend. The price you pay for advertising during a specified date range
Ad spend on nielsen rated stations / dayparts
Media Efficiency Rate. A metric to measure how efficiently paid media is driving total revenue
Formula: Revenue / Media Cost
Return on Ad Spend. A metric that measures revenue earned for each dollar you spend on advertising
Revenue / Media Cost
Reported orders placed online
.com + amazon.com
Cost per order. The average cost of advertising per sale
Media Cost / Orders
Cost per acquisition. A metric that measures the total cost of a customer completing a specific action
Media Cost / New Customers
Revenue per order. The average amount spent by customers per transaction
Revenue / Orders
A positive result toward marketing goal
The effectiveness of turning an opportunity into a conversion
TV Formula: Calls+Visits / Orders. Digital Formula: Conversions / Clicks
Formula: Impressions / 1000
Cost Per Thousand (impressions). A bidding method where you pay based on the number of impressions received
Formula: Media Cost / IMP (000)
Gross rating point. A percent of the target market reached multiplied by the exposure frequency
Formula: audience size / total exposures
Cost Per Point or Cost Per Gross Rating. The cost of advertising exposure opportunities that equals one rating point in any geographically defined market
Formula: Media Cost / GRP
Ads watched for a defined time period (seconds). The default number of secs varies by platform
When an ad is watched start to finish
A ratio showing the number of paid views of a video ad to the number of impressions that were eligible for views
Formula: Views / Impressions
The percentage of users who successfully watched 100% of the video ad
Formula: Video Completions / Impressions
A skippable video ad that auto-plays before a YouTube video starts
Any interaction with your ad – view, click, like, share, comment
User interacts with a digital ad
Cost Per Click. A bidding method where you pay each time your ad is clicked
A ratio showing how often people who see your ad end up clicking it
Formula: Clicks / Impressions
When a user arrives to a website
Key Performance Indicator. KPIs are the metrics and results that determine your progress toward a marketing campaign objective
The increase in effectiveness measurements (e.g., message recall) between respondents who did not view the ad and those who did
An advertising strategy that finds and targets new prospective customers based on behavior, interest, demo, geo and many other attributes
Block of time that divides the day into segments for purposes of selling advertising time on TV and radio
Media Channels:
Video On Demand: Shown on a cable or satellite provider’s app when a consumer chooses to watch a show that previously aired
Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributor: Aggregate live and on-demand TV and deliver over the internet in a linear fashion (Sling TV, Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV, fuboTV, Playstation Vue, PlutoTV)
Free Ad-supported Streaming TV. Available without a paid subscription. (Pluto TV, Xumo, Tubi, The Roku Channel)
Connected TV: Digital content accessed by apps and streamed over Smart TVs, OTT Devices (Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, Roku) or Gaming Consoles (Xbox, PlayStation
Over the Top: Streaming content that is delivered via an internet connection rather than through a traditional cable/satellite company, on any device
Online Video: Video clips, TV shows and movies streamed from the Internet
Automated method of buying display inventory executed using data and typically algorithmically driven systems with direct access to publisher ad servers, ad exchanges and networks