Buzz Words

Useful TV knowledge at your fingertips

• Percentage of UK homes with Digital TV: 96.2% (Q1 2012)
• Number of TVs in the UK: 62 million (end 2012)
• Claimed take-up of HD TV service: 51% (end 2012)
• Number of minutes of TV people aged 4+ watch each day: 244 = 4hrs…(2012 average)
• Proportion of UK homes with Freeview on their main set: 42% (2012)

Universe

A universe is the total available audience

E.g. the adults’ universe in the UK is currently 55m

Universes are relevant to particular areas

E.g. The adults’ universe in the London region is just under 10m

TVR’s (Television Ratings)

One TVR represents 1% of an audience

E.g. Coronation Street delivers 20 Adult TVRs = 20% of the available adult audience watched Coronation Street

TVR’s are the general metric that TV is traded

Advertisers “purchase” TVRs from the TV stations, not spots

Impacts

One impact is one person viewing one advert once

Example: Deal or No Deal broadcast on 07th December 2012 on Channel 4 was viewed by 1,577,923 adults (pairs of eyes)

Universe x TVR (expressed as a %) = Impacts

1,577,923 / 50m adult population = 3.3% = 3.3 Adult TVRs

Coverage and Frequency

Coverage

The percentage of a target audience that will have the opportunity to see your ad at least once (it is not the same as impacts).

Frequency (OTS)

Opportunity to See (OTS) is the average number of times those in the target audience have seen the ad.

So… 50% @ 2 OTS Means that 50% of your audience have seen your advert an average of 2 times

BARB: Broadcasters Audience Research Board

This is the research body that determines how many people are watching a particular spot or programme. It is based on a 5,300 strong panel across the country that is representative of the entire UK populace. They will estimate how many impacts/ratings a spot will have using a combination of Year on Year comparisons and 4 weeks of data prior to the air date of an individual spot. Accurate data on a spots actual level of impacts comes out 9 days after a spot goes live – this is known as consolidation / consolidated data which includes PVR playback.

Clearcast

…are the self-regulating body that controls TV output. An ad cannot run without Clearcast approval. It is normally creative and production agencies that deal with Clearcast but we do, on occasions get involved.

Approval

Once a plan has been signed off we have to confirm the bookings with the saleshouses in question. This will normally occur in the form of an e-mail supported by a verbal confirmation. It will always include the Spend, the daypart, the second length, the date range, the CPT. It will sometimes include other variables such as day of week, call centre hours, film number and other restrictions.

Reconciliation

This is a verbal and written communication that occurs once monthly (usually) between a media agency and a media saleshouse. It will involve taking the final delivered impacts (and consequent monies) and comparing them to the initial approval. Any deficit will normally be returned in airtime value in the following month’s activity. It is not common practice to get payback in a cheque format. If the delivered value is higher than that approved it can also impact on future campaigns as this, in most cases, will need to be paid back to the sales-house.

Sales-house

There are a number of sales points in the UK. The main terrestrial channels are sold by ITV, C4 and Five. The satellite (digital) channels are split via a number of sales points including the aforementioned who sell their own brand extensions e.g. ITV = ITV2, 3 & 4, C4 = E4, More4 & Film 4… Sky Media are the largest digital sales house in the UK, currently selling in excess of 100 channels

Film Number

Sometimes, also known as a clock number. Each variable of a commercial (including different telephone numbers) will have a unique film number. This is what is approved by the regulatory bodies and this is what is tracked by the BARB system. Without a film number an ad cannot air.

• Impacts:  £ / CPT
• TVRs:  Impacts / Universe * 100
• TVRs to Impacts:  TVRs * Universe / 100
• Average TVR:  Impacts / Spots / Universe * 100
• CPT:  £ / Impacts
• Response %:  Responses / Impacts / 1000
• Cost per spot to CPT:  Cost per spot / Av TVR / Universe * 100
• Est. Spots:  Total TVRs / Av TVR
• Coverage:  TVRs / OTS (frequency)
• OTS or Frequency:  TVRs / Coverage
• TVRs:  Coverage x OTS (frequency)