Understanding the key terms in TV media

AUDIENCE 
The absolute number of people watching a programme, channel or daypart in a given demographic. Audience is typically expressed in thousands or millions. 

BARB 
The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, responsible for UK television audience data. 

BARB PANEL 
The sample of UK television households from which BARB constructs viewing estimates. 

BVOD - Broadcaster Video on Demand. - Services from the UK broadcasters that provide On Demand streaming, such as iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD etc.  

CPT - Cost of TV spots

This is the cost of TV spots. TV airtime is sold on a cost per thousand (CPT) basis – i.e. the cost of buying 1,000 impacts (note – not the same as reaching 1,000 individuals. TV spots are priced according to how many people watch the programme your ad is in. Viewing of programmes and ads is measured by Barb. 

DAYPART 
This is a section of the viewing day. Different broadcasters use different variations, but typical examples include Breakfast (0600-0930hrs), Daytime (0930-1800hrs) and Peaktime (1800-2300hrs). 

ESTABLISHMENT SURVEY 
A survey undertaken to determine the ownership of television equipment, and demographic characteristics of the population. The results inform the sample used for the BARB panel. 

IMPACTS 
A measure of viewing to advertisements. One impact is equivalent to one viewer watching one 30-second advertising spot. 

LIVE (AUDIENCE) 
The number of people watching at the time of transmission, rather than through recorded playback. 

LOYALTY 
This is a measure of how long individuals are watching programmes before switching away. It is calculated by dividing the average Audience by the Reach. 

OVERNIGHT 
A report based on viewing data from the day before, usually delivered daily in the form of a schedule with ratings data. 

PANEL 
This is the full BARB panel, containing a mix of household types representative of the UK population. 

PLATFORM 
A term used to describe the various ways in which a household can receive a TV signal. Six platforms are currently available in the UK: analogue terrestrial, analogue satellite, analogue cable, digital terrestrial, digital satellite and digital cable. 

PROGRAMME AUDIENCE 
This is the average audience for all the minutes covered by the programme, excluding advertisements, trailers and promotions. 

REACH 
The number or percentage of viewers who have seen a particular item (e.g programme, channel, daypart). The standard reach definition is three consecutive minutes (this is the amount of time someone has to watch the item before they count as a 'viewer'), although other reach criteria can also be used. Reach is cumulative - if someone watches the first episode of a series they will be added to the series reach, but they will not be counted again when they watch the second episode. 

The RSI is expressed as an Index, with a figure of 100 indicating that the programme share was equal to the benchmark share. Figures above 100 indicate better performance than the benchmark, while figures below 100 indicate worse performance. 

SHARE 
The percentage of the total TV audience watching over a given time period. This can be applied to channels, programmes or time periods. For example, an All Individuals share of 40% for EastEnders means that 40% of all the people watching TV during the time EastEnders was on were watching EastEnders. 

SOCIAL GRADE (SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUP) 
A classification of household status used in UK, based on the occupation of the Chief Income Earner in TAM panel households.  

The social grades are: AB - higher (A) or intermediate (B) managerial, administrative; C1 - supervisory or clerical, and junior managerial, administrative or professional; C2 - skilled manual workers; D - semi-skilled and unskilled workers; E - state pensioners, casual or unskilled workers. 

SPONSORSHIP 

TV sponsorship can range from a simple on-air association with a single programme or strand to a long-term, fully-integrated partnership including branded content, product placement, televised branded events, promos, competitions, licensing and lots more. The sponsorship opportunities are numerous as advertisers can choose to sponsor an individual programme, a strand of themed programmes, a daypart like prime time, a genre like drama or comedy, a programme segment or even a whole channel. 

SPOT 
An individual occurrence of an advertisement. 

SVOD 
Subscription Video On Demand such as Disney+ or Netflix. 

TAM 
Television Audience Measurement. 

TERRESTRIAL TV 
Mode of broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables. The term is still used to refer to the channel group BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, now also referred to as Network in BARB terms. 

TIMESHIFT AUDIENCE 
The playback audience using VCR or PVR. In the UK, playback audience is added into the Consolidated Audience provided it occurs within 163 hours of the original transmission. 

'TOTAL' CHANNELS 
Channels with a timeshift variant (e.g. Channel 4 and Channel 4 +1) are usually available as a 'Total' channel as well. 

For example, Channel 4 Total will combine the ratings of a programme shown on Channel 4 with its ratings on Channel 4 +1 an hour later. The audience figures are added together, so if the programme achieved an audience of 400,000 on Channel 4 at 9pm and 50,000 on Channel 4+1 at 10pm, the audience for Channel 4 Total would be 450,000. 

The Share figure is calculated using the industry standard of dividing the combined programme audience by total television viewing in the 9pm slot. All schedule information (including start times) on a 'Total' channel will be the same as the primary (non-timeshift) channel, e.g. the Channel 4 Total schedule will be the same as the Channel 4 schedule. 

Please note ITV is the only channel which currently reports HD viewing separately (ITV HD). To calculate ITV Total viewing using Overnights.tv you need to select ITV Total + HD. 

TVR 
Television Rating. This is the audience of a programme or daypart expressed as a percentage of the population as a whole. For examples, an Adults 16-34 TVR of 20% for EastEnders means that 20% of all 16-34's living in UK television households watched that programme. 

VOD - Video on Demand. Streaming services such as iPlayer, Netflix and Amazon 

Sources: JLL Media, Thinkbox.tv, barb.co.uk, ipa.co.uk