MEDIA MARKET RESEARCH TERMS
TYPES OF MEDIA
ABOVE THE LINE: Forms of marketing that involve mass-market advertising e.g. using TV, Press, Radio
and Posters.
BELOW THE LINE: Forms of marketing that do not involve conventional mass market advertising e.g.
direct mail, special promotions
AMBIENT MEDIA: A catch-all phrase used to describe all ‘out-of-home’ advertising that does not fit within
established media definitions. Examples of ambient media include advertisements placed on beer mats,
bus tickets and petrol pumps. Ambient media has enjoyed significant recent growth as advertisers seek
out new ways to communicate with their target audience.
GUERILLA MARKETING: is an advertising strategy in which low-cost unconventional means (graffiti,
sticker bombing, flash mobs) are utilized, often in a localized fashion or large network of individual cells,
to convey or promote a product or an idea. The term guerrilla marketing is easily traced to guerrilla
warfare which utilizes atypical tactics to achieve a goal in a competitive and unforgiving environment.
PR STUNT: is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their
cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized or set up by amateurs.[3] Such events are
frequently utilized by advertisers, celebrities, athletes, and politician
SEO: Search Engine Optimization the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in
search engines via the “organic” or un-paid search results. Typically, the higher ranked and more
frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive.
SOCIAL MEDIA: means of interactions among people in which they create, share, exchange and comment
contents among themselves in virtual communities and networks. E.g Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest,
Instagram etc. Brands often want to get people talking about their brand by interacting with them on a
more individual platform. Social media has changed the way that people think about brands and how they
communicate with them. Social Media can typically be measured using some of the same measures as
traditional media – reach, frequency etc but can also be looked at using additional measures such as:
WORD OF MOUTH: Information that travels amongst friends & peers about brands, whether positive or
negative. Typically subjective being usually based on experience or opinion. Brands seek to influence this
typically by utilising media such as social media, pr stunts & guerrilla marketing tactics.
PRESS
AIR (Average Issue Readership): AIR is the number of people who have
read or looked at an average issue of a publication as defined by the NRS (National Readership
Survey). The definition is based on those who say they have last read a publication within its
publication interval, i.e:
Daily newspapers Read yesterday Sunday newspapers Read in the last 7 days
Weekly magazines Read in the last 7 days Fortnightly magazines Read in the last 2
weeks
Monthly magazines Read in the last month Bi-monthly Read in the last 2
months
To qualify as a reader, the publication must have been read or looked at for at least 2 minutes. In
fact, publications are read for much longer than this, as the time spent reading data show.
Circulation: Number of copies of a publication sold, sent to subscribers, sent free of charge to specified
people or addresses, or otherwise distributed to readers. Does not include copies of a publication printed
but not distributed, and therefore it should logically be less than a publication’s Print Run. Promotional
copies or those that are given away free may or may not be included in the circulation. Official circulation
figures are provided by the ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation): http://www.abc.org.uk
EML (Extended Media List): The name of the Grouped Titles Technique adopted by the UK’s NRS. The
technique allows much larger numbers of titles to be included in the survey than with traditional research
methods. Respondents are shown cards that each list a small group of titles of similar type (such as
quality dailies, news magazines, car magazines, etc.). They are then asked if they have read any of the
titles on the card during the previous year and, if they have not, the card is discarded. If they have, they
are questioned further about their readership of each of the titles on the card.
Print Run: The number of copies of an issue of a publication that were printed. A publication’s Print Run
should logically be larger than its Circulation, which is the number of copies actually distributed.
Readership: This can be defined in a variety of ways, such as those who read three out of the last four
issues of a title, irrespective of whether it is a daily, weekly, monthly publication. Not to be confused with
Average Issue Readership.
Recency: Measures the time between the last reading of a publication and the day of interview
Visual Clutter: The level of distraction (usually associated with posters or printed media) that draws
attention away from the advertising message e.g. a poster against a background of trees has less
distractions than a poster in a busy high street. (Existing experimental evidence suggests that this can be
at least as important as whether the poster is solus or shares the site with other panels, which is another
aspect of clutter).
OUTDOOR
Aspect: In outdoor research, the consideration of a position of a poster panel in relation to the road –
angled, parallel or head on.
District: ISBA have divided the UK up into 450+ districts. They roughly follow town, city and county
boundaries.
Duration: Associated with poster research, it is the amount of time that a panel of a given size can, from
its moment of visibility, stay within the audience’s vision.
Environmentally targeting: A panel or group of panels which have been specifically selected to suit the
advertiser's brief. The location and situation of the panels can reflect the place of purchase or when and
where the consumer thinks about the brand.
Head on: Facing the direction of oncoming traffic.
Illumination: A poster is 'illuminated' if lit from overhead, ground or base ,or rear.
Parallel: A parallel poster to the roadside which can be seen from both sides of the road.
POSTAR:
Sheets: Posters come in a variety of standard sizes, measured by the number of sheets. In the UK, 4 sheet
posters are typically found at bus shelters, or in shopping areas, 16 sheets on the side of buildings and 48,
64 or 96 sheets and larger on major roads.
VAC (Visability Adjusted Contacts) - The score of all adults, pedestrian and vehicular, who will see (make
eye contact with) a panel over a one week period. It is reached by netting down OTS by the visibility
factor for each panel and summing the results.
Vehicular VAC '000s - The total number of VAC's per week for drivers and passengers summed over all
panels.
WEB
Banner: Ads used on the Internet, usually along the top of Web pages. This position as prime because
users are presented with the message as soon as the page is loaded. The most common size is 468 x 60
pixels.
Eyeballs: Word used to describe the number of people that see a website.
Clickthrough: When visitors click on a banner advertisement, taking them to the advertiser’s site.
New Media: Generic term used to describe the digital publishing and multimedia
sector. This phrase is often associated with interactive technology such as the
Internet.
Page Impression: In online research, the single display of a website, regardless of how often the same
user is counted or how long he/she stays with the site.
Stickiness - The degree to which a website can keep online users and encourage return visits
Page Views: Each rendering of the web page by the server is counted as a page view. Page views define
an accurate estimate of how many times pages on your site were viewed by visitors.
PPC (Pay Per Click): Also called paid searches where the advertiser pays based on the number of clicks on
the ad. Google and Overture are two popular paid search engines.
Conversion: An activity that fulfills the intended purpose of a website e.g. buying a product, filling up a
form or subscribing to a newsletter. Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who successfully convert
to that activity.
New Visitor: Visitors reaching a site for the first time. When comparing this to return visitors, you get a
sense of site stickiness and your visitors’ loyalty.
Unique Visitors: Un-duplicated number of individuals who have visited a website at least once during a
specified time period.
User Generated Content: Refers to various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced
by consumers.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation): The process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a
search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results.
Social Media: Interactions among people in which they create, share, exchange and comment contents
among themselves in virtual communities and networks.
TV
BARB: see below
Bumpers: Short (usually 5-second) branded sponsorship credits appearing either side of a commercial
break during a sponsored programme
Consolidated viewing: The total of real time (at transmission time) and video playback viewing (occurring
within an agreed period, e.g. seven days of the first transmission time).
Day-part: A broadcast day is split in several day-parts, periods of time
corresponding to different audience levels (and to different rate levels).
Definition of day-parts may vary by country and by medium, but as an example:
Prime-time/Peak-time - those hours of the day when audience is the highest e.g. for TV 20.00 to 22.30, for
radio 06.30 to 08.30 (drive time).
Prime access - the TV day part immediately preceding Prime (18.00 to 20.00).
Night time - The night hours following prime time (22.30 to 27.00).
Day time - The other hours, from morning until evening (18.00).
DAL (Dedicated Advertiser Location): Accessed via the red button, it allows viewers to enter an
advertiser environment outside the broadcast stream.
DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting): This refers to an organisation with over 220 members in 25 countries
worldwide, which devised a set of standards for digital broadcasting by satellite, cable, and terrestrial
infrastructures. DVB-compliant equipment is distinguished by the DVB logo.
DTH (Direct To Home): The reception of television signals via a satellite dish attached to a single dwelling
DTT: Digital Terrestrial Television implements digital technology to deliver a greater number of channels
with a better quality of picture and sound using aerial broadcasts to a conventional antenna instead of a
satellite dish or cable connection. In the UK, DTT is mainly accessed via Freeview set-top boxes
FIB (First In Break): The first commercial to appear in a commercial break.
Footprint: The area that a satellite’s transmission covers on Earth. This area can be increased by the use
of powerful receiving dishes.
Hours of viewing: Average number of minutes/hours viewed per day/week to a channel by an audience.
In-home viewing: TV viewing which takes place in the home.
OOH (Out of Home Viewing): TV watching anywhere outside a private house, such as in pubs, clubs,
offices, and other work places, hospitals, doctors’/dentists’ waiting rooms, hotel rooms, airport lounges,
post offices, etc. This type of “non-domestic” viewing may be particularly important for some
broadcasters, e.g. niche satellite channels.
OTS (Opportunities To See): Also referred to as frequency, it is the average number of times an ad is
seen by the target audience.
Live viewing: Viewing of a programme or commercial at the actual time of transmission, it excludes any
time-shifted viewing (i.e. watched via video or hard disk recording).
LIB (Last in break): Last ad in a commercial break
Multi-channel home: Homes that are equipped to receive TV channels other than analogue terrestrial, via
Digital Satellite, Digital Cable or Digital Terrestrial.
Overlap: Approximately 15% of households in the UK are in an overlap area
between two ITV regions and so can, and often do, view two or more ITV
stations.
Overnights: Term used to describe viewing data made available the following day. Comprised only of ‘live’
viewing.
Interactive: The mixing of traditional television with interactive content in order to create a richer viewing
experience. Interactive features include links to further programme related information, Internet sites,
email, betting and on-line shopping.
Peoplemeters: Used to record electronically who is watching TV. They consist of a recording unit or set
meter (which is usually placed on top of the TV set being measured), and a separate handset. Each
member of the panel household is given an individual number, which they press on the handset each time
they start or stop watching TV. TV set usage and channel choice are recorded automatically. The
information is stored in a central unit and is then collected overnight via the phone line.
TVR’s (Television Ratings): Percentage of the potential TV audience who are viewing at a given time. TV
ratings (TVRs) can apply to any time period, such as one minute, a quarter hour, an individual commercial,
a commercial break or a programme. For a programme or time period longer than a minute the rating is
the average of all the minutes comprising the period involved. For an individual commercial, of 60
seconds or less, the UK calculation is based on the minute in which the commercial appeared. For a given
category of individuals (e.g. men, women or children) this is the number of individuals viewing, expressed
as a percentage of all such individuals.
Programme Sponsorship: A form of promotion where a company associates its name with a programme,
usually by references to itself or an associated product at the beginning and/or end of the programme
and the programme breaks.
Infomercial: An advertorial that contains a lot of information. These are often used on direct response
television such as shopping channels.
Reach: The cumulative percentage of a population measured to have viewed at least once, for a specified
consecutive period of time (typically 1+, 3+ or 20+ mins).
Staggercast: Broadcast of channel content on a secondary channel at a fixed time after the original
broadcast. Usually one hour and thus commonly labelled '+1'.
Strikeweight: The weight of advertising bought per week.
TV Region: BARB, ITV or ISBA regions. BARB divides the UK into ITV reception areas and BBC editorial
regions. Audiences are currently reported for 13 ITV areas and 14 BBC regions (see also Macro Region).
RADIO
Footprint : The area that a satellite’s transmission covers on Earth. This area can
be increased by the use of powerful receiving dishes.
Hours Index: The Average Hours for a station against a Target Market indexed against the All Adult
Average Hours for that station. This indicates whether a Target Market is likely to listen to a given station
for more or less time, with 100 being the norm.
Reach Index: The Weekly Reach % of a station against a Target Market indexed against the All Adult
Weekly Reach % for that station. This indicates whether a Target Market is more or less likely to listen to a
given station, with 100 being the norm.
OTH: Opportunities To Hear
RAJAR: See Industry Research
Station ownership: http://www.rab.co.uk/planning-your-campaign/who-owns-who The RAB provide a
useful summary of who owns who as the radio landscape can be very confusing with so many stations.
Total Weekly Hours: The total number of hours that a station is listened to over the course of a week.
This is the sum of all quarter-hours for all listeners.
TSA: Total Survey Area of a radio station defined using its own criteria which will include signal quality and
marketing elements. In the UK, each TSA is defined in terms of postcode sectors.
Weekly Reach: The number of people who tune to a radio station within at least 1 quarter-hour period
over the course of a week. Respondents are instructed to fill in a quarter-hour only if they have listened
to the station for at least 5 minutes within that quarter-hour. Between 24.00-06.00, listening is recorded
in half-hour periods.
MEDIA MEASUREMENT
Campaign: A promotional effort based on the same strategy and creative idea. A campaign can last
weeks, months or even years and can involve public relations, below-the-line activities, direct mail,
sponsorship, advertising or any combination of them. An Advertising Campaign can entail one or more
media schedules.
Coverage: The number of people who will see a campaign at least once
CPT: Cost Per Thousand: Cost of reaching one thousand people in a target audience i.e the cost of
reaching a thousand readers or viewers or listeners with a given advertisement. Cost per thousand is a
means of comparing the efficiency and value offered by different titles, schedules, programmes or
adverts.
Duplication: The estimated number of people who read either two or more given
publications or two or more given issues of the same title or who see two or
more TV/radio spots. The higher the duplication between any two titles, the
higher the Average Frequency and the lower the additional Net Reach that will result
Effective Frequency: Optimum frequency of exposure in an advertising campaign, often stated to be 3,
though the basis of this is uncertain.
Exposure: Actual exposure of the advertisement to the member of the target audience. The conversion of
OTS into an impact.
Frequency: The number of times a campaign is seen or heard by those who see or hear it at all, expressed
over a period of time.
GRP’s: Gross Rating Points expressed as a percentage of the target market. One rating point equals one
percent of the population. If a schedule attained a gross OTS of 200,000 for a target market of 50,000
individuals, it would generate 400 GRPs.
Impacts: The gross number of opportunities to see an advertisement. In terms of TV and radio research,
one impact is one person’s viewing or listening to one spot. These are added together to give total
impacts for an advertising campaign, or total impacts for all commercial airtime on a certain station.
KPI’s: Key Performance Indicators are a key set of performance based criteria used between companies to
help define and measure progress to an agreed target.
Media Plan/Schedule: A plan of the advertising campaign which details which advertisements are to be
used, using which media, on which dates, at what time of day and the number to be used etc.
Net Audience: Net Audience is the estimate of the number of people who will have at least one
opportunity to see or hear a programme or channel/station or an insertion in a given schedule or hear a
commercial.
OTS/OTH: Opportunities To See/Hear the advertisements in a campaign. The term “opportunity”
recognises that while everyone who reads/looks at an advertisement could see that advertisement, not
everyone does so. The definition in terms of television research is to say that someone who is “in the
room with the set switched on and turned to a particular channel” has an opportunity to see a
commercial transmitted on that channel at that time. The definition in terms of print research is the
number of people who claim to have read or looked at a publication during the issue period. In terms of
poster, cinema and radio research OTS occurs when a person passes a poster site, when he/she sits in a
cinema and when he/she finds im/herself listening to a radio station at a time when a given commercial is
transmitted (OTH - opportunity to hear).
Profile: The way a TV/radio programme’s audience or a publication’s readership breaks down across
variables. For example, a TV programme’s audience’s profile by age might be 29% aged under 35, 27%
aged 33-44, 19% aged 45-54 and 25% aged 55+. The profile should always sum to 100%.
Reach: In broadcast research, the estimate of the number of people exposed to a
TV or radio station/channel at least once in a defined period or who have had an
opportunity to see a single advertisement or a given schedule. Sometimes called
Coverage or Penetration. Specific reach definitions are as follows; Campaign Reach - the number of
different individuals who are exposed to any part of a schedule of commercials. May also be expressed as
a percentage of the total population.
Reach and Frequency: The number of people who, for example, have had an opportunity to see an
insertion in a given issue of a publication or who watch a television channel and the frequency which they
read or watch it
Recall: The respondent’s ability to remember something he or she is asked about. There are two types of
recall:
Spontaneous Recall The respondent’s ability to remember things he or she is asked about without visual
aids or other memory prompts. Prompted Recall The respondent’s ability to remember things he or she is
asked about with the use of visual aids or other memory prompts.
ROI: Return on Investment
RPC: Readers Per Copy. Estimate of the number of people who read an average circulated copy of a
publication. It is calculated by dividing a title’s total Average Issue Readership by its circulation, ideally its
Audited Circulation. If a title’s total readership is not measured by a readership survey then the number
of readers per copy can only be guessed at.
Share: Channel or Audience Share is calculated by comparing the average minutes viewed/listened for
each channel/station in a given time period. The minutes viewed per day should be calculated for the
whole time that TV is available in the day, usually 24 hours.
Share of Viewing: The percentage of total viewing or listening time accounted for by a channel/station.
TVR’s: Television Ratings are the percentage of the potential TV audience who are viewing at a given
time. TV ratings (TVRs) can apply to any time period, such as one minute, a quarter hour, an individual
commercial, a commercial break or a programme. For a programme or time period longer than a minute
the rating is the average of all the minutes comprising the period involved. For an individual commercial,
of 60 seconds or less, the UK calculation is based on the minute in which the commercial appeared. For a
given category of individuals (e.g. men, women or children) this is the number of individuals viewing,
expressed as a percentage of all such individuals.
INDUSTRY RESEARCH
ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) http://www.abc.org.uk/About-us/Who-we-are/ Provides audited
information on circulation of newspapers and magazines and since 1996 the measurement of online.
Covering title circulation for press & online
AdDynamix - http://www.addynamix.co.uk/allmedia/ combines creatives and
adspend in one tool at brand and spot level
BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) http://www.barb.co.uk/ BARB is the joint industry
company responsible for the provision of television audience measurement information in the UK. It is
underwritten by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, five, BSkyB and the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising).
Establishment survey: BARB conduct an annual establishment survey, which is then used in panel design,
to ensure the panel is reflective of the total UK viewing population.
BBS (British Business Survey) http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchspecialisms/ipsosmediact/Syndicated-
Research/BBS-Survey.aspx BBS is a survey for buying and selling advertising aimed at the GB business
market. The survey covers average issue readership, recency, frequency, source of copy, business
activities, company details, decision making responsibility, business travel, usage and ownership of
business technology, car ownership etc. It includes readership details for around 65 newspapers and
business publications, 20 websites and a host of data that can be used to tightly target specific groups of
business people.
FAME (Film Audience Measurement & Evaluation)
http://business.pearlanddean.com/audience_research_fame is the cinema industry's key marketing tool
for analysing film viewing and cinema going behaviour. The FAME survey was launched in 2007 and
replaced the industry's old currency CAVIAR. Going into its sixth year, FAME covers all aspects of film
consumption - the experience of cinema, DVD, on-demand, trailers, advertising, reviews, 3D, digital,
information sourcing, piracy and more.
JICREG (Joint Industry Committee for Regional newspapers) http://www.jicreg.co.uk/ JICREG provides
an accredited research-based standard currency for regional and local press advertising
IMS/Telmar/KMR – software products that enable analysis and manipulation of NRS, RAJAR, TGI etc
Mediatel http://www.mediatel.co.uk MediaTel is the UK's largest single source of media intelligence,
providing invaluable support for planning and decision making
NRS (National Readership Survey) http://www.nrs.co.uk/ NRS is the joint industry
company responsible for the provision of readership estimates for UK newspapers and consumer
magazines. Currently it publishes data for around 250 titles. The annual sample size for the NRS is 36,000
individuals, selected using random probability methods.
NRS PADD (National Readership Survey Print and Digital Data) http://www.nrs.co.uk/padd.html A fusion
of NRS print data and UKOM (Nielsen) digital data creating a single database for planning across print and
digital platforms of NRS publisher brands
POSTAR (Poster Audience Research) http://www.postar.co.uk/home is the industry body for the Out of
Home advertising industry. The data published tells subscribers how many people see an advertising
campaign and how often they do so. The information is the currency for planning, buying, selling and
evaluating advertising investment in this area. The standard approach for media audience research is to
measure the “opportunity to see” an advertising message. Postar does this and then adds a further level
of scrutiny by adjusting the data to account for the real likelihood of seeing, or having “eyeson”,the
panel. The research measures roadside billboards, underground, rail, buses,
malls, supermarkets, airports and stadiums. With this research, a new generation
of measurement using GPS meters is being developed to introduce accurate data
collection along with state of the art data modelling techniques.
RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd) http://www.rajar.co.uk/ RAJAR is the industry company
responsible for the provision of radio audience research information in the UK and is jointly owned by the
BBC and the Radio Centre (Commercial Radio. The information is collected using personalised diaries
which are personally placed and collected. Over 130,000 adult diaries are processed annually (there is an
additional sample for children aged 4 –15) making RAJAR the largest radio audience research system
outside the USA.
TGI (Target Group Index) http://www.tgisurveys.com/ A continuous survey of consumer demographics,
attitudes, motivations, and behaviour (purchasing, consumption & media habits) and manipulation of that
data to create powerful market segmentations. Sample size 24,000 from a self-completion questionnaire.
Touchpoints - http://www.ipa.co.uk/page/about-touchpoints is a unique, consumer-focused, multi-media
database which has been produced in response to the needs of the communications industry, specifically
to provide insights into how people use all media. TouchPoints provides two distinct databases: the first,
the Hub Survey, provides a detailed view of ‘a week in the life’ of consumer behaviour. Respondents
record their activities for every waking half hour over a seven day period, giving a unique view of people's
daily lives and how their media usage fits into these patterns. The second database, the TouchPoints
Channel Planner is the only industry available, multimedia channel planner. It has been created by
integrating the industry media currencies onto the Hub Survey. In addition, users can integrate their own
databases or proprietary tools to build a more complete picture of their company, clients and brands.
WARC (World Advertising Research Centre) http://www.warc.com The world's most comprehensive
marketing information service relied on by the marketing, advertising, media, research and academic
communities
INDUSTRY BODIES
The following list includes the most well-known Media, Advertising & Research industry bodies. Most
have research and useful articles on their websites.
AA (Advertising Association) http://www.adassoc.org.uk/About-us-1 At the heart of the AA is its role as a
forum through which companies and their trade associations can collectively monitor and review
developments relevant to the advertising industry; shape the sector’s self-regulatory systems; and advise
policy makers.
ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) http://www.asa.org.uk/ If consumers want to make a complaint
about an ad, they do it here. The Advertising Standards Authority is the UK’s independent regulator of
advertising across all media. We apply the Advertising Codes, which are written by the Committees of
Advertising Practice. Our work includes acting on complaints and proactively checking the media to take
action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements.
CAP (Committees of Advertising Practice) http://www.cap.org.uk/Advertising-
Codes.aspx Write and maintain the UK Advertising Codes, which are
administered by the Advertising Standards Authority. We also offer the industry
authoritative advice and guidance on how to create campaigns that comply with the rules. The UK
Advertising Codes lay down rules for advertisers, agencies and media owners to follow. They include
general rules that state advertising must be responsible, must not mislead, or offend and specific rules
that cover advertising to children and ads for specific sectors like alcohol, gambling, motoring, health and
financial products
Clearcast - http://www.clearcast.co.uk/ All finished advertisements appearing on member stations must
be cleared by Clearcast prior to transmission. It is an NGO (Non-Government Organisation) which pre-
approves most British television advertising. It came into being in 2008 & is now owned by six UK
commercial broadcasters: ITV, ITV Breakfast Ltd., Channel 4, Channel Five (UK), British Sky Broadcasting
and Turner.
DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) http://www.culture.gov.uk/ – the Government
department with responsibility for overseeing broadcasting
IAA (International Advertising Association) http://www.iaaglobal.org/ or http://www.iaauk.com/ . It’s
aims are to advocate freedom of commercial speech and defend a responsible communications
industry against unwarranted advertising bans and restrictions. Also to use its global network as
a leading platform for sharing knowledge on industry issues, best practices and insights in a
rapidly changing business environment. Finally to provide and develop education and
professional initiatives that serve the industry, and contribute to recruiting and training talent.
IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) http://www.ipa.co.uk/ A non-profit trade body and
professional institute for agencies in the UK's media and marketing communications industry
ISBA (Incorporated Society of British Advertisers) http://www.isba.org.uk/about The voice of British
Advertisers. ISBA is the only body focused single-mindedly on the interests of British advertisers. We do
this by protecting their freedom to advertise responsibly, and enhancing their effectiveness in deploying
their marcoms (marketing communications) spend.
JICPOPS (Joint Industry Committee for Population Standards) http://www.jicpops.co.uk/ JICPOPS was set
up in 1998 to ensure there are compatible population and household universes for British media research
currencies - the NRS, BARB, JICREG, POSTAR, RAJAR and so on
JICREG (Joint Industry Committee for Regional newspapers) http://www.jicreg.co.uk/ JICREG provides
an accredited research-based standard currency for regional and local press advertising
JICWEB (Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards Measurement) http://www.jicwebs.org/ Develops
industry standard for measuring digital media measurement
MRG (Media Research Group) http://www.mrg.org.uk/ The MRG is the friendly face of media research,
open to those at all levels in the industry. A forum for all things related to media research, including
evening meetings on the latest issues, excellent education courses, an annual conference and a variety of
fun filled social events
MRS (Market Research Society) http://www.mrs.org.uk MRS promotes research
as a force for democracy, commerce and society.
OFCOM (Office For Communications) http://www.ofcom.org.uk/ the UK’s independent regulator and
competition authority for the communications industries.
RAB (Radio Advertising Bureau) http://www.rab.co.uk/ Provides news, research, training and other
information and resources from UK trade association for radio advertising.
RACC (Radio Advertising Clearance Centre) The RACC is commercial radio's advertising clearance body. It
is funded by commercial radio stations who pay copy clearance fees and is part of RadioCentre, the
industry's trade association and marketing body.
ThinkBox - http://www.thinkbox.tv/ Thinkbox is the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, in all its
forms – broadcast, on-demand and interactive. Its shareholders are Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media, Turner
Media Innovations and UKTV, who together represent over 90% of commercial TV advertising revenue
through their owned and partner TV channels. RTL Group and Virgin Media are Associate Members and
Discovery Channel UK & STV also give direct financial support. Thinkbox works with the marketing
community with a single ambition: to help advertisers get the best out of today’s TV.
World Federation of Advertisers
CONSUMERS
Audience – A group of households or individuals who are attending, listening or watching something. It is
often used to indicate viewers of a television program or another advertising medium. Audience
measurements are expressed as percentages, or as estimated numbers of households or individuals
watching or listening to a program.
Demographics - Basic classification data on those researched by a survey such as age, sex, marital status,
occupation or social grade, where they live, number of children, etc.
Geodemographics - Classification of those researched by a survey by the characteristics of where they
live/type of area/neighbourhood. ACORN & MOSAIC are the most common profiles used in the UK
Housewife - The person within the household responsible for the household shopping and duties - can be
male or female.
Lifestage - Household classification system based on family time-of-life characteristics, e.g. ‘couple with
grown-up children who have left home’ etc.
Respondent / participant - Individual that takes part in research
Sample – One or more elements (individuals or households) selected from a universe to represent that
universe.
Sample Size – The number of households or individuals selected for a research sample.
SEG: Socio-Economic Group / Social Grade: groupings based on the occupation
of the head of the household. Commonly these are combined into ABC1’s or AB’s
for example
A- Higher managerial, administrative, professional e.g. Chief executive, senior civil servant, surgeon
B - Intermediate managerial, administrative, professional e.g. bank manager, teacher
C1- Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial e.g. shop floor supervisor, bank clerk, sales person
C2 - Skilled manual workers e.g. electrician, carpenter
D- Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers e.g. assembly line worker, refuse collector, messenger
E - Casual labourers, pensioners, unemployed e.g. pensioners without private pensions and anyone living
on basic benefits
Target Audience This is defined in the creative or media brief and is a group of people that the advertiser
wants to connect with. This can be defined by demographics, geodemographics or lifestyle
segmentations. There are many variations of the complexity of target markets and this depends on the
advertisers aims & objectives. The media plan may cover different media for targeting different audiences
to be able to put different messages out there talking to different groups about the same brand.
With thanks to:
ABC AA
BARB ASA
BBS CAP
FAME Clearcast
JICREG DCMS
IMS/Telmar/KMR IAA
IPSOS IPA
NRS ISBA
POSTAR JICPOPS
RAJAR JICREG
TGI JICWEB
Touchpoints MRG
WARC MRS
Wikipedia OFCOM
RAB
RACC
ThinkBox
WFA
For more information please contact: [email protected] or call 07557 685654