Glossary of Media Terms

"C" Counties – The classification of counties based on Census household counts and metropolitan proximity. "C" counties are counties not defined as A or B counties that have more than 20,000 households or are in Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas or Metropolitan Statistical Areas with more than 20,000 households. . The combined counties contain 15% of United States households.

CAB– (1) See Cable Advertising Bureau (2) See Canadian Association of Broadcasters

Cable Activity Report – A syndicated report from Nielsen Media Research that provides cable networks with average and cumulative household audience information by daypart for both cable and broadcast networks. A companion report, called the Audience Composition Report, contains Viewers-per-1000 Viewing Households (VPVHs) for the same cable networks across the same dayparts.

Cable Advertising Bureau (CAB) – A trade organization established by the cable industry to provide promotional, sales and advisory services to the cable industry

Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 – This was a package of amendments to the Communications Act that liberated cable from burdensome regulations and paved the way for the growth of cable TV in the U.S.

Cable Converter – Equipment in the homes of cable subscribers used to convert cable signals to normal TV channels. Sophisticated, "addressable" cable converters also allow cable operators to activate, disconnect or unscramble the signal received by a subscriber.

Cable Modem – A modem designed to operate over cable TV lines. Because the coaxial cable used by cable TV provides much greater bandwidth than telephone lines, a cable modem can be used to achieve extremely fast access to the World Wide Web. Cable modems that offer speeds of up to 2 megabits per second are already available in many areas.

Cable National Audience Demographics Report (CNAD) – Published quarterly by Nielsen Media Research, this syndicated report provides cable networks with estimates of television viewership for both households and persons across many market breaks or household categories (territory, county size, cable status, household size, children, income, etc.). The information enables cable networks to identify geo-demographic segments to which their network or other cable networks appeal.

Cable On-line Data Exchange (CODE) – A Nielsen Media Research database containing information on more than 10,000 local cable TV systems in the U.S. This system is used by cable networks to support affiliate sales. For example, cable networks can locate cable systems with available channels, or evaluate a cable network’s channel position across systems, and monitor carriage changes on an on-going basis.

Cable Origination – Programming originated by cable television exclusive of broadcast signals.

Cable Passed – Percentage of TV households that are able to receive cable TV.

Cable Penetration – The proportion of cable subscriber homes to all television homes in an area. This figure is expressed as a percentage. For example, if cable television is in 50,000 households in a market, and the number of TV households in the same market is 450,000, the cable penetration is 11.1%.

Cable Plus – Based on a household’s ability to receive cable channels via a wire to the home from a cable headend located in the community or via any other alternate delivery source (ADS) such as C-Band Satellite Dish, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) TV Systems, Wireless cable, etc.

Cable System Operator – The person or company that owns and maintains and is responsible for the cable television system(s) in one or more communities.

Cable TV System – A non-broadcast facility which distributes signals of one or more television stations and non-broadcast services to subscribers. There are approximately 11,000 cable systems in the U.S.

Cache – Area of a computer’s memory or directory where the browser stores viewed Web pages.

Call Letters – Letters assigned to broadcast stations by the FCC, by which stations identify themselves. In general, stations east of the Mississippi River have call letters beginning with W; those west of the Mississippi have call letters beginning with K.

Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) – A trade organization that represents the majority of private radio, television and specialty television services in Canada.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) – One of Canada’s networks, operated as a Crown corporation. The network operates both an English-language and French-language services and has coverage throughout all regions in Canada.

Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) – Established in 1968 under provisions of the Broadcasting Act, this independent agency regulates and supervises all aspects of the Canadian television system. It is the equivalent to the FCC in the U.S.

Cassandra – A computerized program analysis system from Nielsen Media Research that provides telecast information for selected nationally distributed syndicated programs on a market-by-market basis.

CATV -- Community Antenna Television; another name for cable television. Abbreviation was first used in the early days of cable television by Al Warren, publisher/founder of industry newsletter Television Digest.

C-Band Satellite Dish – A large ‘backyard’ satellite dish that receives programming at lower frequency signals (between 3.7 to 4.3 GHZ.).

CBC – see Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Census – A complete count of a population or universe.

Census Tract – A small, relatively permanent statistical subdivision of a county established by the U.S. Census and designed to be homogenous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions. Tracts usually have between 2,500 and 8,000 residents.

Channel – A frequency band assigned by the FCC for AM, FM or TV transmission. Each broadcast television station is permitted to operate on only one channel. Channels are assigned geographically to minimize interference between stations. A "channel" is also a Web site that automatically delivers information to the user's computer at times specified by the user. Any Web site can be a channel.

Channel Capacity – The number of channels or signals available to subscribers of a cable television system.

Character Generator – A studio device for electronically projecting text across a television screen.

Checkerboarding – The standard method of scheduling programs in prime time by offering different programs in the same time period every night. This is the opposite of "strip" programming, in which the same series airs different episodes in the same time period every day. Strip program scheduling is the prevailing form for all other dayparts except prime time.

Churn – Turnover of cable subscribers as a result of disconnects and new customers.

Clearance – An affiliated broadcast station or cable system’s pledge to carry a specific broadcast or cable network program. Advertisers are attracted to network programs as an advertising vehicle partly by the number of stations or cable outlets providing clearance.

Click Rate – An Internet term indicating the number of times which an advertisement banner was clicked on at a Web site.

Click-Through – An Internet term used to measure the success a Web site has in persuading a user to go to another site.

Clio Awards – Awards given for excellence in television and radio advertising.

Closed Caption (CC) – Visual captioning on a television screen for the hearing impaired that superimposes subtitles on programs. Distributed via Line 21 of the Vertical Blanking Interval, CC requires a decoder to view it.

Closed Circuit – Television which does not go out over-the-air and into homes.

Cluster – (1) Grouping several commercials together during one break. (2) In statistical terms, a group of a statistical population. Alternately, a cluster can be the classification of demographically similar geographic areas into one or more homogeneous groups. Each group represents distinctive lifestyles patterns and offers a basis for segmenting the market.

Cluster Sample – The elements from the population occur in, or are combined into, groups called clusters. These are then randomly selected for surveying purposes. In a single-stage cluster sample, every element in that cluster is surveyed. In multi-stage cluster samples not every element is surveyed. An example of a cluster is a block group.

Clutter – All of the extraneous non-program elements within a given program or time period, e.g., program titles, billboards, station promos, commercials, network identification, local station identification, public service announcements, etc.

Coincidental Interview (Coincidental) – In sample research, an interviewing method conducted by telephone or in person. A process by which an interviewer questions a respondent on his/her television viewing activity at the moment the interview is being conducted.

Commercial – Advertisement, announcement, spot or message aired on television, radio or cable which is paid for by an advertiser

Committee on Local Television and Radio Audience Measurement (COLTRAM) – Organization founded in 1964, under the auspices of the National Association of Broadcasters, to review methodologies used in local rating surveys. Its members include research directors of major station groups, station representatives, etc.

Committee on Nationwide Television Audience Measurement (CONTAM) – Industry group established in 1963 to evaluate the network audience estimates provided by Nielsen Media Research.

Common Carrier – The FCC's class of transmission systems, such as telephone, telegraph and certain satellites, open to public use at uniform fees and generally not permitted to control content.

Communications Act of 1934 – The federal act which established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and defined its authority.

Communications Satellite – A space vehicle which receives TV and radio signals and transmits them back to earth. It is located 22,300 miles above earth in a geosynchronous orbit so that it is stationary in relationship to a fixed position on earth.

Comparative Renewal – The process by which the FCC decides whether to renew a broadcaster's station license upon its expiration or to award it to a rival applicant.

Compulsory License - The right of cable systems and certain other delivery media to retransmit copyrighted material in broadcast signals without the consent of the copyright owner for payment of a government-set royalty based on the system's gross revenues.

Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) – A computer/telephone interface system used by Nielsen Media Research to recruit sample households.

COMSAT (Communications Satellite Corp.) – A publicly owned common carrier which operates communications satellite service under Congressional mandate.

Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area – A Metropolitan Statistical Area with a population greater than 1 million. (See also, Metropolitan Statistical Area).

CONTAM – See, Committee on Nationwide Television Audience Measurement.

Cookie – Identification messages given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser on an individual’s computer stores the message in a text file called cookie.txt. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users (consumers) and prepare customized Web pages (offering information, advertising, goods or services) for them. Cookies can include passwords and Web site preferences, as well as a history of the other sites visited, e-mail information, etc. Cookies themselves are not gathering data, but they are used as a tracking device to help the people who are gathering information. More complete information about cookies is available at cookiecentral.com.

Copyright Royalty Tribunal - The defunct federal agency established by the Copyright Revision Act of 1976 to review and adjust royalty rates from a compulsory license and to distribute the cable royalty fund. The Tribunal was dissolved in 1993 and replaced with ad-hoc arbitration panels chosen by the Librarian of Congress.

Co-Sponsorship – Sponsorship of a program by two or more advertisers.

Cost Per Point – An advertising cost calculated by dividing the cost of one or a series of commercial by the size of the audience, expressed in rating points. For example, if the cost of a commercial is $50,000 and the rating for a program is 12, then the cost per point is $4,166.67 ($50,000 divided by 12).

Cost Per Thousand (CPM) – Advertisers' cost per thousand viewers exposed to a commercial. The total cost for one or a series of commercials is divided by the projected audience shown in thousands. If the cost of a commercial is $50,000 and the projected audience is 4,606,000 (4,606,000 divided by 1,000), then the CPM equals $10.86.

Counter Programming – Method of scheduling programs against opposing stations or networks in an effort to draw audiences away from competing programs.

County Coverage Study – A county-by-county television audience viewing report from Nielsen Station Index (NSI), the local service of Nielsen Media Research. The report, updated annually, comes in three standard volumes: the county summary, the station summary and the DMA summary. The data also are available by state.

County Size – The classification of counties according to Census household counts and metropolitan proximity. There are four county size classes "A","B","C", and "D". In general, "A" counties are highly urbanized, "B" counties relatively urbanized, "C" counties relatively rural, and "D" counties very rural.

Coverage Area – The number or percentage of TV households that could receive a program. Coverage reflects the ability to view, not actual viewing.

Coverage Area Rating – The estimate of the size of the audience relative to the total number of homes or people that can receive this channel. Coverage Area Ratings are used for each individual cable network. The Coverage Area Rating for one cable network can not be compared to another cable network’s coverage area rating or a broadcast network rating. Only total U.S. Ratings or audience projections (estimated number of households or persons) can be compared between/among networks.

CPM – See Cost Per Thousand

Cross Ownership – Ownership by a single entity of more than one communications medium in a given market.

Cross-Platform Programs – Multiple exposures of a television program on two or more broadcast and/or cable outlets. The ordering customer declares that commercial load is common across each exposure. Average audience (AA%) and Gross Average Audience (GAA%) estimates will be reported in the NTI pocket piece for cross-platform programs when GAA% is ordered by the broadcast network airing the program. If multiple episodes of a program are involved the program will be labeled an AT ( Additional Telecasts) as well as reporting GAA% and AA%. In cases where the commercial load is not completely identical or the measurement window exceeds one week a custom tape may be ordered.

Cume or Cumulative Audience – The non-duplicated audience for one or a series of TV programs or time-periods. It is expressed as a percentage of a given universe. A household or person is counted once, no matter how many times the telecast has been viewed. This is also known as "reach" or "net reach."