Glossary/CTV, Video & Audio

• Ad Load

  The amount of advertising per hour of content in a stream or broadcast, a key lever for balancing revenue against viewer experience.

• Ad Pod

  A group of ads played back to back within a single ad break in streaming video or CTV, similar to a traditional TV commercial break.

• Ad Stitching (Manifest Manipulation)

  The SSAI process of rewriting a stream's HLS or DASH manifest so ads play as part of the same seamless video stream.

• Ad Transcoding

  Converting an ad creative into the formats, resolutions and bitrates a streaming player needs, often from a mezzanine file.

• Ad-ID

  The US industry-standard unique code assigned to each ad asset so it can be tracked consistently across TV, streaming and digital.

• Ad-Supported Tier

  A cheaper subscription plan on a streaming service that includes ads, such as Netflix Standard with Ads or Disney+ Basic.

• Advanced TV

  An umbrella term for TV advertising that uses data and technology, including CTV, addressable linear TV, and programmatic TV buying.

• Advertising Video on Demand (AVOD)

  A streaming model where viewers watch on-demand content for free or a reduced price in exchange for seeing ads.

• Alternative Currency (TV Measurement)

  A non-Nielsen audience measurement, from providers such as VideoAmp, iSpot, or Comscore, that buyers and sellers agree to transact TV ads on.

• Announcer-Read Ad

  A podcast or audio ad read by a network or producer voice rather than the show's host.

• Audible and Visible on Complete (AVOC)

  The share of video impressions that were both audible and viewable when the ad finished playing.

• Audience Deficiency Unit (ADU)

  A free ad spot a network provides when a guaranteed TV buy under-delivers its promised audience.

• Audience Guarantee

  A network's commitment that an ad buy will deliver a specified rating or impression level in the target demo, backed by makegoods if missed.

• Audience Share

  The percentage of households or people using TV (or radio) at a given time who are tuned to a specific program or station.

• Automatic Content Recognition (ACR)

  Technology built into smart TVs that identifies what is on screen, used to measure viewing and build audience segments for targeting and attribution.

• Average Active Sessions (AAS)

  A streaming audio metric measuring the average number of concurrent listening sessions per minute over a time period.

• Average Quarter-Hour (AQH) Persons

  The average number of people listening to a radio station for at least five minutes during a quarter-hour within a daypart.

• Baked-In Ad

  A podcast ad permanently recorded into the episode audio, so every listener hears it regardless of when they download.

• Big Data + Panel

  Nielsen's TV measurement approach that combines set-top box and smart-TV data with its people-meter panel for larger, more granular audience estimates.

• Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD)

  On-demand streaming services run by traditional TV broadcasters, such as ITVX or 9Now, typically ad-supported.

• Bumper Ad

  A very short, typically six-second, non-skippable video ad designed for reach and quick brand recall, popularized by YouTube.

• C3 / C7 Ratings (Commercial Ratings)

  Average commercial-minute ratings that include live viewing plus three or seven days of time-shifted playback, long used as the basis for national TV deals.

• Cancellation Options (Upfront Options)

  Clauses in upfront deals that let advertisers cancel a set share of committed spend for future quarters, given advance notice.

• Client-Side Ad Insertion (CSAI)

  A method where the viewer's video player requests and plays ads separately from the content, typically allowing richer tracking but more susceptibility to ad blockers.

• Co-Viewing

  When more than one person watches the same screen, often modeled with a co-viewing factor to estimate people reached per CTV impression.

• Companion Ad

  A display or banner ad shown alongside a video or audio ad, such as a clickable banner next to a player or in a podcast app.

• Competitive Separation

  Rules that prevent ads from competing brands or the same category from running in the same ad pod or break.

• Cost Per Completed View (CPCV)

  A pricing model where the advertiser pays only when a video ad plays to completion.

• Cost Per View (CPV)

  A video pricing model where the advertiser pays when a viewer watches a set portion of the ad or interacts with it.

• Cume (Cumulative Audience)

  The number of different people who listen to a radio station for at least five minutes during a given daypart or week.

• Digital Audio Advertising

  Ads delivered in streaming music, internet radio, podcasts, and other digital audio, often paired with companion display units.

• Drive Time

  Radio's most-listened dayparts, roughly 6–10 a.m. and 3–7 p.m. on weekdays, when commuters listen in cars.

• Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI)

  Swapping in different, often targeted, ads at the moment of playback in streaming video, podcasts, or audio rather than fixing them in the content.

• Early Fringe

  The late-afternoon to early-evening TV daypart, roughly 4–7 p.m., typically covering talk shows and local news.

• Electronic Program Guide (EPG)

  The on-screen grid listing channels and schedules, now central to how viewers discover FAST and streaming linear channels.

• Equivalized GRPs (Equivalized Units)

  Ratings or ad units normalized to a 30-second standard so spots of different lengths can be compared and priced consistently.

• First-in-Pod (Pod Position)

  The first ad slot in a commercial break, often sold at a premium because it captures attention before viewers tune out.

• Geopath

  The US organization that provides audited audience measurement for out-of-home advertising.

• Home Screen Ad

  An ad placement on a smart TV or streaming device's home interface, sold by platforms such as Roku, Samsung, LG, and Amazon Fire TV.

• Host-Read Ad

  A podcast or radio ad read by the show's host in their own voice, valued for authenticity and listener trust.

• Households Using Television (HUT)

  The percentage of all TV households in a market that have a set turned on during a given time period.

• IAB Podcast Measurement Guidelines

  IAB Tech Lab technical standards defining how podcast downloads, listeners, and ad deliveries are counted so metrics are comparable across hosts.

• Instream Video

  Video ads that play inside a video player before, during, or after video content the viewer chose to watch.

• Interactive CTV Ad

  A streaming TV ad that lets viewers act, such as scanning a QR code, pressing a remote button or adding to cart.

• IP Address Targeting (Household IP)

  Reaching specific households on CTV and other devices by matching their IP address to audience or customer data.

• Joint Industry Committee (JIC)

  A US body formed in 2023 by TV networks and agencies to set standards for and certify alternative TV measurement currencies.

• Late Fringe

  The TV daypart after the late local news, roughly 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern, dominated by late-night talk shows.

• Listen-Through Rate (LTR)

  The percentage of audio ads that played to completion; the audio equivalent of video completion rate.

• Live+Same Day (Live+SD)

  A TV rating that counts live viewing plus playback recorded and watched the same broadcast day.

• Mezzanine File

  A high-quality master video file supplied with a VAST ad so streaming platforms can transcode it into formats suitable for server-side ad insertion.

• Multichannel Video Programming Distributor (MVPD)

  A cable, satellite or telco provider that packages and delivers TV channels to subscribers, such as Comcast or DirecTV.

• NewFronts

  The digital-video counterpart to TV upfronts, where digital publishers and platforms showcase content and ad offerings to buyers each spring.

• Nielsen One

  Nielsen's cross-platform measurement product that deduplicates audiences across linear TV, streaming and digital into a single view.

• Non-Skippable Video Ad

  A video ad, typically 15 to 30 seconds or shorter, that viewers must watch in full before content plays.

• OpenOOH Venue Taxonomy

  A standardized set of out-of-home venue categories, adopted by IAB Tech Lab, used to classify DOOH screens in programmatic buying.

• OpenRTB Content Object

  The part of a bid request that describes the content around an ad, such as title, genre, rating and live status, used heavily in CTV.

• Outstream Video

  Video ads that play outside of video content, such as within article text or a feed, often auto-playing muted when scrolled into view.

• Pause Ad

  A display-style ad shown on screen when a streaming viewer pauses content, offered by platforms such as Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video.

• Persons Using Television (PUT)

  The percentage of all people in a market or demographic who are watching TV during a given time period.

• Pod Bidding

  Programmatic auctions, supported in OpenRTB 2.6, where buyers bid on multiple slots in an ad break at once, enabling competitive separation and deduplication.

• Podcast Advertising

  Ads placed in podcast episodes, either read by the host or produced spots, delivered as baked-in or dynamically inserted ads.

• Podcast Attribution Pixel

  A tracking method that matches the IP address and device of podcast downloads to later website visits or conversions to estimate ad impact.

• Portable People Meter (PPM)

  A wearable device used by Nielsen Audio panelists that detects inaudible codes in broadcasts to measure radio listening automatically.

• Pre-Roll, Mid-Roll, and Post-Roll

  Video or audio ads that play before, during, or after the content, respectively; mid-rolls usually earn the highest completion rates.

• Prime Access

  The TV daypart just before prime time, roughly 7–8 p.m. Eastern, often filled with syndicated game and entertainment shows.

• Prime Time

  The peak evening TV daypart, roughly 8–11 p.m. Monday–Saturday and 7–11 p.m. Sunday in Eastern and Pacific time zones.

• Programmatic Audio

  Buying and selling digital audio and podcast ad inventory through automated platforms such as DSPs and SSPs.

• Programmatic Linear TV

  Using automated, data-driven platforms to plan and buy ads on traditional broadcast or cable TV rather than through manual negotiation.

• Promo Code Attribution (Vanity URL)

  Measuring audio, podcast or TV ad response by giving listeners a unique discount code or memorable URL to use.

• Proof of Play (PoP)

  A log from a digital out-of-home screen confirming that a specific ad actually played, when and where.

• Rating Point

  One percent of a defined TV or radio audience universe tuned to a program or ad at a given time.

• Return Path Data (RPD)

  Second-by-second tuning data collected from cable and satellite set-top boxes and used for TV audience measurement and targeting.

• Scatter Market

  TV ad inventory bought closer to air during the season rather than in the upfront, with pricing that floats with demand.

• SCTE-35 Marker

  An industry standard cue embedded in a video stream that signals where ad breaks start and end so ads can be inserted.

• Secure Interactive Media Interface Definition (SIMID)

  The IAB standard for interactive video ads that runs creative in a sandboxed layer over the player, replacing the interactive role of VPAID.

• Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI)

  A hybrid streaming approach where the server marks ad breaks in the manifest and the player fetches and plays the ads itself.

• Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI)

  A method of stitching ads directly into a video or audio stream on the server so content and ads play as one seamless stream.

• Simulcast (Radio Streaming)

  A live online stream of a broadcast radio station, often with digital ads inserted over the on-air commercial breaks.

• Skippable Video Ad

  A video ad the viewer can skip after a few seconds, such as YouTube's skippable in-stream format, often billed only on qualified views.

• Sonic Branding (Audio Logo)

  A distinctive sound, jingle or short melody that identifies a brand across audio, video and app experiences.

• Sponsorship Billboard

  A brief sponsor identification, such as "brought to you by," placed at the start or end of a TV, radio or podcast segment.

• SSAI Spoofing

  A CTV fraud scheme where servers fake server-side ad insertion requests to impersonate real streaming devices and steal video ad spend.

• Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD)

  A streaming model where viewers pay a recurring subscription fee for access to an on-demand content library, traditionally ad-free.

• Target Rating Point (TRP)

  A rating point measured against a specific target audience, such as adults 25–54, rather than all households or viewers.

• Time Spent Listening (TSL)

  The average amount of time a listener spends tuned to a station or audio service over a given period.

• Trigger-Based DOOH

  Digital out-of-home ads that change automatically based on real-time conditions such as weather, time, traffic or live scores.

• TV Attribution (Outcomes Measurement)

  Linking TV or CTV ad exposure to downstream actions such as site visits, app installs or sales, usually using ACR or IP-matched data.

• Upfronts

  The annual spring events and negotiation season when TV networks and streamers pitch upcoming programming and advertisers commit budgets in advance.

• VAST Wrapper

  A VAST response that points to another VAST URL instead of the media file, letting multiple parties add tracking; long wrapper chains cause latency and errors.

• Video Ad Serving Template (VAST)

  An IAB XML specification that tells a video player which ad to play, where to fetch it, and which tracking events to fire.

• Video Completion Rate (VCR)

  The percentage of video ad impressions that played all the way to the end.

• Video Multiple Ad Playlist (VMAP)

  An IAB XML spec that lets content owners define where ad breaks (pre-, mid-, post-roll) occur in a video when they don't control the player.

• Video Player-Ad Interface Definition (VPAID)

  A deprecated IAB spec that let interactive video ads run code inside the player; replaced by SIMID for interactivity and OM SDK for measurement.

• Video Quartile Reporting

  Reporting how many video ad views reached 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the ad's length.

• View Rate

  The share of video ad impressions that result in a counted view, as defined by the platform, such as 30 seconds on YouTube.

• Virtual MVPD (vMVPD)

  An internet-delivered pay-TV service that streams live linear channels without cable or satellite, such as YouTube TV, Sling TV, or Fubo.