The Power of Television

Television Jargon Explained

So that you have a clear understanding of how advertising on television is planned and measured we have highlighted the more common technical terms that you will hear people use when talking about television.

Universe
The people in a given transmission area capable of receiving an STV North or STV Central signal are­ your potential audience.

TVR (television rating)
A rating is 1% of the potential viewing audience or universe.

For example: an STV commercial, or programme, achieving 15 Adult TVRs would have been seen by 15% of all adults in the transmission area, (15% of the Universe).

Every commercial that is broadcast has a TVR value attached to it. This allows advertisers to calculate the exact number of people who have watched their commercials and their socio-demographic profiles.

Daypart
The television day is split into a number of segments called Dayparts, which reflect the level, and type of viewers at different times of the day:

09:30 - 17:14 Daytime
17:15 - 22:59 Peaktime
23:00 - 24:00 Night-time

Coverage or reach (%)
The percentage of an advertisers target audience that is reached during a campaign is termed Campaign Coverage. This is the percentage of viewers within the relevant Universe, (transmission area), who have seen your commercial; this figure is generally calculated across the total campaign period.

Example: If a campaign achieves 1+ coverage of 70% of adults, this equates to 70% of all Adults in the universe having seen your commercial one or more times.

Frequency
This is the average number of times your commercial has been seen by an individual.