Ad Decision ServerA system that selects which advertisement to deliver for an available opportunity, using campaign rules, targeting, and other criteria.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: When a streaming break begins, an ad decision system selects an eligible campaign for that viewing session.
As Run LogA record generated by playout or another transmission system showing events that played, including their recorded start times and durations. It does not by itself prove reception by every viewer.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: After transmission, traffic checks the recorded start time of a commercial against its planned placement.
ATSCAdvanced Television Systems Committee. The organization responsible for a family of digital television standards used in the United States and other markets.
Broadcast Technology
In practice: An engineering team consults the applicable ATSC specifications while planning terrestrial digital television delivery.
Audience ShareThe percentage of the viewing audience using television during a defined period that is watching a particular program or channel. The population and measurement basis must be specified.
Audience Measurement
In practice: An audience report compares a program's viewers with people using television during that same measurement period.
Barter SyndicationA programming arrangement in which a station provides advertising time to the distributor in exchange for content, sometimes with an additional cash payment.
Programming & Scheduling
In practice: A station carries a supplied program and reserves agreed advertising positions for its distributor.
BlackoutRestriction of content in a particular territory, on a particular platform, or during a specific window because of rights or distribution rules.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: A service substitutes permitted programming where the original event cannot be distributed under its rights rules.
Broadcast LogAn ordered list of events intended for transmission, typically combining program segments, commercials, promos, and associated instructions.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: The day's transmission plan lists program segments, commercials, promos and associated instructions in order.
Broadcast TelevisionTelevision transmitted to a broad audience, traditionally through over the air stations. The term is also used more generally for scheduled television services.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: A viewer uses an antenna to receive a local station's scheduled channel.
Cable NetworkA television programming service historically distributed through cable systems, often also available through satellite or internet services.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: A distributor carries a national programming service alongside local television stations.
Clean FeedA version of a program signal without specified added elements, such as certain graphics or commentary. What is removed must be defined for each feed.
Production
In practice: A production supplies a version without specified graphics so another team can add its own presentation.
ClearanceAuthorization or confirmation that content may be shown. In network and syndication operations, it can also mean a station's acceptance or airing of supplied programming.
Programming & Scheduling
In practice: A station confirms that it will carry supplied programming in the agreed window.
Commercial CopyThe advertising material and instructions needed to air a spot. In traffic operations, copy may refer to the creative asset, its identification, and its assignment instructions.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: Traffic connects the advertiser's order to the correct creative, identifier and assignment instructions.
ContinuityThe coordination of material and instructions needed for correct on air presentation. In advertising operations, it often includes commercial copy and rotation instructions.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: A continuity team resolves which commercial version should run before the daily log is finalized.
CTVConnected television. A television connected to the internet directly or through a device; in advertising, the term commonly identifies viewing on that television screen.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: A viewer watches a streaming program on an internet-connected television rather than on a phone.
DAIDynamic ad insertion. Selection and insertion of advertisements into video opportunities using rules that can vary by viewer, session, or other conditions.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: A streaming workflow selects advertisements for an available break using campaign rules that can differ by session.
Drop Frame TimecodeA numbering method that skips certain timecode labels to align nominal 30 or 60 frame counting more closely with elapsed time at fractional frame rates. It does not remove video frames.
Production
In practice: An editor uses drop-frame labeling to align nominal frame counting more closely with elapsed clock time at a supported fractional frame rate.
EASEmergency Alert System. A United States alerting system that uses broadcast and other participating distribution services to relay emergency messages.
Broadcast Technology
In practice: A participating station processes an emergency alert through its established alerting workflow.
GRPGross rating point. A measure of total advertising exposure obtained by summing ratings across placements. It can also be expressed as reach percentage multiplied by average frequency.
Audience Measurement
In practice: Placements delivering 10, 12 and 8 rating points total 30 gross rating points on the stated measurement basis.
Household RatingThe percentage of households in a defined television household universe viewing a program or advertisement, according to the specified measurement basis.
Audience Measurement
In practice: A report states the proportion of the defined television-household universe viewing a program.
ImpressionA counted advertising exposure under a defined measurement method. An impression does not necessarily represent a unique viewer or a completed view.
Audience Measurement
In practice: A campaign report counts advertising exposures under its stated measurement method without treating each one as a unique viewer.
IPTVInternet protocol television. Television delivered through IP networks, often using a provider managed network. Industry usage varies, and it should not automatically be treated as synonymous with OTT.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: A provider delivers television through a managed IP network rather than assuming every internet-based service uses the same distribution model.
ISCIIndustry Standard Commercial Identification. A legacy coding convention used to identify advertising creative; identifiers still appear in some workflows.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: A legacy commercial identifier remains in an advertiser's instructions and must be mapped to the facility's current media identifier.
Linear TelevisionTelevision presented on a scheduled channel where programs play in a defined sequence. Linear channels can be delivered over the air, through pay TV, or by streaming.
Programming & Scheduling
In practice: At 8:15 p.m., a viewer joins the program currently running on a scheduled channel.
Log ValidationChecking a planned log for issues before transmission, such as missing media, incorrect durations, invalid assignments, or unmet placement rules.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: A pre-air check flags an event with missing media or a placement that violates the configured rules.
LoudnessThe perceived level of audio, measured with methods designed to reflect human hearing. Broadcast workflows commonly use integrated loudness measurements in LUFS or LKFS.
Broadcast Technology
In practice: An audio check measures a program using the loudness method required by the receiving specification.
Media Asset ManagementSystems and processes for tracking media files, versions, metadata, and their movement through a workflow. Often abbreviated MAM.
Broadcast Technology
In practice: A team tracks an episode's media versions, metadata and readiness as it moves toward playout.
Minutes ViewedThe total viewing minutes accumulated by the measured audience for a title or service over a specified period.
Audience Measurement
In practice: A streaming title accumulates viewing minutes across its measured episodes during one reporting week. This total is not the same as the number of unique people who watched.
MOSMedia Object Server protocol. A protocol used to exchange information about media objects and rundowns between newsroom systems and connected production systems.
Production
In practice: A newsroom workflow exchanges rundown and media-object information with connected production systems.
OTTOver the top. Video or other media delivered over internet connectivity outside a traditional managed pay TV delivery path. OTT describes delivery, and can include live or on demand viewing on different devices.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: A viewer watches an internet-delivered service outside a traditional managed pay-TV path, on a phone or television.
Program FormatThe operational structure of a program, including segments, durations, breaks, and advertising opportunities. The term can also refer to a show's creative concept.
Programming & Scheduling
In practice: Traffic uses a program's operational format to represent its segments and advertising opportunities correctly.
Program ScheduleA plan showing which programs are assigned to dates and times. A traffic or broadcast log expands this plan into individual transmission events.
Programming & Scheduling
In practice: A scheduler assigns programs to dates and start times before the transmission log adds individual events.
Programmatic AdvertisingAutomated buying, selling, or allocation of advertising using software and data. It includes methods beyond real time auctions.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: Software applies buying and allocation rules to advertising opportunities without requiring every decision to be entered manually.
QCQuality control. Inspection of media or output for technical and presentation issues, such as picture errors, audio problems, missing captions, or incorrect versions.
Broadcast Technology
In practice: A received episode is inspected for picture, audio, captions and version issues before use.
RatingThe percentage of a defined population viewing specified content under a stated measurement method and time window. Ratings may refer to households or individuals.
Audience Measurement
In practice: An audience report states the population, time window and method behind a program's reported rating.
Remnant InventoryAdvertising inventory remaining unsold after other sales commitments, sometimes offered under different pricing or placement conditions.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: Sales reviews eligible advertising positions still unsold after other campaign commitments.
Retransmission ConsentIn the United States, permission negotiated for an MVPD to retransmit a broadcast station's signal under the applicable framework.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: A broadcaster and distributor address permission to retransmit the station's signal under the applicable United States framework.
Run of ScheduleAn advertising placement that allows scheduling across a specified range of eligible times rather than a particular program. Often abbreviated ROS.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: An advertiser allows spots to be placed across an agreed range of eligible times instead of one named show.
SCTESociety of Cable Telecommunications Engineers. An organization that develops standards and supports technical education for cable and related media systems.
Broadcast Technology
In practice: An engineering team uses the standards organization's cueing references to define integration requirements.
SCTE 104A standard defining communication between automation and compression systems, including instructions used to generate SCTE 35 messages in an outgoing stream.
Broadcast Technology
In practice: An automation-to-compression workflow passes instructions used to generate cue messages in outgoing video.
SCTE 35A cueing standard used to signal opportunities and events in distributed video, including ad insertion and program or distribution control. A cue signals an event; it does not itself supply the advertisement.
Broadcast Technology
In practice: A cue message marks an insertion opportunity; a downstream system still needs the rules and media to deliver the advertisement.
SimulcastTransmission of the same programming at the same time on multiple channels, services, or platforms, with possible technical delays or approved variations.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: An authorized program appears on two services at the same scheduled time, with possible delivery delays or approved differences.
SMPTE ST 2110A suite of standards for carrying and synchronizing separate professional media streams over managed IP networks, including video, audio, and ancillary data.
Broadcast Technology
In practice: A managed professional IP media environment carries picture, sound and ancillary data as coordinated separate streams.
SSAIServer side ad insertion. Inserting advertisements within the server side streaming workflow before playback, often through segment stitching or manifest manipulation.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: A streaming workflow assembles advertising with program segments or manipulates the manifest before playback.
Station IDAn on air identification of a station. In United States broadcast usage, it can refer specifically to the required legal identification using the station's call sign and community of license.
Programming & Scheduling
In practice: A station schedules its identification according to its approved legal and presentation workflow.
Total ViewersThe number of people who watched a program within the stated audience and measurement window.
Audience Measurement
In practice: A weekly report lists a program’s audience in millions of persons age two and older; its source specifies the viewing window and methodology.
TrafficThe operational function that manages advertising orders, copy assignments, spot placement, log preparation, and related reconciliation and billing support.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: The traffic team connects an advertising order with inventory, copy, log placement and reconciliation.
Traffic LogA detailed transmission plan commonly prepared through the traffic system, combining commercial placements with programs, segments, promos, and other events as the workflow requires.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: The final plan identifies the commercial, program segment and promo events intended for transmission that day.
UpfrontAn advance television advertising sales period in which advertisers commit to inventory for a future programming season or other defined period.
Traffic & Advertising
In practice: An advertiser commits to eligible inventory for a future programming period during an advance sales process.
vMVPDVirtual multichannel video programming distributor. An industry term for an internet delivered service offering a bundle of live television channels.
Distribution & Streaming
In practice: A viewer uses an internet-delivered service offering a bundle of live television channels.
Examples illustrate everyday workflows rather than a particular station or product. Terminology can vary by organization, system or market; confirm the intended meaning when defining a workflow.