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A/S Ratio:
Abbreviation of advertising to sales ratio and indicates the money which is allocated to advertising as a percentage of product sales revenue at either wholesale or retail level.

ABC:
See “Audit Bureau of Circulation's”.

Access Channels:
Cable channels set aside by a cable operator for use by the public, educational institutions, municipal government, or for lease on a non-discriminatory basis. Often used by candidates for call-in programs and debates viewed by voters in groups in supporters' homes.

Account Executive/Account Representative:
An advertising agency's representative to a client. He has the responsibility of directing the client's advertising/sales, and of commissioning work for the client from the experts within his agency.

Account Supervisor/Director:
An executive who has overall responsibility for a number of accounts and who normally has several account executives reporting to him.

Accumulated Audience:
See "Audience Accumulation".

Across the Board:
A program presented five days a week at the same time each day.

Ad Page Exposures(APX):
An estimate, derived by Alfred Politz Research, of how frequently readers look at an average advertising page in a magazine issue. An Ad Page Exposure occurs whenever a reader opens a page containing an advertisement.
 
Adjacency:
A program or time period, which immediately precedes or follows a scheduled program on a single radio or television station. News programs are almost only sold as adjacencies. These are always local or spot commercials.

Advertisement:
A public promotion of some product or service. ad, advert, advertising, advertorial, bill, broadsheet, broadside, circular, commercial, commercial message, direct mail, flier, flyer, handbill, mailer, newspaper ad, newspaper advertisement, packaging, preview, prevue, promotion, promotional material, publicity, teaser, throwaway, top billing, trailer.

Advertising Agency:
A company that specializes in the planning, producing and placing of advertising on behalf of its clients.

Advertising Appropriation/Budget:
A monetary figure representing the total amount that a company intends to spend over a specified period of time (usually a year), to advertise itself, particular brands and/or services. A reserve fund may be included.

Advertising Goal:
An objective that as been made specific as to time and degree.

Advertising Objective:
A broad aim, a desirable end. For example; to create brand awareness.

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA):
A regulatory body representative of all sectors of the advertising industry. Its stated purpose is "Advertising is a service to the public and, as such, should be informative, factual, honest, and decent and its content should not violate any of the laws of the country."

Advertising Weight:
The amount of advertising planned for and used by a candidate. It is usually stated as the number of messages or impressions delivered or broadcast insertions placed over a flight.

Affidavit:
The sworn statement of a television or radio station that a commercial appeared as stated on the invoice. It is important to request this type of confirmation to show that all commercials actually ran. If any commercials didn't run, the candidate is entitled to a make-good during the campaign or a refund after the election.

Affiliate:
A local television station affiliated with one or more of the major networks, e.g. ABC, CBS, and NBC. They broadcast both network and locally originated programming.

Afternoon Drive:
Radio day part between 300 PM and 700 PM

Agency Commission:
A discount, which is allowed to advertising agencies by media owners. This is the major source of an advertising agency's income. The standard agency commission allowed is 15% of the gross cost.

Agency of Record:
An agency that purchases the candidates' media time for another agency or a group of agencies serving the same client. The only entity authorized to place orders and make changes with a station for the candidate.

Agostini:
Jean Michel Agostini - a French Researcher who, in 1960, formulated the "Agostini Constant", relating to the duplication of magazine readership.

Aided Recall:
A research technique in which the respondent is given some help to remember exposure to advertising products or media.

AIO Attitudes:
Interests and Opinions (See "Life-Style").

Amplitude Modulation (AM):
AM is the standard broadcast transmission system used by the majority of licensed radio stations. The term is commonly used to differentiate between AM and FM radio.

Announcement:
A TV or radio commercial or public service message, when broadcast.

Area of Dominant Influence (ADI):
A market area designated by American Research Bureau (ARB) and used in Arbitron ratings surveys. ADI is analogous to A.C. Nielsen's Designated Market Area DMA and is similar to the Bureau of the Budget's Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area SMSA. Each ADI is an exclusive geographical area consisting of all counties in which the Home Market Stations receive a preponderance of viewing hours. Every county in the U.S. is assigned to one and only one ADI.
Annuals Publications which appear once a year.

ASA:
See "Advertising Standards Authority".

Audience Accumulation:
The increase in audience reached by a medium using successive issues or broadcasts. I.E. The total net audience exposed to repeated periodical, outdoor, television, or radio advertising.

Audience Composition:
An analysis of an audience in terms of personal characteristics e.g. demographics,
psychographics, behavioral characteristics, etc.

Audience Duplication:
A measurement of the overlap of audience between different media (external) between successive issues, or broadcasts of the same medium (internal).

Audience:
People who have an opportunity to see or hear an advertisement by virtue of their being exposed to the "vehicle" which carries the advertisement.

Audience Flow:
The fluctuations of the number of people viewing or listening to a specific TV or radio program from the time it begins until the time it ends.

Audience Profile:
A demographic description of the people exposed to a program or commercial.

Audience Profile:
Same as "Audience Composition" but expressed as a percentage of the total audience.

Audience Total:
The total number of people ever reached by a vehicle or medium.

Audience turnover:
An approximation of the number of times a radio station's audience changes during a period of time. It is computed by dividing the estimated number of different, unduplicated, persons listening to a radio station within a specified time period by the average audience during that time period.

Audience:
Nett Unduplicated See "Nett Unduplicated Audience".

Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC):
Independent body which provides subscribers with audited, average media sales or circulation figures and other relevant data, on a regular basis.

Avail, Availability:
A commercial time slot that has not been sold and thus is available for purchase. It is also a specific day and time rate card listing all programming demographics and price.

Availability:
A time period on radio or television or specific positions in printed media, which are available for purchase.

Average Audience:
The number of people listening to a radio station or viewing a television channel in the average minute or quarter-hour of a broadcast, or the number of people exposed to an average issue of a publication.

Average Circulation:
The average number of copies of a publication distributed per issue. It is determined by dividing the total number of copies distributed over a period by the number of issues in that period.

Average Exposure:
The average number of times the target audience (either single issue or, ideally, cumulative) is potentially exposed to an advertising campaign.

Average Net Paid Circulation:
The average number of copies of a publication distributed per issue which were bought.

Average Persons:
Is the estimated number of persons listening to a station during any quarter hour in a time period.

Average Quarter Hour Estimates:
Radio audience estimates are based on Average persons, Average ratings and Metro share per quarter-hour.

Average Ratings:
Is the number of listeners, Average persons, as a percentage of all persons in the metro area or designated demographic group within the metro area. Persons are counted once in each 1/4-hour. Thus, if a person listening to one 1/4 hour is counted once, a person listening to all four 1/4 hours is counted four times.