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Outdoor advertising terminology – Our Glossary below offers a comprehensive list and guide of the most common outdoor advertising terms and formats.
48 Sheet – This is the most common in outdoor advertising terminology. A 48 sheet form of billboard, a large format advertising display intended for viewing from extended distances. 20ft x 10ft in size
96 Sheet – A form of billboard and twice as large as a 48 sheet. 40ft x 10ft in size.
AR – Augmented Reality – a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view
Audience – Any audience reflecting the most desired consumer prospects for a product or service, defined by age, sex, race, ethnicity or income; or their combinations for any geographic definition
Awareness – A measurement of knowledge of the existence of a brand or its advertising. Measured spontaneously or prompted.
Backlit – Describes a poster display in which the advertising message is illuminated from behind
Billboard – Large format advertising displays intended for viewing from extended distances. Billboard displays include, but not limited to: 48 sheets, 96 sheets, portrait sites or Golden Squares.
Campaign – A promotional effort based on the same strategy and creative idea
Cost per Thousand – or CPT. The cost of delivering 1,000 impressions from individuals who notice the advertising on displays in a market
Coverage – The number of people who will see a campaign at least once
Cycle – Outdoor advertising operates in 2 week bursts i.e. a cycle. This is the length of time an outdoor campaign is in-situ for. Multiple cycles can be purchased to extend the length of a campaign
Digital Out-of-Home – or DOOH. Any OOH display that can change its advertising content using digital technology
Distribution – The strategic placement of OOH units across a market. The distribution of units will impact the reach of the campaign and the demographic profile of the audience that is delivered
Duration – The amount of time that a panel of a given size can, from its moment of visibility, stay within the audience’s vision
Dwell Time – The interval of time when a consumer is in close proximity to an OOH ad
FOC – Free of Charge
Gross Rating Point (GRP) – The total number of in-Market impressions delivered by an OOH schedule expressed as a percentage of a market population. One rating point represents impressions equal to 1 percent of the market population
Head on – When a poster site is facing oncoming traffic or pedestrian flow
Illumination – Lighting a poster either from above or from behind
Impacts – The number of times a campaign is seen
Lightbox – Poster site, most often a 48 sheet or 96 sheet, which is ‘back-illuminated’
Media Owner – A Media Owner is a company or individual who has the right to sell outdoor advertising space
NFC – Near Field Communication – a short range wireless technology. It is meant for applications where a physical touch, or close to it, is required in order to maintain security
OTS – The average number of times an individual notices an OOH advertising message during a defined period of time
Outdoor – Generic name for external poster advertising
Out-of-Home (OOH) – All types of advertising intended to reach consumers outside the home
Panel – An alternative name for a poster site
Parallel Poster – A poster which is positioned parallel to the main traffic / pedestrian flow and as such is visible traffic / pedestrian flow in both directions
Pedestrian Count – Counting the movement of pedestrians past a given point
Performance – Evaluation of a campaign’s achievements after the event, often in terms of coverage and frequency
POP – Point of Purchase
POS – Point of Sale
Poster – An advertising site located outside the home, they come in a variety of standard sizes, measured by the number of sheets
Poster Specialist – A company that plans and buys an outdoor campaign on behalf of a client often using sites bought from a number of different outdoor media owners
Posting Date – The date when a poster program is scheduled to commence. A three day leeway is customary
QR Code – Quick Response Code – a machine-readable code consisting of an array of black and white squares, typically used for storing URLs or other information for reading by the camera on a smartphone
Reach – The approximate percentage of a target audience’s population who notice an advertising message at least once during an OOH campaign
SMS – Short Message Service / text message
SOV – Share of Voice – The percentage of advertising activities for one brand within the total advertising activity for an entire sector or product type
Traffic Count – Counting the movement of vehicles past a given point
VAC – A visibility adjusted contact or VAC is the audience rating for an advertising panel. It is not a measure of quality but simply one of the scale of the audience
Wastage – The proportion of an advertising campaign’s expenditure or advertising weight which is not seen or heard by the specified target audience