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Out-of-Home Advertising Glossary

Clear definitions for the out-of-home (OOH) advertising terms you'll encounter across planning, buying, measurement, and production.

158 terms

A

Advertiser Market: A custom market (often a group of counties) defined by an advertiser or retailer. The market definition is typically based on sales or other marketing criteria relevant to the product.
Allotment: The number of units required to achieve a desired GRP level in a specific market.
Alternative OOH Media: Alternative media is used to create customized solutions for advertisers, and generally targets specific consumer groups and includes Aerial, Cinema Screens, Clings/Decals, Consumer Products/Packaging, Events/Sponsorships, Guerilla/Street Teams, Projections, Venue Based Signage, Wireless/Mobile Devices and other unique forms.
American Advertising Federation (AAF): A trade association that protects and promotes the well-being of advertising.
American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA): A trade association that represents the advertising agency business in the United States.
Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT): Measurement representing the total number of vehicles passing a specific highway location, based on 24 hour counts taken over an entire year. Counts are adjusted to an estimate of annual average daily traffic; taking into account seasonal variance, weekly changes and other factors. AADT’s are input used to develop DECs.
Approach: The distance measured along the line of travel from the point where an advertising unit first becomes fully visible to the point where the copy is no longer readable.
Association of National Advertisers (ANA): A trade association that champions, promotes, and defends marketing interests.
Audience Delivery: The size of an audience that notices out-of-home advertising usually measured over one or more weeks. Audience delivery can be represented using several definitions, including: Impressions, ratings, and reach & frequency.
Audited Circulation: The certification of traffic circulation. The Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB) independently audits records and circulation data for outdoor advertising according to established national procedures approved by the buyer and seller community.
Availability: The available media space for sale at any given time in a market.
Awareness: The recalled recognition of an out-of-home advertising message by an individual or audience. Ad awareness is influenced by creative copy and the consumer’s relationship with the product or category.

B

Backlit Units: Advertising displays that allow illumination of copy from the back to make it more visible.
Bar Coding: Similar to Universal Products Code (UPC) systems in retail stores. This system allows for scanning to track date, times, location posted, etc.
Billboard: Large format advertising displays intended for viewing from extended distances, generally more than 50 feet. Billboard displays include, but not limited to: 30-sheet posters, 8-sheet posters, vinyl-wrapped posters, and bulletins.
Bulletin: The largest standardized out-of-home format; typically measuring 14′ x 48′ in overall size. Sold either as permanent displays or in rotary packages.

C

Calibration: Measuring and adjusting both line color and the intensity of individual pixels to ensure image consistency across the entire display.
Campaign Delivery: The audience delivered by an out-of-home advertising schedule, expressed in impressions and/or gross rating points (GRPs). Reach & frequency can also be used. Campaign delivery is most valuable when expressed using the demographic target and market definition of the advertiser.
Campaign Period: The length of an out of home campaign usually measured in days or weeks.
Cancellation Period: A specified period of time when a contract can be terminated.
Candela (CD): A measurement of directional light intensity from a point source.
Center-to-Center Spacing: The distance between the center point of one pixel and the center of an adjacent pixel on a video or message center display. Also known as pitch.
Character Height: Height of the largest letter that can be displayed on a message center; height of a seven-pixel high character according to center-to-center spacing.
Charting: The process of selecting and scheduling individual unit locations to maximize outdoor advertising objectives.
Circulation: A measurement of traffic volume in a market.
Cluster: A grouping of LEDs that act as a single pixel.
Co-op: The sharing of advertising costs between a manufacturer and distributor or dealer.
Code of Industry Principles: In addition to external laws and regulations, the outdoor advertising industry adopted a set of voluntary principles; issued to adhere to community standards.
Color Accuracy: Conformity or exactness of color match, clarity, and accuracy within the individual primary color groups of green, red, and blue.
Color Shift: The angle of viewing off axis where the slightest change in pixel coloration occurs.
Color Temperature: The degree of hotness or coolness of a color, measured in degrees Kelvin. Low color temperatures have a shift toward red, and high color temperatures have a shift toward blue. The standard white for NTSC in the United States is 6,500 degrees Kelvin.
Commercial Audience: Audience estimates of people exposed to actual advertising. TAB out-of-home Ratings is the first media measurement system providing true commercial audiences who see advertising rather than audiences that are merely exposed to editorial content (e.g. read a magazine, read a newspaper or tuned to a TV program, etc.).
Continuity: The elimination of gaps in a media schedule by maximizing the duration of a campaign, ideally 52 weeks.
Contrast Ratio: Ratio between the brightness or intensity measurement taken when the screen is displaying a blank video signal and a full white video signal. This ratio determines the readability of the display so as to measure “depth” of an image or as a measure of how well the image can be seen in high ambient light.
Controller: Computer or computer-type device used to program and operate digital displays.
Copy: Artwork displayed on an outdoor unit.
Copy Area: The viewing area on an outdoor unit.
Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA): Defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, a metropolitan area(s) within larger markets (e.g. DMAs) containing a substantial population nucleus, together with adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core. CBSA’s are a standard geography for buying and selling media.
Cost Per Point (CPP): The cost of advertising exposure opportunities that equal one gross rating point in a market or one percent of the population.
Cost Per Thousand (CPM): The cost of reaching one thousand advertising exposure opportunities in a market.
Coverage: The boundaries of a market, the percentage of a market exposed to an outdoor advertising campaign or the reach of the panels purchased.
Creative: Advertising message design produced for out of home advertising.
Cross-Read: An advertising display which is visible across traffic lanes on the opposite side of the roadway.
Custom Market: Any market used by a plant or advertiser other that a DMA or CBSA. Custom markets are used by plants or advertisers to highlight out-of-home delivery within relevant geographic areas. Custom markets are generally counties or groups of counties.

D

Daily Effective Circulation (DEC): The average number of persons passing and potentially exposed to an advertising display for either 12 hours (unilluminated) or 18 hours (illuminated).
Daily Impressions: Also called DEC. The estimated number of persons passing an outdoor location on an average day.
Degradation: The standard method used to express the life of a display is the time it takes to reach 50% of its day one brightness.
Demographic Audiences: Target audiences used to plan, buy and sell media. Typically include age, sex, ethnicity and income.
Designated Market Area (DMA): A television market area defined by Nielsen Media Research that is also used by advertisers for multi-media planning. DMAs are non-overlapping and cover the entire United States.
Digital Out-of-Home Media (DOOH): Digital out-of-home media are placed based digital screens that offer static and video (short & full motion) imaging with or without audio. They are placed in venues with captive audiences and deliver beneficial dwell times that drive high message retention.
Dimming: Changing the brightness of a display, or the capability of increasing or decreasing the overall display intensity. The brightness level should be highest during the day to compete with daylight, and lower at night.
Display Period: The interval of exposure when an outdoor advertising campaign is viewed.
Dissolve: A mode of message transition on an LED display accomplished by varying the light intensity or pattern, where the first message gradually appears to dissipate and lose legibility simultaneously with the gradual appearance and legibility of the second message.
Distribution: The strategic physical placement of outdoor units across a market.
Dwell Time: The interval of time when a consumer is in close proximity to an OOH ad.

E

Efficiency: The degree of value delivered to an audience relative to the audience that is delivered and cost. Usually expressed as either CPM (cost per thousand) or CPP (cost per gross rating point).
Embellishment: Letters, figures, mechanical devices, or lighting that is attached to the face of an outdoor unit to create a special effect.
Expected Lifetime: Anticipated length of use for an LED. The expected lifetime of an LED is measured at the point when the sign has degraded to 50 percent if its original intensity. LEDs have a typical expected life of 50,000 to 100,000 hours (as specified by the manufacturer).
Exposure: The reasonable opportunities for advertising to be seen and read.
EYES ON Audience Measurement: The original name for what is now TAB Out-of-Home Ratings.

F

Face: The surface area on an outdoor unit where advertising copy is displayed. A structure may have more than one face.
Facing: The cardinal direction that an outdoor unit faces. For example, a north facing unit is seen by consumer headed south.
Finishing: The method used to hem the edges of posters and bulletins. Finishing can include welded pockets or other operational techniques for hanging substrates onto billboard units.
Flight: The length of an advertising campaign, sometimes divided into distinct segments over the course of weeks.
Frequency: The average number of times an individual has the opportunity to see an advertising message during a defined period of time. Frequency in outdoor advertising is typically measured over a four week period.

G

Gamma Correction: A process used with video images to correct brightness and internal micro-contrast within the image. Gamma correction allows a change of ratio between the brightest red component and weakest red.
Global Positioning System (GPS): A location system using latitude and longitude to pinpoint exact geographic locations.
Gross Impressions: The sum of the impressions registered against a target audience based on a GRP level of days or weeks in a schedule.
Gross Rating Point (GRP): The total number of impressions delivered by a media schedule expressed as a percentage of a market population. One rating point represents a circulation equal to 1% of the market population.

I

Illuminated: An outdoor unit equipped with lighting that provides night time illumination of an advertising message, usually from dusk until midnight.
Impression: The number of people who have an opportunity to see an ad in a given period of time.
Imprint: The identification of the operating media company on an advertising display.
In-Market Impressions: The total number of times people passing an OOH display that live in a defined market (e.g. a DMA or CBSA), are likely to notice an ad on an OOH display. In-market impressions exclude impressions derived from people who travel into or through the market, but live outside of it. In-market impressions are the audience from which GRPs are calculated.
Indoor Advertising: Advertising displays located in restrooms, retail locations, restaurants, and other high traffic indoor areas.
Intensity: Also called brightness. The LED industry measures display intensity in candelas per square meter, which is also referred to as nits.

J

Junior Poster: A standardized poster format, typically measuring 6′ x 12′; formally known as an 8 Sheet.

L

LED Brightness: The brightness level of an LED is measured in milli-candelas. The materials used to manufacture the LED determine the brightness of the LED.
Light Detector: Also called light sensor. An electrical component used to detect the amount or level of ambient light surrounding a display. If dimming has been set to “AUTO,” the light detector or sensor adjusts the intensity of the LEDs.
Light Emitting Display (LED): A semiconductor device (akin to a small lightbulb) that emits narrow-spectrum light when given an electrical charge.
Likelihood to See (LTS): The portion of the OTS (Opportunity to See) audience who are likely to see an ad. out-of-home is the first medium in the US to move from reporting OTS audiences (DECs) to LTS (Likely to See) audiences which can also be referred to as commercial audiences.
Line of Site: The simultaneous viewing of more than one copy area of one outdoor unit.
Location List: A listing of all locations included in a specific outdoor program.
Location Map: A map showing all locations included in a specific outdoor campaign.

M

Mall Displays: Backlit advertising structures located at strategic points in shopping malls; usually two or three-sided.
Mandatory Copy: Copy that is mandated by law to appear in the advertising of certain products and services.
Markets: Geographically defined areas used to buy and sell media. Standard markets definitions are DMAs and CBSAs. out-of-home media companies and advertisers also use custom geographies based on their geographic coverage of their panel or product sales distribution areas respectively.
Media Mix: The combination of media types and associated audience weight levels used together to meet the objectives of a media plan (advertising campaign).
Message Duration: The interval of time when a digital OOH advertising message is viewed.
Milli-candela (mcd): One thousandth of a candela.
Mobile Billboard: A truck equipped with one or more poster panel units. The truck can either be parked at specified venues or driven around designated localities.

N

Net Reach: The total number of people within the target audience exposed to the advertising schedule, often expressed as a percentage.

O

OBIE Awards: Issued by OAAA, OBIE Awards are the oldest awards for outdoor advertising creative.
Off-Premise Sign: A sign that advertises products or services that are not sold, produced or furnished on the property where the sign is located. An outdoor advertising display is an off-premise sign.
On-Premise Sign: A sign that advertises products or services that are sold, produced, manufactured or furnished on the property where the sign is located.
Opportunity to See (OTS): A basic measure of media exposure. OTS estimates are measures of media exposure, and not the advertising.
Out-of-Home Media (OOH): All media formats specifically intended to reach consumers outside the home.
Out-of-Home Video Networks: Place-based video networks that offer editorial content and video advertising. They include in-store, health clubs and other venues.
Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA): A trade association that leads and unites a responsible outdoor advertising industry. It is committed to serving advertisers, consumers, and the public.
Outdoor Media: The term primarily associated with billboards, street furniture, transit and alternative media.
Override: The continuation of an outdoor advertising program beyond an advertising period. An override, if offered by an outdoor company, is provided at no additional cost to an advertiser.

P

Percent Composition: The percent of the total audience for a display or schedule that a brand target demographic group comprise (e.g. 65% of the total EOIs for Adults 18+ were Men 24-64).
Permanent Bulletin: A bulletin, used in an advertising campaign, where the advertising remains permanently located at a specified site throughout the term of a contract, usually for long periods. A permanent bulletin program can build strong brand recognition in specific market areas.
Phone Kiosks: A structure that houses public telephones and offers advertising displays.
Photocell: Photoelectric cell; the light-sensitive component within a photosensor. The actual device might be a photodiode, a phototransistor, or a photoconductive cell. It is important to make a distinction between a photocell and a complete photosensor device. A photocell might be any device in which light controls the electron emission from a cathode, the electrical resistance of an element, or the electromotive force produced by a cell; it is usually incorporated in an electric circuit and used in mechanical devices such as door openers or home outdoor night lights.
Place-Based Media: A form of alternative out of home media. Place-based media displays include but are not limited to: shopping carts, ball games, bicycles, beaches, planes, and theatres.
Plant: All the outdoor advertising units in a market that are operated by a single company. Sometimes the term refers to the outdoor company itself.
Plant Operator: An out-of-home media company operating advertising displays in a certain market.
Plant-Defined Market: A custom market defined by a plant usually established based on the geographic coverage of its inventory.
Polyethylene (PE): Polyethylene is a widely used plastic thermoplastic polymer consisting of long chains of monomer ethylene. It is used to make single sheet posters or other billboard substrates and is recyclable.
Polypropylene (PP): Polypropylene is a widely used thermoplastic polymer with an intermediate level of crystallinity between that of low-density and high-density polyethylene. It is used to make single sheet posters or other billboard substrates and is recyclable.
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): Polyvinyl Chloride is a thermoplastic polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups or ethenyls having one of their hydrogens replaced with a chloride group. The vinyl is commonly used as an advertising substrate for bulletins and some poster products.
Population: The total number of people who live within a market. The population can be segmented by key demographic groups. Populations (also referred to as universe estimates) of defined geographic areas are the bases from which rating points are calculated.
Poster: A standardized poster format, typically measuring 12’3″ x 24’6″; formally known as a 30-Sheet Poster.
Posting Date: The date when a poster program is scheduled to commence. A five-day leeway is customary.
Posting Instructions: Detailed directions provided to an outdoor company by an advertiser or agency assigning specific copy to specific locations.
Premiere Panel: A standardized display format, typically measuring 12′ 3″ x 24′ 6″ in overall size. Premiere panel units offer the impact of a bulletin by utilizing a single vinyl face stretched over a standard 30-sheet poster panel.
Premiere Square: A standardized display format, typically measuring 25′ 5″ x 24′ 6″ in overall size. The premiere square utilizes a single vinyl stretched over two stacked 30-sheet poster panels. In some markets, this same technique can be applied to stacked 8-sheet poster panels, typically measuring 12′ 6″x 12′ 1″ in overall size.
Printing Overage: Quantity of additional printed copy ordered incase of damage or replacement during the display period. Typically an overage is an additional 10-20% of the number of displays in the campaign.
Proof-of-Performance: Certification by an outdoor company that contracted advertising services have been rendered.

Q

Quintile Mapping: A geographical map of a specific market indicating a certain consumer group broken out by quintiles. Each fifth of the population would be indicated by a different color or pattern.

R

Rating Points: The total number of in-market impressions delivered by an out-of-home display expressed as a percentage of a market population. One rating point represents impressions equal to 1% of the market population. In the calculation of GRPs, total EOIs must first be reduced to the in-market EOIs of individuals who live in the defined market and are part of that market’s population base.
Reach: The approximate percentage of a target audience’s population which will be potentially exposed to an advertising message at least once during a specified period of time. Reach is normally measured over four-week periods.
Refresh Rate: The number of times per second the screen is updated or “repainted.” Depending on the video standard, the actual image is changed only 30 times per second for NTSC signal or 25 times per second for PAL. However, most LED systems use pulse-width modulation to generate the color levels, ad if the image were only “painted” once for every change, there would be a noticeable flicker on the display. A refresh rate of greater than 60 times per second will minimize the flicker. In general, LED displays should be refreshed at 120 times per second (120 Hz) or greater.
Regular Unit: An unilluminated advertising unit.
Reposting Charge: A charge incurred for reposting design changes on a structure before the end of the display period.
Ride: The physical inspection of the units that comprise an outdoor program in a market – either pre-buy or post-buy.
Rotary Bulletin: A standard 14′ x 48′ bulletin, used in an advertising campaign, where the advertising rotates different locations in a market at fixed intervals, usually every 60 or 90 days, to achieve greater reach in the market.
Row: A horizontal line of pixels; in print graphics, a horizontal line on a table.

S

Satellite Lighting: Communication between an advertising display and an operator that can warn of problems, turn lights on and off, or in some cases change copy.
Saturation: The color intensity of an image. A 100% saturated color does not contain any white; adding white reduces saturation. An image without any saturation is also referred to as a grayscale image.
Scroll: A mode of message transition on an LED display where the message appears to move vertically across the display.
Sequence: A group of two or more frames that may consist of words, graphics or animation that are grouped together under one name. It may range in size from a few frames up to an hundred or more.
Single Sheet Poster: A poster constructed as a single and continuous substrate. Single sheet posters are typical make from thermoplastic polymers. Single sheet posters can be recycled.
Snipe: An adhesive strip that is used to cover a portion of copy displayed on the unit.
Solar Panels: Technology currently used to light panels using solar power generated by photo-electric cells.
Spectacular: A bulletin that is usually larger than 14′ x 48′ and is positioned at a prime location in a market. A spectacular often utilizes special embellishments.
Spotted Map: A map showing all locations included in a specific outdoor program.
Standardized Unit: Outdoor units constructed in accordance with the specifications established by the OAAA.
Street Furniture: Advertising displays, many that provide a public amenity, positioned at close proximity to pedestrians for eye-level viewing or at a curbside to impact vehicular traffic. Street furniture displays include, but are not limited to: transit shelters, newsstands/news racks, kiosks, shopping mall panels, and in-store displays.
Surface Arterials: Major streets in towns or cities that carry a heavy flow of vehicular traffic.

T

Target 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.
Target Ratings Points (TRPs): The total number of in-market impressions, to a target audience, delivered by an out-of-home display expressed as a percentage of a market population. One rating point represents impressions equal to 1% of the market population. In the calculation of GRPs, total impressions must first be reduced to the in-market impressions of individuals who live in the defined market and are part of that market’s population.
Traditional Media: Traditional out-of-home media includes billboards, street furniture and transit categories of media.
Traffic Audit: The third party verification of traffic circulation in a market. Traffic audit information is used to calculate outdoor advertising DEC figures.
Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB): A third party provider of standardized and valid circulation measures for out of home media.
Traffic Count: The recording of the vehicles and pedestrians passing a given point; used by TAB to authenticate the potential exposure of outdoor advertising structures. All counts are verified by the TAB.
Traffic Origin: Research which provides advertisers with information about the audience passing outdoor advertising displays, not just consumers in the immediate vicinity of the individual location. Collected license plate data are correlated with residence data and demographics to pinpoint the origin and destinations of person having potential exposure to outdoor advertising.
Transit Displays: Displays affixed to moving vehicles or in the common areas of transit terminals and station. Transit displays include but are not limited to: bus panels, taxi panels, airport panels, taxi panels, and mobile advertising.
Transit Poster (bus): Posters attached to the exterior of buses. Common displays are king panels, queen panels and tail panels. King panels are on the street-side of the bus. Queen panels are on the curb side of the bus. And tail panels are on the back of the bus.
Transit Poster (commuter rail): Posters displayed in commuter rail stations and on trains.
Transit Shelter: A curbside structure located at regular stopping points along urban bus routes.
Transition: A visual effect used on an LED display to change from one message to another.
Travel: A mode of message transition on an LED display where the message appears to move horizontally across the display.
Tri-Color Chip: A discrete LED package containing the three colors (RGB) forming one pixel.
Tri-Vision: An outdoor unit with a slatted face that allows three different copy messages to revolve at intermittent intervals.

U

Unilluminated Unit: An outdoor unit that has not been equipped with lighting for nighttime viewing of the advertising message. The DEC for an illuminated unit is calculated using a 12-hour viewing period.

W

Wallscape: Murals painted or attached directly onto the exterior surface of a building.
Wavelength: The distance in a periodic wave between two points of corresponding phases. The LEDs wavelength determines its color.