Glossary of Research Terms

ABC (Audit Bureau Of Circulations)
An organization that provides certified statements of net paid circulation of magazines, supported jointly by advertisers, agencies and media.

Average Audience
The number of people exposed to a magazine or an advertising campaign.

Audience Accumulation
The total net number of people exposed to a magazine schedule during its lifespan.

Audience (Primary)
Readers who live in households where someone subscribes to or purchases the publication, or who receives the publication free of charge at home, with a newspaper or delivered at work in his/her name. Together with "secondary readers", they make up the total audience of the publication.

Audience (Secondary)
Readers who read a publication they did not purchase, subscribe to or receive by "primary" means (see Primary Audience above). Together with primary readers, they make up the total audience of the publication.

Audited Circulation
The distribution of a publication as certified by a recognized independent industry circulation auditing body such as ABC or CCAB.

Average Frequency
The number of times the average person is exposed to a specific advertising schedule.

Average Issue Readership (AIR)
The projected number of people who have read or looked into an "average issue" of a magazine. Readership figures are larger than circulation due to the fact that a single copy of a magazine has multiple readers.

Base
A defined universe upon which analysis will be done: e.g. a) Women 18+, English Ontario; b) All people 12+, Total Canada.

Bulk Distribution
Two or more copies of a magazine made available for free for subsequent distribution through street boxes/racks, restaurants, cinemas, etc.

Canadian Circulations Audit Board (CCAB)
An organization that provides certified statements of all-paid, all-controlled or any combination of paid and controlled circulation of magazines, supported jointly by advertisers, agencies and media.

Circulation
The total number of distributed copies of a magazine over a specified time.

Closing Date
The final date for contracting to run an ad in a magazine or for delivering ad materials.

Composition
The profile (e.g.: age, income, gender, geography, etc.) of a magazine, expressed as a percentage of total audience.

Controlled Circulation
The circulation of a magazine that is sent free to specific individuals, groups, demographics or defined geographic areas.

Confidence Level
The statistical likelihood that the sampling error in a survey result will fall within a specified range, usually expressed in terms of confidence levels (e.g. 68% confidence; 95% confidence; etc.).

Cost Efficiency
The efficiency of a media as measured by the relationship of audience to cost, and expressed as a cost per thousand (CPM) or cost per point (CPP).

Ranking Report (CRANK)
A ranking of magazines based on reach, composition or CPM for a specific target group, e.g. XYZ magazine is ranked #1 because it reaches more men, age 25-54 than any other publication.

Cost Per Point (CPP)
The cost of delivering one rating point. Formula: CPP = media cost/GRPs. A figure used in comparing/evaluating the relative cost efficiency of media (see also Cost Per Thousand).

Cost Per Thousand (CPM)
A figure used in comparing/evaluating the relative cost efficiency of media (see also Cost-Per-Point). The advertising cost of reaching 1,000 readers. (e.g. ABC magazine's Page 4C cost = $25,000. It reaches one million women, aged 35-44. Its CPM for women 35-44 is $25.00).

Coverage
The percentage of a target group reached by a magazine schedule.

Crosstab
A computer analysis that relates the results of a survey question against pre-selected variables, e.g. magazine readership, demographics, product usage, etc.

Demographics
Population or audience characteristics, e.g. gender, age, marital status, head of household, education, income, socio-economic status, region, community size, etc.

Demographic Edition
A special edition of a magazine targeted towards a specific demographic group.

Duplication
The number of readers that two or more magazines have in common. This is often expressed as the percentage of one or both magazine's audience.

Editiorial Environment
The editorial content, subject, tone and philosophy of a magazine.

Effective Frequency
The number of exposures (often 3+) required to achieve breakthrough.

Exclusive Readers
Readers who read one magazine but not another.

Exposure
An individual's contact with a magazine or advertisement.

Frequency
The number of times an audience is exposed to a magazine or to an entire magazine schedule (see also Average Frequency). Also, the period issuance of a publication (e.g. monthly, weekly).

Frequency Distribution
A breakdown of the number of exposures received by a defined target audience.

Gross Rating Points (GRPs)
The sum of the rating points of a media schedule (see Rating Point).

Gross Impressions
The sum of all magazine exposures without regard to duplication.

Index
The percentage above or below the national average; a percent in relation to a norm of 100% (e.g.: 1. A magazine with an index of 145 means that the magazine is 45% higher than the norm; 2. A defined target audience earning an average household income of $65,000, when compared to a national average of $55,000, would index at 118).

In-Home Readers
People who read a magazine in their own home.

Issue Life
The length of time it takes a magazine to be read by the maximum measurable audience.

Magazine Page Exposures (MPX)
The number of times a typical reader sees a typical single page in the average issue of a magazine. On average, magazine readers pick up an issue 3.2 times and open approximately 53% of the pages in that issue each pick up. Therefore, the average page is opened 1.7 times per issue. Source: Magazine Page Exposure, Audits & Surveys, 1983

MagCume PMB
MagCume is the name of the report available through IMS and Telmar which shows how the readership of a PMB measured publication (or group of publications) grows over time. It is used for estimating what proportion of a magazine ad's total exposure is achieved each week through the life of the magazine.

Masthead
The section of a magazine which details such information as title, address, staff.

Mean
The sum of all items divided by the number of items. Also referred to as "average".

Media Imperative
The degree to which users of a particular product skew more towards magazine or television usage: those whose media habits skew to magazines demonstrate a Magazine Imperative; those who skew to television demonstrate a TV Imperative; average users of both media are Dual Users; light users of both media are Light Users. The concept is a valuable tool for media planning because it helps to establish an overall media direction before committing to one or more media.

Median Frequency
The mid-point of a distribution.

Media Quadmap
A two-dimensional graph profiling the media usage (e.g. heavy magazine readers and light TV viewers) of demographic groups, product users, or other qualities.

Net Paid Circulation
The circulation of a magazine which is accounted for by copies paid for either through single copy newsstand sales or through subscription.

Net Reach
Refers to the number or percent of different target individuals exposed to one or more messages of an advertising schedule within a stated amount of time.

Non-paid Circulation
A magazine's circulation which is distributed free of charge to the recipient.

Opportunity To See (OTS)
The exposure to a publication provides an 'opportunity to see' the ads carried.

Optimization
A computer analysis which generates an "optimal" media schedule given a specific set of parameters, i.e., budget level, reach goal, frequency goal, etc.

Out-of-Home Readers
Those people who have read or looked into a magazine outside their own homes.

Pass Along (Secondary) Readers
Readers who obtain the magazine second hand (e.g. from a reception room, from a friend/neighbour, etc.).

Penetration
The degree to which a magazine has achieved coverage of a particular target, expressed as a percentage.

Population
The number of people in the target market.

Position
The location of an ad in a magazine, e.g. inside front cover.

Primary Audience
Those who have read or looked into a magazine obtained by subscription, free by controlled distribution, with the newspaper, or through purchase at a store or newsstand.

Principal Grocery Shopper
The household member(s) who does most of the household grocery shopping.

Print Measurement Bureau (PMB)
A not-for-profit association of publications, advertising agencies, advertisers and other companies involved in the advertising industry. PMB provides information to assist in the buying and selling of print advertising. This information consists of publication readership estimates, exposure to other media, use of products and brands, business purchase influence, lifestyles and attitudes.

Projection
An estimate created by extrapolating the results of a survey to the total universe.

Prototype - Audience
An estimated audience developed in PMB for an unmeasured magazine which is created by using existing data from a measured magazine(s) that may be similar in a variety of ways (e.g. editorially, demographic composition, circulation).

Prototype - Magazine
A mock-up model or example of a magazine issue.

Publishing Frequency
The period of issuance of a publication, e.g. monthly, weekly, etc.

Psychographic
A description of consumers or audience members on the basis of some psychological trait, characteristic of behaviour or lifestyle.

Qualified Circulation
The circulation of a magazine that is sent to specific individuals who elect to receive the publication for free.

Qualitative Readership Measures
In PMB, questions are asked on the degree of involvement with the publication issue under study, including number of occasions looked into, time spent reading, and the degree of interest in the publication in general.

Quintile
The division of a given population into five equal groups ranging from the heaviest to the lightest amount of exposure to the medium.

Rate Card
A published listing of the advertising costs, mechanical requirements, etc. for a magazine.

Rating Point
The reach of 1% of a target audience.

Reach (Average Issue)
Average issue readership expressed as a percentage of the target population.

Reach Curve
The graph of how the audience of a magazine builds over time.

Reach (Schedule)
The net reach of a schedule of magazines expressed as a percentage of the total target.

Reader Interest
A reader's evaluation of degree of interest in a magazine.

Readership
The number of individuals who read or looked into a typical issue of a magazine.

Readers-Per-Copy (RPC)
The average number of readers of a single copy of a magazine. Formula: readership/circulation = RPC.

Recency Planning
The advertising scheduling tactic of providing reach, without regard to frequency, for as many weeks as possible in order to deliver ad messages immediately prior to purchase decisions.

Recent Reading
The readership methodology used by PMB from 2001 and onwards. It is a time-based recall technique which estimates readership without reference to any specific issue. Respondents are shown a prompt card and asked questions to determine when they last read or looked into any copy of the publication being surveyed. Those who claim to have read any issue of the publication during the defined publishing interval are counted as readers. Recent reading is the most widely used readership measurement technique around the world.

Regional Edition
A portion of a magazine's circulation that falls within a certain geographic area (metro area, province, group of provinces) that can be purchased separately from the total circulation.

Return on Investment (ROI)
The sales return on the advertising expenditures invested in media.

Sample Size
The actual number of people who respond to a question or group of questions.

Sampling Error
The possible statistical deviation in the reported finding of media audience research based on a random sample from what might be the actual finding had a complete census been done. Usually reported as "+/- " the reported number.

Schedule
The list of media/magazines to be employed for a brand's advertising campaign.

Single Source Data
Consumption habits for all media and product/service purchase/usage patterns collected from the same sample of respondents.

Single Copy (Sales)
Copies of a magazine which are sold at newsstands, etc., as opposed to by subscription.

Split Run
A scheduling technique whereby two different pieces of copy are run in the circulation of a magazine with no one reader receiving both advertisements.

Spread
A single ad positioned on two facing pages of a magazine.

Subscriber
A person/home that pays in advance to receive a specified number of issues of a magazine delivered to the home, place of work, etc.

Sworn Statement
A notarized statement made by the publisher regarding total circulation, geographic distribution, methods of securing subscriptions, etc.

Target Audience
The population segment identified as comprising the prime prospects for the advertising campaign.

Through-The-Book
An issue-based recognition technique used by PMB from 1973 to PMB 2000 which estimates average-issue audience by aggregating claimed readership of specific issues of a publication. Respondents are asked to leaf through a specific issue of a publication and to identify editorial articles they find of particular interest. After this preliminary examination, respondents are asked whether they have read or looked into that specific issue before. Those who answer positively are counted as readers. Once used in Canada and the U.S., the through-the-book technique is no longer in operation.

Unaided Recall (Spontaneous Recall)
The percentage or number of consumers surveyed who are able to cite a product's name after being requested to cite any and all product names within an advertised category. The term is not only used in connection with brand names. It can also be used in connection with recognition of advertisements, headlines, slogans, etc. Unaided Recall is opposed to Aided Recall which prompts the respondent with the specific names.

Universe
The total group of people reflected by a survey. Often used interchangeably with Population, which is the number of people in the universe.

Unweighted Sample (In-Tab Sample)
The number of completed interviews or respondents to a survey or a question prior to the overlay of survey weightings.

Vehicle
The medium/magazine in which an advertisement is placed.

Volumetrics
The projection of total product usage or spending based on a survey result, e.g., XYZ magazine readers have spent x dollars on home electronics.

Weighting
Weighting is conducted at the data processing stage of a survey in order to restore target sub-groups to their proportion of the population under study.

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