A Glossary of TV Terms

Do you know your ARPU from your MVPD? Your TVE from your MAU? If not - don’t worry! Courtesy of Drive, whose The New Buyers Report is available for free download here, we round up some of the most common TV industry acronyms, so you can nod along in confidence on that next Zoom call.

A-la-carte: Pay-TV channels or streaming services which are not part of a channel bundle but are available as a separate purchase instead and normally require no sell-through.

Affiliate / Carriage Fees: The share of revenues from third party subscriptions. This indicates both the content owner’s ability to negotiate carriage on a per-subscriber basis, as well as the overall health of the pay-TV subscription business model.

ARPU – Average Revenue per User: A measure of how much revenue the service or company generates from an average user. It will indicate the success of a-la-carte upsell as well as which tier consumers are tending towards.

AVOD – Advertising Video on Demand: A streaming service which creates revenue by running video or banner ads.

BVOD – Broadcaster Video on Demand: A streaming service (predominantly ad-funded) that serves as the online counterpart to broadcaster channels.

Content Sales: Direct content monetization of assets, which includes wholesale rights deals as well as VOD and EST, but does not include theatrical revenue. It is often indicative of content ‘value’.

DAI – Dynamic Ad Insertion: The technology which allows the insertion of advertising into a video feed. While originating online, deployment of DAI via STBs can allow the insertion of postcode or individually targeted advertising into a linear feed.

D2C – Direct to Consumer: A service that sells content directly to consumers OTT, bypassing traditional licensing and pay TV avenues.

DTH – Direct to Home: Distribution of channels (free or pay) via satellite.

DTT – Digital Terrestrial Television: Distribution of channels (typically free-to-air) using radio frequencies through terrestrial space. A TV antenna or aerial is required in order to receive the TV signal. DTT is the foundational distribution method for the UK television market, reaching more than 98% of the population.

GLOSSARY

EST – Electronic Sell-Through, purchase of online video content. FTA – Free to air: Television that is free at the point of

consumption. Normally funded by advertising.

IP - Intellectual Property: A property which is the result
of a creative process, can be protected with patents and copyrights. In media, it indicates ownership of final copy, other versions and potential related projects.

IP - Internet Protocol: A term used to refer to content delivery using packet-based internet protocol, can be via unmanaged networks (OTT) or managed networks (IPTV).

IPTV – Internet Protocol Television: The delivery of video content using internet protocol (IP) via a managed network, similar to cable. Normally the network operator will dedicate a portion of bandwidth to ensure that a video stream is always available.

Linear TV – The traditional TV broadcast system, where TV programming is delivered according to a set schedule.

MAU – Monthly Active User: A consumer using the service to consumer content at least once per month. This is often used as a KPI and is a simple measure of a service’s user growth.

MCN – Multichannel Network: A company that works with digital channel owners (e.g. YouTube) to manage advertising, content, promotion and rights. Notable MCNs include Maker Studios and AwesomenessTV.

MVPD – Multichannel Video Programming Distributor: An operator of a traditional pay-TV platform, most commonly used in US markets as a catch-all term for DTH, Cable and IPTV platforms.

OTT – Over the Top: The delivery of a channel via the internet, i.e. via an unmanaged network, rather than managed such as in IPTV.

PSB – Public Service Broadcaster: A company that operates television channels which have a public service remit – i.e. providing quality and educational programming, while stimulating the local TV production economy.

QoQ – Quarter-on-quarter: When comparing time series data, QoQ is used when the two datapoints being compared relate to two subsequent quarters.

SVOD – Subscription Video on Demand: A subscription service which allows access to VOD library or near-live video delivered via IP. Note near-live video differs from broadcast TV as the stream must be requested from the server.

TVE – Television Everywhere, also known as authenticated VOD, is a feature which allows a consumer to access content on- demand via IP if they also subscribe the linear version of the channel or service. Examples include Sky Go in the UK and HBO GO in the US.

TVOD – Transactional Video on Demand: The rental of online video content.

UGC – User Generated Content: Content created by individuals or non-professional users of video platforms, makes up the majority of YouTube content.

vMVPD – Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributor: An aggregated set of channels, largely akin to traditional pay-TV services, but delivered OTT without the need for a dedicated STB.

VOD – Video on Demand: A term traditionally used to mean online rental of content but is now more commonly used as a catch-all term for all types of business model delivering content via open internet (SVOD, TVOD, EST, AVOD, VOD).

w/t – Working title: A term to denote that the current name of a programme has not been finalised and may therefore change before the programme is released.

YoY – Year-on-Year: When comparing time series data, YoY is used when the two datapoints being compared relate to two subsequent years.