Glossary

From A for AGF Videoforschung to Z for zapping, the most important technical terms in video research are explained here.

Bandwidth refers to the range of a transmission channel that lies between the lowest and highest frequencies. Information is transmitted in this range via electronic signals. Higher bandwidth makes it possible to transmit a larger quantity of information.

The BIK municipality size classes are a model for classifying municipalities by the number of inhabitants in the respective BIK region (revised Boustedt Urban Regions Model, Boustedt Classes). They serve as the basis for stratifying the sampling system (ADM Sampling System) of GfK.

Blu-ray players are an advancement over DVD players. They are used to play film content on Blu-ray Discs, which can hold much larger quantities of data compared to DVDs and can therefore deliver higher-quality video and audio.

In the transmission of digital television, bouquets describe package offers of several digital programmes which are combined into an overall offer, e.g. in order to manage access rights.

Branded video players refer to an advertising form of non-linear video ads. They are characterized by the fact that the video is enclosed within a frame in which animations or banner ads are displayed. When users click on an ad in the frame, they can be sent directly to the advertiser’s page.

Break bumpers are three- to four-second inserts between ongoing programmes and commercial breaks. They are legally required and serve as an optical demarcation between programming and advertising.

The break number is a number assigned internally by the broadcaster to a commercial break. It is usually consecutive within an hour or a given environment. It is a component of the eight-digit commercial break code.

Broadband refers to the primary technology for accessing the Internet in Germany. Thanks to a relatively fast data transfer rate, connections are established much more quickly than via a modem.

The function of the broadcast master is to assign measured usage to broadcast elements such as programme, advertisement, etc. Components of the broadcast master include the programme directory, rate files and programme codes.

In the AGF system, the broadcast day begins at 3:00 in the morning and lasts until 3:00 the following night. All broadcasts in this time period are given the same calendar date. According to this definition, the date change takes place at 03:00 in the morning. This division, which deviates from the usual calendar, has proved to be expedient for programme and advertising planning because of audience behaviour. This ensures, among other things, that when data is retrieved at night, all data on television usage of the previous television day can be retrieved simultaneously and reported in the morning.

 

In the AGF Panel, build-up refers to increasing the number of panel households. This is done to improve the validity of data at the regional level or to make more cases available for analyzing more deeply sub-divided target groups. In the AGF Panel, the evaluation quality of AGF data for smaller German states is ensured by regionally increasing the number of panel households (= disproportional build-up).