Glossary
From A for AGF Videoforschung to Z for zapping, the most important technical terms in video research are explained here.
The p-value is the proportion that a person has seen of an element, such as a programme/commercial break/time interval. It is defined as the quotient of PIN and duration of the element.
The p-value method is one of two processing methods which the user can select for special analyses in the AGF evaluation software. Under this method, the individual market share/viewing duration of the persons watching a programme is considered. Each person is counted by the percentage corresponding to their viewing duration in relation to the programme duration (= p-value).
PAL is an acronym that stands for Phase Alternating Line. It refers to a method for the transmission of color pictures in analog television. It is often equated with the TV standard under which 25 frames per second are transmitted with approximately 400,000 pixels per frame divided into 625 lines.
The panelists of the Desktop Panel and Mobile Panel act as donors whose streaming usage is transferred to the recipients in the TV Panel. Due to the considerably higher number of cases of streaming users in the Desktop Panel and Mobile Panel compared to the TV Panel, the TV Panel is “boosted” for the fusion: Each TV Panelist is technically increased by a factor of approximately nine. To ensure that the TV reach values remain the same, the weight of the boosted panelists is divided by nine in compensation.
Panel fluctuation refers to the replacement of persons or households resulting from entries to and exits from the AGF panel. A distinction is made between “natural “ panel fluctuation in which no interventions are made to the entries or exits of panel members and “artificial” panel fluctuation which is deliberately employed to achieve a replacement of panel households. Household participation in the AGF panel is not limited in time; artificial panel fluctuation takes place only in special cases.
Participation weighting is needed for the calculation of longitudinal analyses such as the cumulation and frequency analysis in which the viewing behavior of individual persons over a longer period of time is analyzed. All households and persons who have delivered data at least once are included in the analysis. The more continuous the data delivery, the higher the participation weight. Thus, households and persons who have delivered data for only a short time have less influence on the analysis results.
Pay-TV refers to fee-based television programmes that are transmitted under encryption and can only be used with permission. The programmes are offered within the framework of a subscription to a pay-TV broadcaster.
pc#tv is a former evaluation software of AGF developed by GfK Fernsehforschung that was used from 1985 to July 2009. The software covered the areas of reporting and standard analyses.
pc#tv analyse is a former evaluation software by AGF. In contrast to pc#tv, pc#tv analyse was able to carry out special analyses to examine audience growth, audience identities, audience movements and audience constellations, among other things.
The performance determination procedure determines the perspective with which usage transactions are attributed to evaluation elements in the performance calculation. Depending on the evaluation type, in the market standard TV the procedures product reference and recipient reference are available for selection, in the market standard video the procedures product reference and usage reference.
- Product-related view: Non-linear usage is attributed to the analysed TV product according to content within predefined matching periods. In TV evaluations, all time-delayed (up to three days after broadcast) usage processes are attributed to the performance of the evaluation element. In the case of TV convergence evaluations, streaming usage that occurs by default 14 days before to 13 days after the broadcast of the TV programme is additionally matched. The weighting is subordinate to the day of the product broadcast.
- Usage-based analysis: The method focuses on the time of usage. In the analysis of time intervals, offer units and programme brands, all usage processes for the analysed period are added to the performance values of an evaluation element. The decisive factor is the time of use, regardless of whether it is linear or non-linear use. In the case of broadcast-related evaluations (TV, TV convergence), the attribution of performance is analogous to the product reference (TV usage +3 days, streaming usage -14/+13 days in the default), but calculated true to the usage day, with the respective daily weights of the usage day. The average weight as a central component of a usage-day-based calculation results on the basis of the respective usage days of the users.
- Recipient-based consideration: This procedure is still available exclusively in the market standard TV for the analysis of TV time intervals. The calculation is carried out in the same way as for the usage-based approach, in that all usage events for the analysed period are added to the performance values of an evaluation element. When determining p-values and facts dependent on them, it works with the model of the common utilisation share, which is no longer used in the utilisation-based procedure. This perspective is not available in the planning systems.
Person log-in is a method for determining which persons in a panel household are watching TV. This is done by means of a special remote control device in which a personal button is assigned to each member of the household. The viewer can “log in” as watching television by simply pressing a button and then log out by pressing the same button again. This makes it possible to measure PIN data. Guests log in and out by pressing a separate button on the remote control. When they log in, they enter their age and sex.
Piggyback programmes refer to different programmes that are transmitted by a broadcaster on a partially used frequency of another, legally independent broadcaster.
PIN is an German abbreviation for person-specific data and includes the number of seconds a person has watched an element, e.g. a programme, a commercial break or a predefined time interval.
The PiP function of a TV set makes it possible to change to another channel displayed in a small preview picture without interrupting the first programme. Either a second AV source or a second tuner is needed to display the second picture.
Pixels refer to individual picture elements which make up a television picture. The higher the number of pixels, the sharper the television picture or the higher the resolution.
PLAN TV is an AGF evaluation software developed by DAP GmbH for the planning of advertising campaigns. This software mainly serves the purpose of the comparative assessment of campaigns and the identification of alternative plans. However, it can also be used to estimate the costs of a media plan and to perform an ex-post evaluation of plans that are already in progress. PLAN TV works on the basis of the data of the AGF Panel and makes it possible to plan by months and calendar weeks. Any month for which information on commercial breaks and prices is available can be planned. Performance values are calculated on the basis of average usage values in the past.
Platform access means paid access to additional offerings of platform operators and distribution companies.
This term does not refer to the basic digital packages of cable network operators and the HD+ offerings of satellite operators
The platform study is a separate study commissioned by the AGF, which twice a year - on 01/01 and 01/07 - provides current specifications on the potential and distribution of households with access to a platform in the Federal Republic of Germany. The study is conducted by Kantar Deutschland GmbH and serves as an external specification for the structural panel control as well as for the weighting and updating of the platform households. Since 2020, the platform study has also functioned together with agma's "Potential Study" as part of the AGF external target study AGF Video Potentials.
Podcasts are regular audio broadcasts (rarely video broadcasts) that can be consumed online anywhere - e.g. on smartphones, tablets or laptops - regardless of the time of the actual broadcast.
see Universe
Post-rolls are online ad spots that run after the video content. As a sub-category of linear video ads, they never run concurrently with the video content.
The potential indicates the size of a target group in the universe. It can be calculated as an absolute number in millions or as a percentage of the universe. In the AGF Panel, the potential is calculated as the sum of the weighted average of a target group on which an evaluation is based and is expressed as a percentage of the universe.
Pre-rolls are online ad spots that run before the actual video content. As a sub-category of linear video ads, they never run concurrently with the video content.
The price group determines the ad spot price in the commercial break. It is subordinated to the rate type and is a component of the eight-digit commercial break code.
Profile analysis describes the users or non-users of a programme or time interval in terms of the characteristics of the Structural Survey (e.g. socio-demographic characteristics, consumption habits or purchase intentions). It therefore provides an overview of user profiles.
A programme brand is a video aggregate that combines all videos with the same content, similar content and thematically related videos (broader: content) of serial/frequently recurring formats under one brand umbrella across platforms. The programme brand can therefore be understood as the sum of all video content of a specific offer of a video provider that is associated with a brand name.
The programme coding of AGF is a content-analytical instrument for coding all programmes of participating broadcasters. Programme coding makes it possible to conduct comparative programme category-specific analyses.
The programme log is the second-by-second account of the transmission sequence of a certain broadcaster on a broadcasting day. Among other details, it reports the beginning and end time of each broadcast programme and the duration and title of the programme. This makes it possible to assign the second-by-second measurement of usage of a specific programme or commercial break.
see PIN
Publisher is the content-related designation of a video content provider. The publisher is maintained by way of the providers’ content management systems. Publisher names are harmonized by means of standardizing different spellings.
The push-button method is based on the principle of active meter measurement. It makes it possible to identify persons by way of the person-specific buttons on the remote control device of the measurement system, which are used to log in and log out of the system.