A table full of abbreviations looks intimidating, but you can get to grips with it in a single evening. Here are the main metrics explained in plain words.
TV campaign reports are often accepted as a formality: you skim the columns, see lots of decimals, nod and sign. That’s a pity, because this is where the answer to every marketer’s main question lies: did the money invested bring results or was it simply spent?
Below is a short glossary of media terms. No complicated maths, just what will help you discuss results with your agency as an equal partner.
Airtime volume: spots, minutes and channels
Let’s start with the simplest. A spot is one airing of a commercial. Minutes are the total duration of all airings combined. Channels is the number of TV channels where the placement ran.
These three describe how much airtime was bought. They’re useful to know, but you can’t draw conclusions about results from them. A hundred airings on a channel almost nobody switches on and a hundred airings on the most popular broadcaster look the same in the table, even though their consequences are completely different. To see the difference, you need a measure of weight.
GRP’s: the real measure of campaign weight
GRP (Gross Rating Point) is the sum of rating points gained by all airings. This metric answers not the question of how many times the commercial was run, but how many contacts with the target audience it produced. A commercial on a high-rating channel brings many points; on an unpopular one, almost none.
That’s why GRP’s, rather than the number of airings or the amount spent, is the best indicator of how effective the placement was. If a contractor talks at length about the number of spots but skirts around rating points, it’s worth asking follow-up questions.
Reach and frequency: breadth versus depth
Reach shows how many different people saw the ad at least once. Frequency is how many times on average each of them saw it. Put simply, GRP’s are obtained by multiplying these two values.
This means the same weight can be achieved in different ways. You can appear once or twice in front of a very wide audience, which is good for launching a new product. Or you can remind a narrow group about yourself many times, which reinforces the message among those who have already heard of you. The campaign’s objective determines which option to choose, and in a sound media plan this choice is always justified.
SOV and SOS: who won the category
SOS (share of spend) reflects what part of all advertising spending in your category your investment accounted for. SOV (share of voice) is what part of the category’s total on-air presence in GRP’s you occupied. You can’t get these figures from your own report: you need data on all competitors, which is collected through advertising monitoring in Tajikistan.
The most interesting thing is the ratio between the two. When share of voice noticeably exceeds share of spend, the brand received more attention than it paid for, which is a sign of skilful planning and buying. The opposite means the money was spent less efficiently than by others in the category. This pair of metrics often says more about the quality of the work than all the other columns of the report.
Comparison with the plan
A complete report contains not only the final figures but also a comparison with what was planned. The point is not to find someone to blame but to understand who benefited from the deviations. If the campaign received extra bonus airtime or saved money while keeping its weight, the discrepancies worked in the advertiser’s favour.
A quick cheat sheet
- Spots, minutes, channels: the volume purchased. A starting point, but not yet a result.
- GRP’s: the actual weight of the placement and the main metric worth asking about every time.
- Reach: how many people saw the commercial; frequency: how many times on average.
- SOV and SOS: share of voice and share of spend; if the first is higher, the budget performed well.
- Plan versus actual: in whose favour the deviations turned out.
Reading such a document isn’t nitpicking but a normal way of understanding what you’re buying and what you get in return. A marketer who asks precise questions usually gets better work from contractors too.
Want transparent airtime reporting?
SKY Central Asia plans TV campaigns based on ratings and tracks commercial airings. Tell us about your task and we’ll discuss how to set up the placement and reporting.
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