The future of TV, defined

Welcome to the third edition of our glossary of key terms that people in the TV, streaming and digital video industry use — and, often, misuse. For as much as people continue to use OTT or to act as if CTV and streaming are interchangeable, new terms keep cropping up that can confound and convolute any industry conversation. So here’s the latest guide to what people talk about when they talk about the future of TV.

2024 additions are marked with an *.

*Advanced audiences

What it refers to: Audience targeting that goes beyond TV advertising’s traditional age-and-gender-based targeting to aim ads at audience segments based on criteria such as household income, shopping habits and interests. Also known as strategic audiences and data-driven audiences.

How to use it: Appended with the words “as opposed to demo-based targeting” (or something to that effect) — at least until the binary between broad and narrow targeting fades and it’s all just a single spectrum of addressability.

Example sentence: Sure, we could fill our inventory more easily by sticking with demo-based targeting, but we stand to make more money per impression if we start selling on advanced audiences.

AI

What it refers to: The use of artificial intelligence technology to automate aspects of the production, pre-production or post-production process for shows, movies, videos and commercials. Specifically referring to the use of tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Midjourney, Runway and Eleven Labs that are capable of writing scripts, producing images and videos, as well as recreating people’s voices.

How to use it: Prefaced with “generative” to distinguish from other forms of artificial intelligence.

Example sentence: No, the Wes Anderson AI videos aren’t completely AI generated because a person still had to come up with the prompts to get the generative AI tools to create the clips.

AVOD

What it stands for: Ad-supported video on demand

What it refers to: Video programming, such as TV shows and movies, that can be accessed at any time, are available either for free or a fee, and carry ads that play before, during and/or after the program. AVOD’s distinguishing aspect is that programming is available on demand rather than requiring people to tune in at a given time.

How to use it: With care. Before the rise of FAST services, AVOD was effectively synonymous with ad-supported streaming. Then FAST services came along and split the ad-supported streaming market into two sides — similar to how traditional TV has linear channels and programming available on demand.

But the line between AVOD and FAST is blurring.

A lot of FAST services, such as ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV, have added programming that is available on-demand and carries ads. Meanwhile, originally AVOD services like Amazon’s IMDb TV and Roku’s The Roku Channel have added FAST channels alongside their on-demand programming libraries. In short, only use AVOD when referring to a subsection of the ad-supported streaming market in order to differentiate from the FAST subsection. If the distinction is unnecessary, opt for the umbrella term “ad-supported streaming.”

Example sentence: I’m only interested in buying AVOD inventory because I figure those viewers are more likely to be paying attention when my ad airs.

CTV

What it stands for: Connected TV

What it refers to: TV screens that are connected to the internet. This can be either a smart TV with its own built-in operating system or a regular, “dumb” TV hooked up to an internet-connected device like an Apple TV box, Roku streaming stick or Chromecast dongle. The point is that CTV concerns the TV as a device through which people stream services like Netflix and Disney+ — it is not synonymous with streaming.

How to use it: To refer to the TV screen as an internet-connected device or to refer to the audiences, programming or ads that are accessed through an internet-connected TV screen. Consider CTV to be the TV industry’s analogue to the mobile industry’s smartphone.

Example sentence: I don’t want to watch “House of Dragons” on my laptop, so I’ll stream it through HBO Max’s CTV app.

Currency

What it refers to: The measurement metric(s) used as the basis for transactions between ad buyers and sellers. Historically, this has referred to Nielsen’s Gross Ratings Point metric that gauges how many people may have seen a brand’s ad on TV, but it can also apply to other types of measurement. For example, since Google sells search ads on a cost-per-click basis, clicks are the currency for search advertising.

How to use it: To refer to measurements strictly when a measurement is the metric dictating how much money is to be exchanged between advertisers and media companies or tech platforms.

Example sentence: I don’t care how many people saw my ad. I care how many people purchased my product after seeing my ad, so let’s use sales lift as the currency for this campaign.

FAST

What it stands for: Free, ad-supported streaming TV

What it refers to: Streaming properties that resemble linear TV by carrying channels that air 24/7 based on a set programming schedule, are available for free and feature ads that interrupt the programming.

How to use it: To refer to the subsection of the ad-supported streaming market that mimics pre-DVR broadcast TV. The term FAST can be applied to the services themselves or to individual 24/7 channels that the services carry.

Example sentence: I don’t feel like figuring out what to watch. Just put on a FAST cooking channel so we can start eating.

In-stream video ad

What it refers to: Video ads that are served within a video that a person signaled intent to watch. Examples: pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads.

How to use it: With the words “consumer has requested” firmly memorized so that when someone questions why a pre-roll ad in an autoplay video doesn’t count as in-stream, you can explain the core difference.

Example sentence: We charge more for in-stream video inventory because people are more likely to be paying attention to those ads.

Long-form video

What it refers to: Videos that are more than a minute long and published on horizontal video platforms like YouTube, Facebook and streaming services. Basically any video that doesn’t qualify as short-form video.

As mentioned above, for years long-form video implicitly meant TV-length or longer videos. But then platforms like Vine, Snapchat and TikTok have pulled at the other end of the video spectrum to make 10-minute-long videos feel relatively long. And some TikTok creators even consider plus-60-second-long videos to be long-form. That line of delineation is reinforced by YouTube’s TikTok clone Shorts capping video lengths at 60 seconds, implying that YouTube considers 60 seconds to be the threshold between short-form and not-short-form, which we’ll call long-form (at least for now).

How to use it: With context. Same with short-form video, which is not the same as long-form video.

Example sentence: My long-form video strategy is stitching together a bunch of my TikToks into one video and zooming in to fill the screen horizontally so they look like an episodic TV or YouTube show.

*MVPD/Virtual MVPD

What it stands for: Multichannel video programming distributor

What it refers to: The leading candidate for worst acronym in the industry refers to pay-TV services — e.g. cable and satellite TV services — with “virtual” specifying the streaming versions, e.g. Sling TV and YouTube TV. MVPD is actually a fairly accurate acronym — these services distribute multiple channels that feature video programming — but so do FAST services these days, and the primary distinction between the two is that people have to pay for MVPDs.

How to use it: Don’t. Say “pay TV,” “pay-TV service/provider” or “streaming pay-TV service/provider.”

Example sentence: MVPD sounds like a disease. Do you mean pay TV?

OTT

What it stands for: Over the top

What it refers to: The method of distributing TV shows outside of — or, over the top of — a cable box or satellite dish. At least, that was the original definition. This acronym was introduced to describe TV networks making their programming available on their websites and other digital properties. Eventually, that included Hulu, which was one of the pioneering streaming services and likely a major reason why OTT has become synonymous with streaming and conflated with CTV.

How to use it: Don’t. Repeat: Do not use this acronym. Please. OTT was fine for a time, but that time has passed. As mentioned above, OTT has become synonymous with streaming, so let’s just say streaming instead. That way our friends and family members will know what the hell we’re talking about.

Example sentence: Remember when we used to say OTT? I’m so glad we all just say streaming now.

Out-stream video ad

What it refers to: Video ads that are served to a person who has not signaled intent to watch a video. Examples: standalone video ads that appear within written content, pre-roll ads attached to a video that plays automatically but that is not the primary content a person requested.

How to use it: Same as in-stream video ad explanation.

Example sentence: I can hardly even read the articles on that publisher’s site because of all the out-stream video ads popping up on the page.

Short-form video

What it refers to: Videos that are 10 minutes or shorter in length and published on vertical video platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts — for the most part. If that sounds incorrect, that’s understandable. So let’s spend a lot of time talking about the category of videos that are supposed to be concise.

For years, “short-form” referred to videos that were shorter than half-hour TV episodes and typically meant 10-minute-or-less YouTube videos. Then YouTube creators started making 10- to 20-minute-long videos, which begat the term “mid-form video.” Then Snapchat created a market for sub-10-minute-long vertical videos, and TikTok shrunk the market even more with sub-60-second-long vertical videos.

Because nothing can ever be so straightforward, TikTok and Instagram have been blurring the definition of short-form video by extending TikTok video lengths to 10 minutes and Reels to 15 minutes. But rather than saying, “Screw it. It’s all video,” and sacrificing any shorthand for delineating among different video formats, let’s stick with the historical 10-minute marker and add the vertical format as a filter.

How to use it: With context. If it isn’t already clear, “short-form” is a relative term. A TV or streaming show producer may consider any YouTube video to be short-form, whereas a TikTok creator may consider any YouTube video to be long-form. So rather than use the term “short-form video” on its own, it’s good to cite an example at the same time.

Example sentence: Our short-form video strategy right now is cutting clips from our TV shows and YouTube videos and reformatting them vertically to post to TikTok.

*SSAI

What it stands for: Server-side ad insertion.

What it refers to: A method of programmatically attaching ads to a video when a stream is initiated, as opposed to waiting until an ad break to make the request. Also known as dynamic ad insertion and ad stitching.

How to use it: When someone marvels at the minimal lag when a streaming service cuts to an ad break.

Example sentence: Remember when streams used to buffer before a mid-roll ad would play? SSAI has minimized that latency. [Pause for those listening to marvel at the insight and perhaps cheer].

TV

What it stands for: Television

What it refers to: 1) The large screen(s) in people’s homes through which they watch video programming, ranging from live sports to sitcoms to movies to clips of cats. 2) The video programming that people watch on screens, including, but not limited to, the large screen(s) in their homes.

How to use it: To reflect the convergence between traditional TV and streaming. If a piece of programming can be watched on a TV screen, then it’s TV. Someone who watches a piece of programming or an ad on TV is a TV viewer. An ad that plays on a TV screen is a TV ad.

Admittedly, expanding TV beyond the traditional definition is going to take some time, especially with TikTok having a CTV app so that short-form video can also be considered TV. But if the annual upfront negotiations in recent years are any indication, that broader meaning is gaining traction, especially with digital video platforms like YouTube rivaling Netflix’s TV watch time.

Example sentence: I’m gonna go watch TV now.

*VAST

What it stands for: Video ad serving template

What it refers to: IAB Tech Lab’s framework for attaching information — such as pricing, placement type and creative identifiers — to video ad impressions. Think of it as being like a digital dog tag or microchip for video ads.

How to use it: In appropriate company, such as once another member of the conversation has used the words “bid request.”

Example sentence: If our DSP doesn’t update to VAST 4.3 and add support for the Creative ID framework, we’re gonna drop them.

What we’ve heard

“What we’ve had to balance is our pricing for certain states, such as Montana. We’re charging more for inventory in Montana than inventory in California because there’s a limited amount of streamers and people in Montana.”

— Streaming ad sales executive on managing supply and demand as political advertisers snatch up inventory

Numbers to know

$42.99: The monthly subscription price for Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery’s upcoming sports-centric streamer Venu.

83.6 million: Number of households using Roku’s connected TV platform.

5%: Percentage increase year over year in the total amount of money advertisers committed to spend with Disney in this year’s upfront market.

432 million: Number of people who use Snapchat each day.

-61,000: Number of subscribers in North America that Fubo lost in the second quarter of 2024.

What we’ve covered

The highs and lows of the dominant social media platforms — from Instagram to YouTube:

• Marketers use social media more than other marketing channels.
• Marketers’ use of Instagram, Facebook and YouTube has increased from last year.

Read Digiday’s CMO Strategies report on social media here.

How Twitch CMO Rachel Delphin works to woo livestream creators in a fragmented digital marketplace:

• Twitch has had a challenging last couple of years.
• Delphin discussed the Amazon-owned platform’s brand safety controls.

Listen to the latest Digiday Podcast episode here.

Who funds the Olympics? In Paris, sponsors are taking a bigger role than ever before:

• The International Olympic Committee’s sponsorship revenue is expected to be 60% higher this year than for the Tokyo Games.
• Revenue from commercial sponsors has increased 10 times faster than that from media rights sales.

Read more about Olympics sponsorships here.

Inside the deal structure of Outbrain and Teads’ billion-dollar merger:

• Outbrain’s acquisition of Teads has a price tag of $1 billion.
• Outbrain will pay for the deal in mostly cash plus approximately $169 million worth of stock.

Read more about the Outbrain-Teads deal here.

What we’re reading

Netflix’s new ad prices:

Netflix is dropping its CPMs to under $30 for some inventory as the streamer starts selling ads programmatically, according to Adweek.

MrBeast’s game gone wrong:

Contestants in the YouTube star’s upcoming reality competition show for Amazon Prime Video described conditions on the set of “Beast Games” as dangerous, according to The New York Times.

How sports rights siphon spending:

The skyrocketing amounts of money that TV network and streaming service owners are shelling out for sports rights intersects with companies cutting back on programming spending and could cap any rebound in entertainment programming budgets, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Nvidia’s YouTube scraping:

Add AI chipmaker Nvidia to the growing list of companies found to be scraping videos from YouTube and elsewhere to train its AI video models, according to 404 Media.

TikTok’s children’s privacy problem:

The U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission have filed a lawsuit against TikTok alleging the video platform has not adhered to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by not honoring requests to delete personal information associated with children, according to The Wall Street Journal.