Glossary

Speak the language on day one.

Advertorial / sponsored content: News & print · Paid content made in a publication's editorial style and clearly labelled as sponsored. Agencies work with publisher content teams to tell a brand's story in a format readers value.
Agentic AI: AI · AI systems ("agents") that can plan and carry out multi-step tasks on their own — like pulling data, building reports or adjusting campaigns — with people setting goals and checking the work. Media agencies use agentic AI to speed up planning, optimization and insights, so their teams can focus on strategy and ideas.
AI agents: AI · Individual AI tools that act on a goal, such as monitoring a campaign and flagging issues. Several agents working together make up agentic AI.
AOR: Agency of Record — the agency holding an advertiser's ongoing business.
Attention: Media math · A measure of how much people actually look at or engage with an ad, not just whether it was served. Often reported as attentive seconds per impression or cost per attentive second (CPAS). Formula: Cost ÷ Total attentive seconds. Example: $10,000 ÷ 2,000,000 attentive seconds = $0.005 per attentive second.
Attribution: Working out which channels drove a result.
Bill C-18 / Online News Act: Federal law affecting how platforms compensate news publishers — relevant to Canadian media spend.
Brand equity: Business · The value a brand adds beyond the product itself — why people pay more or choose it first. Built over time by consistent, long-term advertising.
Brand safety: Making sure ads don't appear next to harmful or inappropriate content.
Brand safety & news adjacency: News & print · Making sure ads appear in suitable environments. Media agencies guide clients past blunt keyword blocklists that wrongly avoid all news, so brands keep reaching engaged audiences while supporting quality journalism.
Circulation vs. readership: News & print · Circulation is the number of copies distributed; readership is the number of people who actually read them, usually higher because copies get shared. Agencies plan on readership to understand true reach.
Cost-benefit analysis: Business · Comparing what an option costs with what it is expected to return, to decide whether it's worth doing.
CPC / CPA: Cost per click / cost per acquisition — common performance metrics.
CPM: Media math · Cost per thousand impressions. Formula: (Cost ÷ Impressions) × 1,000. Example: $5,000 for 1,000,000 impressions = $5 CPM.
CPP: Media math · Cost per point — the cost to buy one rating point (1% of the target audience). Formula: Cost ÷ GRPs. Example: $50,000 ÷ 100 GRPs = $500 CPP.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Business math · What it costs to win one new customer. Formula: Total marketing and sales cost ÷ New customers. Example: $100,000 ÷ 2,000 customers = $50 CAC. Healthy brands aim for CLV well above CAC.
Customer lifetime value (CLV): Business math · The total profit a customer brings over their relationship with a brand. Formula: Average order value × Purchases per year × Years retained × Margin.
Data clean room: AI · A secure, privacy-safe environment where brands, agencies and media partners can match and analyze data without sharing personal information.
DSP / SSP: Demand-side platforms (used by buyers) and supply-side platforms (used by publishers).
Dynamic creative optimization (DCO): AI · Technology that automatically assembles and tailors ad versions to each viewer or context, then learns which perform best.
EBITDA: Business math · Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — a common measure of operating profit that CFOs and investors watch closely.
First-party data: Data a brand collects directly from its customers — key as cookies disappear.
First-party data (publisher): News & print · Audience data a publisher collects directly from its readers, such as subscribers and logged-in users. As cookies fade, agencies use it to reach the right people in trusted, privacy-safe ways.
Flowchart: Visual calendar of a campaign's media activity by week and channel.
Frequency: Media math · The average number of times someone who was reached saw the ad. Formula: GRPs ÷ Reach (%).
Generative AI (GenAI): AI · AI that creates new content — text, images, video, audio — from a prompt. Agencies use it to speed up research, concepting and versioning, guided by strategists and creatives.
Growth levers: Business · The main ways a company can grow: win new customers (penetration), get existing customers to buy more (frequency), raise prices, or enter new markets.
GRPs / TRPs: Media math · Gross (or Target) Rating Points — total weight of a campaign. Formula: Reach (%) × Average frequency. Example: 50% reach × 4 frequency = 200 GRPs.
Hallucination: AI · When an AI tool confidently produces something false or made up. A key reason agencies keep experts reviewing AI output.
Holding company: Global groups that own many agencies, e.g. Publicis, WPP, Omnicom, Dentsu, IPG, Havas.
Human-in-the-loop: AI · Keeping people involved to guide, check and approve AI work. Central to how media agencies use AI responsibly.
Hypothesis-driven thinking: Business · Start with a likely answer, then test it with data, instead of analyzing everything first. Speeds up problem solving.
Incrementality: Media math · The extra results caused by advertising that wouldn't have happened otherwise, usually measured by comparing an exposed group to a holdout (control) group. Formula: (Test result − Control result) ÷ Control result.
Insert / pre-print (flyer): News & print · A printed piece delivered inside a newspaper or to homes. Still a major driver for Canadian retailers, and agencies plan it alongside digital flyers to move shoppers to stores.
KPI / OKR: Business · Key performance indicators track results; objectives and key results pair a goal with measurable outcomes.
Large language model (LLM): AI · The technology behind tools like ChatGPT and Gemini: models trained on huge amounts of text to understand and write language.
Machine learning in bidding: AI · Automated bidding inside platforms (e.g. Google Performance Max, Meta Advantage+) that adjusts bids in real time. Agency experts set the strategy, inputs and guardrails that make it work.
Market share: Business math · A brand's portion of total category sales. Formula: Brand sales ÷ Total category sales × 100. Often compared with share of voice.
Marketing mix modelling (MMM): Business math · Statistical analysis that estimates how much each channel, price and other factors contributed to sales, used to decide where the next dollar should go.
MECE: Business · "Mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive" — a consulting way of breaking a problem into parts that don't overlap and together cover everything.
Media inflation: Business · The year-over-year rise in media costs. Planners factor it into budgets so the same budget doesn't buy less.
Media plan: The media agency's strategic blueprint for a campaign. Built on audience insight and business goals, it sets the strategy — who to reach, what role each channel plays and how success is measured — then details where, when and how much to invest to deliver the strongest results.
North Star metric: Business · The single measure that best shows whether a business or campaign is succeeding, used to keep teams focused.
Opportunity cost: Business · What you give up by choosing one option over another. Example: money spent on one channel can't be spent on another.
Pitch / RFP: Competitive process where agencies vie for a client's business.
Predictive modelling: AI · Using data and machine learning to forecast outcomes — like which audiences will respond or how a budget shift will change results — so agencies can plan smarter.
Procurement: Business · The client team that manages buying from suppliers, including agencies. They often lead pitches and fee negotiations.
Profit margin: Business math · The share of revenue a company keeps as profit. Formula: Profit ÷ Revenue × 100. Example: $2M profit on $10M revenue = 20% margin.
Programmatic: Automated, data-driven buying of digital ad space.
Prompt engineering: AI · Writing clear instructions for AI tools to get accurate, useful results. A fast-growing skill on agency teams.
Pyramid principle: Business · Lead with the answer, then give the supporting arguments, then the data. The standard way to structure recommendations for senior leaders.
Reach: Media math · The percentage (or number) of a target audience exposed to an ad at least once. Formula: GRPs ÷ Frequency.
Responsible AI / AI governance: AI · Using AI in ways that are ethical, transparent, fair, private and accountable, with clear policies and human oversight. CMDC has set out Responsible AI principles for Canada's media agency industry. Read CMDC's Responsible AI principles ↗
Retail media: Advertising sold by retailers on their sites, apps and in stores, using shopper data.
ROAS: Media math · Return on ad spend. Formula: Revenue from ads ÷ Ad spend. Example: $40,000 revenue on $10,000 spend = 4:1 ROAS.
Share of voice (SOV): Media math · A brand's portion of total advertising in its category. Formula: Brand spend (or impressions) ÷ Total category spend × 100. Example: $2M of a $10M category = 20% SOV.
Shareholder value: Business math · The value a company delivers to its owners through profit growth, share price and dividends. Media leaders connect marketing investment to revenue, margin and long-term brand value to show how advertising grows shareholder value.
Synthetic audiences / synthetic data: AI · AI-generated audience profiles or data that mimic real people, used to test ideas and plans quickly while protecting privacy.
Total addressable market (TAM): Business math · The full revenue opportunity if a product won every possible customer in its market.
Trusted news environments: News & print · Credible, professionally edited publishers. Ads placed there tend to earn more attention and trust, which is why agencies build them into plans that need brand lift.
Upfronts: Annual broadcaster presentations where TV inventory is sold in advance.
Value creation: Business · How an activity increases a company's worth — through more revenue, lower costs or reduced risk. Media leaders frame their plans in these terms for the C-suite.

“

Learn the language of media and business. When you can talk about results the way clients do, you become a true strategic partner.

Name (placeholder)

Chief Strategy Officer, CMDC Board Member