Out of Home Advertising Glossary: 40 Terms Buyers Actually Encounter. Plain-English definitions of the out of home advertising terms that appear on proposals, contracts, and media plans, from flight and face to CPM and posting date.
Out of home has its own vocabulary, and most of it appears for the first time on a proposal a buyer is about to sign. This glossary covers the terms that actually show up in mall and billboard paperwork, with the practical meaning rather than the textbook one.
Keep it open next to your first proposal. If a term on your contract is not here, ask your rep to define it in writing before signing.
Buying and scheduling terms
These are the words that determine what you are buying and when it runs. Getting them wrong is the most common cause of a campaign starting late.
- Flight: the run period of a campaign, most commonly four weeks in mall media
- Posting date: the day creative is installed and the flight officially starts
- Face: a single advertising surface; a two-sided unit has two faces
- Unit: one bookable placement, which may include one or more faces
- Showing: a package of units sized to deliver a target level of market coverage
- Loop: the rotation on a digital screen; your spot appears once per loop
- Share of voice: the percentage of a digital loop your creative occupies
- Make-good: replacement exposure offered when a unit runs short or fails
Audience and measurement terms
These terms decide how performance is described and compared. They are also where most inflated claims hide, so it pays to know exactly what each one counts.
- Impressions: counted exposures to a unit over a period
- Reach: the number of unique people exposed at least once
- Frequency: the average number of exposures per person reached
- CPM: cost per thousand impressions, the standard comparison metric
- Dwell time: how long the audience remains in view of the placement
- Trade area: the geographic zone a property or unit realistically draws from
- Circulation: the volume of traffic passing a unit, before visibility adjustment
- Attribution: linking exposure to a measurable outcome such as a store visit
Production and installation terms
Production is a separate cost line from media and a separate deadline. Missing a production spec is the fastest way to lose the first week of a flight.
- Substrate: the physical material an ad is printed on
- Bleed: extra artwork beyond the trim line so no white edge appears
- Live area: the safe zone where copy will not be cut off or obscured
- Vinyl: common flexible substrate for banners and wraps
- Backlit: a translucent print lit from behind inside a light box
- Wrap: creative applied to a three-dimensional surface such as an escalator or column
- Install window: the scheduled period when crews mount the creative
- Removal: taking down creative at flight end, sometimes billed separately
Contract terms
The contract language determines what happens when something goes wrong. Read these clauses before the rate.
- Rate card: published pricing before negotiation and volume discounts
- Net rate: what you actually pay after discounts and agency commission
- Cancellation clause: notice required to end a commitment early
- Renewal option: right to hold a unit for a following flight at agreed terms
- Preemption: property's right to reassign inventory under stated conditions
- Approval: property sign-off on creative before production
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a flight in out of home advertising?
A flight is the campaign run period. In mall media a standard flight is four weeks, and rates are usually quoted per unit per flight.
What does CPM mean?
Cost per thousand impressions. It lets you compare the efficiency of very different placements, though it should never be the only comparison you make.
What is the difference between reach and frequency?
Reach is how many different people saw the ad. Frequency is how many times the average person saw it. Mall media tends to deliver high frequency within a focused reach.
Is production included in the media rate?
Usually not. Printing, materials, and installation are typically a separate one-time cost on static formats.
MallAds.com is a division of Sullivan Media, Inc. We have spent more than 20 years placing brands inside America's shopping centers and along the roads that lead to them, with access to advertising in over 1,700 malls plus billboard placements nationwide. Tell us your market, audience, and budget and we will build the plan around them.