Marketing Glossary

Terms beginning with r

Rate Card

A list of the standard rates for a publication, radio station/network, television station/network, Web site or other advertising vehicle.

Rating Point

One percent of all households viewing (television) or listeners listening (radio) to a particular station at a particular time.

Reach

The number of individuals or households within a specific target audience that sees a particular marketing message. It can be stated as a percentage of the target audience.

Readership

The number of readers of a print ad/publication. ("Print" is a misnomer here as it could refer to either a physical print publication or an online publication that is composed primarily of text and some graphics. However, the term "readership" is usually not used when the media is primarily video.) The term "readership" can be confusing because in some contexts it refers to readership of a publication, while in other contexts it refers to ad readership. Ad readership can be lower than publication readership, particularly if the ad appears in a separate advertising section that some readers bypass. Readership numbers can also vary considerably from subscriber numbers. For example, newspapers are often passed around members of a family. Subscriber numbers count only the number of subscriptions, typically one per family, but readership counts all of the readers in a family. Likewise, business publications sent to offices may be passed around the office. Each copy sent counts as one subscription, but all readers in the office are included in the readership numbers. On the flip side, some publications, particularly free publications, are ignored by their recipients. In these cases, if the numbers are accurate, the readership numbers may be lower than the subscription numbers if there is not a lot of pass-along readership. Because of the nature of what they measure (i.e., not simply a count of the number of copies distributed), readership numbers usually have to be estimated.

Recognition

The ability of an individual to recall an ad or campaign when seeing or hearing it again or upon having it described to him or her.

Registration

The precise alignment of different films or printing plates (color separations) to produce a final printed image

Registration Marks

Small crosshairs on film used to align individual color separations or layers of film negatives when printed.

Remnant Space

Unsold space in a print publication or unsold banner impressions on a Web site. Remnant space is typically sold at a discount to the publication or site's rate card.

Response Rate

Percentage of responses received from a direct marketing campaign (typically the percentage of recipients who responded to a mailing).

Rich Media

On the Web, the term "rich media" differentiates an ad from those created solely with static graphics or simple animations. A rich media ad can include fill-in forms, more complex animations, sound and other devices to capture attention and stimulate interaction.

Roadblock

The simultaneous running of the same television commercial on all stations/networks covering a targeted market so that everyone watching television in that market at that time is guaranteed to see that commercial.

Run of Paper

An ad that can be placed anywhere in a publication at the discretion of the publisher, not the advertiser.

Run of Schedule

A commercial that can be run at any time at the discretion of the station, not the advertiser. (However, the advertiser might be able to restrict the commercial to running within certain time periods, such as anytime Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 4:00pm).

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