Acronyms, abbreviations and terms in the entertainment industry and their meaning in layman’s terms so you can simply sound like you know what you’re talking about and they’ll think you’re one of them.
At the Fall Digital Hollywood something happened that you seldom see, a moderator that felt that it might be a good idea to have those on the panel explain what they meant by the terms they were using. Often Cloud, SVOD, OEM mean little or nothing to many sitting in on a panel. That’s why we thought it might be interesting to explain some of the abbreviations or terms that you hear being thrown around but have little knowledge of what they actually stand for or mean.
The working definitions are what we heard on various panels, have gathered from working in the industry and are only as accurate as what we have personal knowledge of.
3D: 3D or 3 dimensional, or as called by its distractors 2D with depth. 3D is to get a distinct image into each eye of the viewer. From that point, the viewer’s brain takes over; processing each image in the same, natural way in which it processes the images it receives from the three-dimensional world.
Apps: An abbreviation for application. An app is a piece of software on an operating system such as Android or Apple with a shortcut which links you to hopefully an optimized website. It can run on any smart device, such as your smartphone, tablet, internet connected tv, laptop or your old fashioned computer. This used to be called a widget.
AVOD: Audio video on demand in entertainment or advertising video on demand. The meaning depends who is using the abbreviation or where used when stated, for example, a musician may be talking about audio video on demand in reference to a music video or a studio executive may be talking about advertising video on demand.
Blu-Ray: The name of a optical format that offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and not only high-definition video, but high-definition audio and lossless audio.
Cloud: Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet.) Think of it as a digital locker, it simply means your stuff is going to be somewhere else on a server for you to access instead in your home or on your own device.
CPM: Advertising term for cost per million.
CPT: Advertising term for cost per thousand.
DRM: Digital right management is a term for access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to retain their rights and limit the use of digital content.
DVR: Digital video recorders.
Ecosystem: A community of things that can be linked together to work.
Eyeballs: Term for how many people or eyes are watching the production.
FVOD: Free video on demand.
HD: High definition refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition (SD) video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels (720p) or 1,920×1,080 pixels (1080i/1080p).
Loss Leader: A product produced at a low price (at cost or below cost) to stimulate other profitable shows across an entertainment system. Typically you’ve heard this used in retail applications, and not in the entertainment spectrum. An example of this would be the cost of award winning cable shows such as “Mad Men” or “Boardwalk Empire” which increase the image of a cable channel and increase subscription rates.
MSO: An operator of multiple cable television systems.
OD: On demand
OEM: An original equipment manufacturer.
OTT: Over the top when it comes to monetizing apps for interactive television.
Platforms: All the areas you can put product out on.
SVOD: Subscription video on demand.
Second Screen: Using a second device such as a smartphone, tablet or computer to be interactive with a television show or film production.
Server: A computer, or series of computers, that link other computers or electronic devices together.
Smartphone: High-end mobile phone that combines the functions of a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a mobile phone.
Social Media: Refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue.
Tablet: Tablet-sized computer that also has the key features of a full-size personal computer.
Ultraviolet: The online digital library that frees you to choose how and where you want to enjoy your movies and TV shows.
Unplugged: This means you don’t have cable or satellite.
VOD: Video on demand or audio and video on demand
WOO: Windows of opportunity, the time you have to market the product while it is hot.
While there are far more acronyms then we have placed above we have only went thru the most commonly used that we actually have a firsthand working knowledge of their meanings.