Media Planning Calculators

Media Planning Made Easy

SRDS Media Planning and Buying Calculators are used to calculate Cost Per Thousand (CPM), Cost Per Rating Point (CPP), ratings, shares, reach and frequency, brand development index, and other formulas used in media planning and buying.

Media Buying Terminology

What are CPM and CPP? What is the difference between reach and frequency? How do they relate to each other? When planning for a media campaign, it’s important to understand these advertising terms.

A man using a calculator to calculate media planning formulas.

Media Planning & Buying Terms

  • Cost Per Thousand (CPM): Used to denote the price of 1,000 advertisement impressions.
  • Cost Per Rating Point (CPP): A measure of cost efficiency that enables you to compare the cost of this advertisement to other advertisements.
  • Rating: The audience of a particular program or station at a specific period of time expressed as a percent of the audience population.
  • Share: The audience of a particular television program or time period expressed as a percent of the population viewing TV at that particular time.
  • HUT (Homes Using Television): Homes using television at a particular time. Expressed as a percent of all TV homes.
  • PUT (Persons Using Television): A percent of all persons in TV homes. PUT combines all persons viewing, rather than reporting specific program viewing.
  • Gross Rating Points (GRP): The sum of the ratings of a specific demographic segment.
  • Reach: The number of different homes or persons exposed at least once to an advertising schedule over a specific period of time. Excludes duplication.
  • Frequency: The number of times that the average household or person is exposed to the schedule.
  • Brand Development Index (BDI): Relates the percent of a brand’s sales in a market to the percent of the U.S. population in that same market.
  • Category Development Index (CDI): Relates the percent of a category’s sales in a market to the percent of the U.S. population in that same market.

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Faster, Easier, and Smarter Media Planning

With SRDS, media brands and buying agencies find everything they need to identify, evaluate, and connect with media owners. Media planners and buyers can easily find media that reaches target markets, evaluate advertising options, make informed decisions, and connect directly with media reps. Discover everything you need to streamline your media buying process. Contact us today to get started.