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Television Pod Methodology
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Written by Vivvix Support
Updated over a month ago

GLOSSARY

Pod

A group of commercials uninterrupted by program material of significant duration. A "commercial break".

Pod Position

The relative position of one spot to another within a pod

Pod Break

Designates all spots following a promo break or local break

Pod Size

Total number of spots in a pod

Pod Placement

Classification of the pod position into first, first non-promo, middle, last non-promo, last or undefined


POD POSITION REPORTING

Pod Position information always appears in the same relative order, separated by periods. The designation numbers represent “Pod Number / Pod Position / Pod Size”.

A spot with the pod designation of 4.5B.5 indicates the fourth pod in the program, the fifth position in a pod which contained a break, out of a total of five positions, making this spot the last in the pod.


MEDIA

Pod Position is calculated for:

  • Network Television

  • Cable Television

  • Spanish Language Network Television

  • All local television

Local television includes:

  • Spot Television

  • Local clearance of

    • Network

    • Syndication

    • Spanish Language Network Television

Pod position is NOT calculated for National Syndication.


SPOT TYPES INCLUDED IN POD POSITION

Commercials, Public Service Announcements, and Promotionals are all assigned pod positions.

Promotionals may not be visible in all Vivvix products; however, their positions are relevant when calculating pod values.


POD & POD POSITION

Pods are numbered sequentially within each program, beginning with 1.

If a program crosses the end of a broadcast day, the pod numbering will be reset to 1 within the program.

A new pod begins when there is an interval of 125 seconds or more between the end of one spot and the beginning of the next spot.

When there is an interval of less than 125 seconds, the pod position increases within the same pod.

Network Television regional spots that are in the same position in different regions receive sequential position numbers.


POD BREAK

National Television (Network, Cable, Spanish Language Network Television)

When there is an interval of greater than 10 seconds and less than 125 seconds, between the end of one spot and the beginning of the next spot, all spots after the interval are designated with a B pod break indicator.

A spot following an interval of less than 10 seconds does not receive this indicator.

During a 10-to-124 second interval, any of the following may have occurred:

  • An undetermined number of spots aired in local markets

  • Return to program material of short duration

  • Unidentified time (infrequent)

When one or more promotionals appear between commercial or Public Service Announcement spots, all spots following the promotional are designated with a B break indicator.

If there are no commercial or Public Service Announcement spots preceding the promotionals, no break indicator is applied.

During a promotional break, an undetermined number of local spots may have preempted the promotionals on Network affiliates.

Local Television (Spot Television and local clearance of Network, Syndicated and Spanish Language Network Television)

When there is an interval of greater than 10 seconds and less than 125 seconds, between the end of one spot and the beginning of the next spot, all spots after the interval are designated with a B pod break indicator.

A spot following an interval of less than 10 seconds does not receive this indicator.

During a 10-to-124 second interval, either of the following may have occurred:

  • Return to program material of short duration

  • Unidentified time (infrequent)

The promotional break indicator is not applied to local television, since the purpose for the break indicator used for promotionals at the national media level is to designate possible local preemption.


POD SIZE

Pod size is a total of the number of positions in a pod.


POD PLACEMENT

Each spot in a pod is designated with a pod placement in relation to its position in the pod and its position relative to the other spots in the pod:

First

A spot with a pod position of 1.

Last

The last position in the pod, except where a pod contains only one position.

First Non-Promo

A spot that is neither first nor last, and is the first non-promotional spot in a pod in which the first position is a promotional.

Last Non-Promo

A spot that is nether first, last, nor first non-promo, and is the last non-promotional spot in a pod in which the last position is a promotional.

Middle

All other spots that are not first, last, first non-promo or last non-promo.

All spots that are not assigned a position, such as National Syndication spots or those spots in the database prior to the availability of pod information, appear as NA.


If you have any additional questions, you can reach out to your local Vivvix Client Success Manager. Our support team is also available for assistance via email at customersupport@mediaradar.com.

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