Plain definitions of the terms in a racing sponsorship report, including the ones PitSponsor reports use. Where a term follows a rule, it links to the part of the methodology that sets it.
- Associate sponsor
- A secondary sponsor on a race car, with smaller logo space than the primary sponsor, often on the quarter panels, the nose or the rear. A car usually carries several.
- Assumed audience
- The number of viewers a report's media value is calculated at. It is an assumption, not measured viewership, and reports show five sizes from 25,000 to 200,000 viewers.
- Broadcaster graphics
- The graphics a broadcast lays over the race picture, such as running orders, lineups and sponsor panels. When a graphic carries a sponsor's name or logo, it is a placement of its own.
- Contingency sponsor
- A manufacturer or supplier that pays prize money or product to drivers who run its product and show its decal, usually tied to finishing position. Contingency decals are small and sit low on the car.
- Credited time
- On-screen time that counts under a report's written rules, built from sampled sightings with gaps of 5 seconds or less counted as continuous. Each moment counts once in a sponsor's total.
- Earned media value
- An estimate of what unpaid exposure, such as social media posts or press coverage, would cost if it were bought as advertising. It is an exposure estimate, not a measure of sales.
- Estimated media value
- What comparable advertising exposure might cost to buy, at a stated audience size; also called media equivalency. It is not sales, brand lift or return on the sponsorship.
- Fulfillment report
- A report from a team, track or series to a sponsor showing what the sponsorship delivered against what was agreed, such as logo placements, on-screen exposure, hospitality and activation. It is usually prepared before a renewal.
- Gap bridging
- Counting the time between two sightings of a sponsor as continuous when the gap is 5 seconds or less, at the weaker of the two sightings' tiers. It covers a camera cutting away and back.
- Noise floor
- The smallest logo that earns credit: 0.07% of the broadcast picture. Smaller sightings are not credited, and they end any gap being bridged.
- Placement
- Where a sponsor's logo appears: the race car, trackside signage, a pace vehicle or the broadcaster's graphics. Each placement's time is measured from its own sightings.
- Planning rate
- $0.50 per 1,000 assumed viewers per tier-weighted second, or $15.00 per 30-second equivalent. It is a PitSponsor planning assumption, not a published or negotiated market rate, applied the same way in every report so reports can be compared.
- Planning scenario
- The 50,000-viewer audience a report highlights among its five sizes. It is an assumed planning audience, not measured viewership.
- Primary sponsor
- The main sponsor on a race car, with the largest logo areas, usually the hood and both sides. It usually pays the most of any sponsor on the car.
- Reconciliation
- How a report's placement times add up to the sponsor's total. Time when two or more placements were on screen together is taken out, because each moment counts once, and short cuts between placements bridged under the 5-second rule are added in.
- Sample check
- PitSponsor's review of 60 random credited moments per placement against the recording, checking that each logo is the sponsor's and on the placement named. It is PitSponsor's own review, not an independent audit, and it does not show that every appearance was found.
- Sampled frame
- A frame the detection models examine: every 5th frame of the replay, about six a second at 30 frames per second. A sampled frame in which a logo is found is a sighting.
- Sponsorship recap
- A summary for a sponsor, after an event or a season, of what it received: exposure, activation, hospitality and results. It is often used to mean the same as a fulfillment report.
- Tier
- One of three levels that weight credited seconds in the valuation: Hero (1.16), Standard (1.0) and Incidental (0.5). The tier depends on the logo's Visibility Score, its size and whether it is readable.
- Tier-weighted seconds
- Credited seconds multiplied by their tier weights and added up. It is the time figure the media value formula uses.
- Title sponsor
- The sponsor whose name is part of an event's or a series' name, such as "the Sponsor A 100". Its name can appear in the broadcast's graphics and the announcers' calls as well as on signage.
- Visibility bands
- Labels for ranges of the Visibility Score: Elite 85 and above, High 70–84, Moderate 50–69, Limited 30–49 and Minimal below 30. They help in reading the score and carry no dollar weight.
- Visibility Score
- A 0–100 score for how recognizable and prominent a logo appearance is, combining its recognizability at its size, prominence, visibility, position on screen and sharpness. A report prints it as an average over credited time.