Advertiser / Direct marketer: an advertiser or direct marketer is a company that manufactures/sources products then executes an infomercial campaign while retaining ownership in the product sales. The advertiser is distinct from an ad agency which manages media purchasing but has no product ownership.

Affiliate: any online entity that is financially compensated for directing 'trackable' internet traffic to an advertiser's website - usually to a product page or shopping cart.

Airtime: the media time periods a network or broadcast station has available for infomercial placements. Campaign: term used to describe a product's advertising plan and execution, from development, through production and media placement.

Continuity: a DRTV product purchasing program that encourages consumers to purchase the first in a series of products for a lower than normal price, then continue purchasing the entire series for a higher price. Extensively used for music, beauty, diet and self-development products.

Copy: term used by advertisers and agencies to specify the written or spoken words in a commercial. The term "copywriter" is most often used in traditional advertising to denote the writer of copy. In the infomercial industry, the copywriter is more often referred to as a "scriptwriter".

CPO or cost per order: Refers to the television media cost to generate one product order. The figure is determined by taking the cost of a specific infomercial telecast and dividing it by the number of orders received.

Creative: term used to describe the concept and scripting phases of the production process; and/or a person or group of people who is involved in these processes, as in "the creative department".

Customer service: typically a bank of telephone operators who manage the shipping, payment, returns and product use questions from customers. This may also be facilitated by online live-operator chat windows.

DR or direct response: The marketing and sales methodology of bypassing standard retail stores to make a product sale directly with the consumer. e.g. TV, radio, mail, print, catalog and on-line.

DRTV or direct response television: The all inclusive term that describes anything sold directly over television, generally bypassing traditional retail stores. DRTV is comprised of three primary marketing subgroups of short form, long form (infomercials) and live home shopping.

Distributor: Similar to direct marketer, a company that owns the rights to a product or infomercial and finances their own infomercial campaign.

Electronic media: the media of television, radio, fax, phone, kiosks, CD ROM and computers (as distinguished from print and outdoor media.)

FCC: Federal Communications Commission. Government regulatory body that oversees electronic communications, including television.

FTC: Federal Trade Commission: Government regulatory body that oversees commercial advertising and trade practices.

Fulfillment: generally used to describe the warehousing, packaging, labeling, shipping and tracking functions of an infomercial campaign. These responsibilities are typically subcontracted to "fulfillment" company. Some fulfillment houses also offer batch credit card transaction processing and inbound telephone customer service.

Home shopping: a term now used to describe the live, 24 hour per day home shopping networks: HSN, QVC, Value Vision.

Inbound telemarketing: the service provided infomercial marketers of receiving inbound phone calls from viewers who want to order the advertised product or ask for more information.

Infomercial (or long form): any television commercial longer than two minutes - typically just under 30 minutes.

Mark-up: a ratio derived by dividing a product's retail price by its cost. Typically, 5:1 due to high media costs.

Media agency: an infomercial agency that provides media buying and analysis services.

Media: for DRTV, the time that a broadcast/cable network or broadcast station has available to sell.

Merchant account: the agreement between an advertiser and the credit card company responsible for collecting the sale (Visa, Master Card, AMEX, etc.). These may be difficult for new companies to establish because of the inherent risks - often personal guarantees are sought.

Multiple payments: the offer technique of breaking the retail price into smaller amounts to paid in monthly installments via credit card or advertiser sponsored financing. Can boost response by as much as 25%.for high ticket items.

Multiple product offers: the technique of offering 2 or more products in the same infomercial. Risky, give a prospective buyer too much to decide on, they won't decide on anything.

Outbound telemarketing: a service company that contracts with a direct marketer to have trained sales people make telephone calls to the homes or businesses of prospective and targeted product buyers.

Per order: same as per inquiry

PI or per inquiry: The practice whereby e-commerce vendors promote products and are compensated on a commission basis (in the form of a percentage of sales). The online networks become the direct marketers' partner and receive 20 to 35% of total sales generated from their websites. A zero risk proposition for advertisers which leads to an incremental order stream at a fixed CPO.

Producer: the person who is responsible for the organization, management and execution of an infomercial production. Responsibilities include: scheduling, hiring free lance personnel, budgeting, etc.

Returns: the number of units, the dollar amount or the percentage of total sales that are returned to the direct marketer for a refund.

S&H, or shipping and handling: the cost to consumer, stated on the ad or website, which is in addition to the stated product price.

Telemarketing: the use of the telephone to receive and make phone calls to capture sales. TSR or telephone service rep A trained telephone operator making and receiving phone calls to create sales.

Test media: any media time slots where an infomercial has never run before.

Upsell: any product that is additionally offered to a DRTV product purchaser at the time of their initial order.