Dictionary of Marketing Terms: average audience (AA) rating
average audience (AA) rating
one of several different kinds of ratings used by Nielsen Media Research Company. It reflects the average size of the audience on a minute-by-minute basis (average size at minute 1, minute 2, minute 3, and so on) throughout the length of a program. This rating is very valuable to an advertiser because it tells most accurately the size of the audience for the advertiser's commercial. The AA rating plays an important role in negotiations between the media buyer and the networks. It is also the number used in computing a program's share of the audience or the cost of reaching 1000 homes (see cost per thousand, abbreviated CPM) with a specific advertising message.
