Glossary

A practical glossary for growth and platform teams. Find plain‑language definitions with why they matter, benchmarks, and how we apply them across SEO, Lifecycle/CRM, E‑commerce, Platform (broadcast/OTT), and Infrastructure & IT (SRE/ITSM/DevOps).

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  • Use the A–Z index for quick jumps when you know the term name.
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A

AAA / RADIUS

Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting services (commonly via RADIUS) for broadband subscribers.

Why it matters: Controls network access policies and enforces provisioning rules automatically.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

Targeted marketing approach focused on specific high-value accounts.

Why it matters: Improves conversion for enterprise sales cycles.

Adaptive Bitrate (ABR)

Streaming technique that switches between quality levels dynamically based on network conditions.

Why it matters: Maintains playback quality without buffering when bandwidth fluctuates.

Add‑to‑Cart Rate (ATC)

Share of sessions that add at least one product to cart.

Why it matters: Leading indicator of PDP/PLP effectiveness.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Yearly subscription revenue from active customers.

Why it matters: Key SaaS growth metric for scaling businesses.

Attribution

Process of assigning credit to marketing touchpoints that lead to conversions.

Why it matters: Enables accurate budget allocation and optimization decisions.

Audit

Comprehensive assessment of current state across technical, content, and performance dimensions.

Why it matters: Identifies opportunities and establishes baseline metrics.

AV1

Next-generation video codec with high compression efficiency.

Why it matters: Delivers high-quality streams at lower bitrates, reducing bandwidth costs.

Average Order Value (AOV)

Average revenue per order.

Why it matters: Small AOV lifts compound revenue.

B

Backlog

Prioritized list of experiments, improvements, or work items to be executed.

Why it matters: Maintains focus and ensures high-impact work gets done first.

Billing

Charging customers for services on a schedule (prepaid, postpaid, or hybrid).

Why it matters: Cash flow, compliance, and customer experience.

Blackout

Rights‑based or geographic restriction that blocks content delivery to certain audiences.

Why it matters: Ensures compliance with licensing and regional regulations.

Bouquet (Channel Package)

Group of channels bundled together for pricing and offers.

Why it matters: Enables flexible packaging, promotions, and regional offers.

Business-to-Business (B2B)

Companies that sell products or services to other businesses.

Why it matters: Focuses on longer sales cycles, ABM, and account expansion.

C

Canonical

Preferred URL for duplicate or variant pages.

Why it matters: Consolidates ranking signals and avoids duplication.

Cart Abandonment

When shoppers add items to cart but leave without completing checkout.

Why it matters: Reducing abandonment directly lifts conversion and revenue.

Cart Abandonment Rate (CAR)

Share of carts that do not complete checkout.

Why it matters: Reducing abandonment directly lifts conversion and revenue.

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Executive responsible for marketing strategy, growth, and brand performance.

Why it matters: Primary stakeholder for GrowthLab™, Commerce Engine™, and Growth Scan™ programs.

CMAF

Common Media Application Format.

Why it matters: Low‑latency streaming compatibility.

Commerce Engine™

Ridsys conversion & retention engine.

Why it matters: Automated lifecycle and CRO.

Conditional Access System (CAS)

Controls subscriber access to encrypted TV content.

Why it matters: Protects premium content and monetization.

Consent Mode

Consent-aware data collection and messaging.

Why it matters: Respects privacy and keeps signals clean.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Distributed network of cache servers that deliver video and assets close to viewers.

Why it matters: Improves streaming performance, reduces latency, and absorbs peak load.

Conversion Rate (CR)

Percentage of visitors who complete a purchase.

Why it matters: Primary efficiency metric for the store.

Conversion Rate (CVR)

Percentage of visitors who complete a desired action (purchase, signup, etc.).

Why it matters: Primary efficiency metric for funnels and campaigns.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Systematic improvements to increase the percentage of visitors who convert.

Why it matters: Lifts revenue by improving funnel efficiency.

Conversions API (CAPI)

Server‑side events for ad platforms.

Why it matters: Improves attribution and optimization quality.

Core Web Vitals (CWV)

Google’s user experience metrics for loading, interactivity, and visual stability.

Why it matters: Better UX improves ranking potential and conversion.

Benchmarks: Good: LCP < 2.5s, INP < 200ms, CLS < 0.1

Cross‑sell

Suggesting complementary products during browse or checkout.

Why it matters: Lifts basket size and AOV.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Visual stability metric.

Why it matters: Layout shifts frustrate users.

Benchmarks: Good < 0.1

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Total cost to acquire a new customer.

Why it matters: Guides marketing spend efficiency and profitability.

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

System that unifies first‑party customer data for activation.

Why it matters: Enables accurate segments, triggers, and measurement.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Tooling and processes to manage customer interactions.

Why it matters: Coordinates sales/support data with lifecycle messaging.

D

Deliverability

Inbox placement health driven by domain reputation and sending practices.

Why it matters: Poor deliverability kills revenue from email/SMS.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Content protection for video.

Why it matters: Protects OTT monetization.

Direct-to-Consumer (D2C)

Brands that sell directly to consumers without intermediaries.

Why it matters: Enables control over customer experience and data.

Dispatch

Assigning work to technicians with the right skills and location.

Why it matters: Reduces time to fix and travel overhead.

Double Opt‑in

Confirming subscription via follow‑up, reducing spam complaints.

Why it matters: Improves list quality and deliverability.

Dunning

Automated reminders and actions to recover failed or overdue payments.

Why it matters: Improves collections while reducing churn.

E

Edge Cache

Distributed caching layer close to viewers.

Why it matters: Cuts latency and stream rebuffering by serving assets near the edge.

Electronic Program Guide (EPG)

Schedule metadata for TV channels and programs.

Why it matters: Enables channel guides and time‑based navigation.

Enterprise

Large organizations with multi-region operations, complex governance, and established teams.

Why it matters: Requires alignment, standardization, and scalable experimentation frameworks.

Entitlements

Rules that map subscribers to content rights and packages.

Why it matters: Guarantees only paying viewers or regions can access premium streams.

Error Budget

Allowance for downtime or failures within an SLO window.

Why it matters: Balances release velocity with reliability by making risk explicit.

Experimentation

Systematic testing of hypotheses to validate improvements and learn what works.

Why it matters: Reduces risk and compounds learnings over time.

F

Fair Usage Policy (FUP)

Policy that throttles or caps usage once subscribers hit defined thresholds.

Why it matters: Prevents abuse and keeps network performance predictable.

FinOps

Cloud financial operations.

Why it matters: Controls cost without blocking velocity.

Fire TV

Amazon’s streaming platform (Fire TV Stick / Cube).

Why it matters: Common device footprint for OTT apps in emerging markets.

First Contact Resolution (FCR)

Share of issues resolved in the first interaction.

Why it matters: Improves customer satisfaction and reduces costs.

Frequency Cap

Limit on messages per user over time.

Why it matters: Prevents fatigue and unsubscribes.

G

GitOps

Ops driven by Git pull requests and CI/CD.

Why it matters: Auditability and safe changes.

Governance

Framework for decision-making, standards, and oversight across teams and regions.

Why it matters: Ensures consistency, compliance, and scalable operations.

Growth Scan™

Fast diagnostic audit covering SEO, speed, UX, content, security, and commerce readiness.

Why it matters: Gives teams a quantified starting point and prioritised opportunities before deeper programs.

GrowthLab™

Ridsys experimentation framework.

Why it matters: Systematic marketing experiments.

H

Headend

Central facility where channels are received, processed, and packaged for distribution.

Why it matters: Single control point for ingest, transcoding, and packaging.

Headless Commerce

Decoupled storefront and backend, typically using APIs for flexibility and performance.

Why it matters: Enables faster UX, custom flows, and channel expansion.

HEVC / H.265

High Efficiency Video Coding standard for HD/4K video.

Why it matters: Sustains quality at lower bitrates for broadcast and OTT streams.

Hreflang

Language/region alternate mapping.

Why it matters: Serves the right locale to users.

HTTP Live Streaming (HLS)

Apple’s HTTP-based streaming protocol widely supported across devices.

Why it matters: Baseline delivery format for OTT apps and smart TVs.

I

Indexation

Pages included in a search engine’s index and eligible to appear in results.

Why it matters: If priority pages are not indexed, they cannot rank or drive traffic.

  • Fix crawl barriers and canonicals
  • Submit and monitor sitemaps
  • Improve internal linking

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Managing infra through code (e.g., Terraform).

Why it matters: Repeatability and speed.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

Interactivity delay metric.

Why it matters: Slow inputs reduce engagement.

Benchmarks: Good < 200ms

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Company providing internet access and related services.

Why it matters: Key partners for IPTV and broadband delivery.

IPTV

TV over managed IP networks.

Why it matters: Carrier‑grade distribution.

ISO 27001

Information security standard.

Why it matters: Structured security practices.

IT Service Management (ITSM)

Processes for delivering and supporting IT services.

Why it matters: Consistency, compliance, and efficiency.

K

Knowledge Base (KB)

Repository of solutions, SOPs, and playbooks.

Why it matters: Improves FCR and speeds up onboarding.

L

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Loading speed metric.

Why it matters: Slow LCP hurts rankings and UX.

Benchmarks: Good < 2.5s

Lifetime Value (LTV)

Revenue a customer is expected to generate over time.

Why it matters: Guides investment in acquisition and retention.

LL‑DASH

Low‑Latency DASH streaming.

Why it matters: Reduces glass‑to‑glass delay.

LL‑HLS

Low‑Latency HLS streaming.

Why it matters: Reduces glass‑to‑glass delay.

M

Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM)

Statistical model to estimate channel impact.

Why it matters: Budget allocation and incrementality checks.

Mean Time to Acknowledge (MTTA)

Average time between an alert triggering and the on-call team acknowledging it.

Why it matters: Reflects responsiveness of incident response before mitigation begins.

Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)

Average time from ticket open to resolution.

Why it matters: Primary responsiveness KPI for support and field ops.

Mid-Market

Growing businesses in the $10M–$100M ARR range, scaling operations and teams.

Why it matters: Needs structured experimentation, lifecycle, and media discipline.

Middleware

Software layer that orchestrates content, entitlements, and personalization between headend and apps.

Why it matters: Carries business rules, entitlements, and UI content to every endpoint.

Multiple System Operator (MSO)

Cable or telecommunications company operating multiple systems.

Why it matters: Primary customers for broadcast/IPTV infrastructure.

N

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Customer loyalty metric based on likelihood to recommend.

Why it matters: Signals overall service quality over time.

Network Operations Center (NOC)

Centralized facility for monitoring and managing network infrastructure.

Why it matters: Ensures 24×7 visibility and rapid incident response.

O

Online Travel Agency (OTA)

Platforms that aggregate and sell travel services (hotels, flights, etc.).

Why it matters: Hospitality businesses reduce dependency by building direct booking channels.

OpenTelemetry (OTel)

Open standard for traces, metrics, and logs instrumentation.

Why it matters: Unified telemetry enables deep visibility and faster incident response.

OSS/BSS

Operational and business support systems that manage provisioning, inventory, billing, and customer care.

Why it matters: Critical for ISP workflows that span network and commercial operations.

Over‑the‑Air (OTA) Update

Remote firmware or software update delivered over the network to devices.

Why it matters: Keeps device fleets secure and current without on‑site visits.

Over‑the‑Top (OTT)

Internet‑delivered video services.

Why it matters: Modern video distribution.

P

Playbook

Documented process, framework, or guide for executing specific strategies or tactics.

Why it matters: Enables repeatability and knowledge transfer across teams.

Product Detail Page (PDP)

Page displaying information about a product.

Why it matters: Critical for add‑to‑cart and conversion.

Product Listing Page (PLP)

Category or search results page listing multiple products with filters and sorting.

Why it matters: Strong discovery drives add‑to‑cart and revenue.

Product-Led Growth (PLG)

Growth strategy where the product itself drives acquisition and expansion.

Why it matters: Reduces CAC and improves user activation.

R

Reconciliation

Matching transactions across systems (payments, invoices, bank).

Why it matters: Catches errors and improves financial accuracy.

Revenue Operations (RevOps)

Alignment of sales, marketing, and customer success operations.

Why it matters: Improves revenue predictability and efficiency.

Revenue per Visitor (RPV)

Total revenue divided by visitors.

Why it matters: Captures both conversion and AOV effects.

RFM Segmentation

Groups customers by Recency, Frequency, and Monetary value.

Why it matters: Targets offers by behavior to lift LTV.

RIST

Reliable Internet Stream Transport.

Why it matters: Resilient video contribution.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Process to identify underlying cause of an incident.

Why it matters: Prevents repeats and feeds continuous improvement.

RTMP / RTMPS

Real-Time Messaging Protocol used for contribution and live streaming ingest.

Why it matters: Common legacy contribution format still used for many live workflows.

Runbook

Step‑by‑step guide to diagnose and resolve common issues.

Why it matters: Reduces MTTR and makes operations repeatable.

S

Schema / Structured Data

Machine‑readable markup that helps search engines understand content.

Why it matters: Enables rich results and improves relevance.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Improving visibility and clicks from search by aligning technical, content, and UX factors.

Why it matters: Drives qualified, intent‑rich traffic.

Segment

Group of customers or businesses with shared characteristics for targeted strategies.

Why it matters: Enables personalized messaging and optimized experiences.

Server‑Side Ad Insertion (SSAI)

Stitching ads into streams server‑side.

Why it matters: Better QoE and ad blocking resistance.

Server‑Side Events (SSE)

Event tracking sent from server for accuracy.

Why it matters: Improves attribution and optimization.

server‑side GTM (sGTM)

Running Google Tag Manager on the server.

Why it matters: Cleaner signals and less client bloat.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Contracted reliability and response guarantees.

Why it matters: Sets expectations for uptime and support.

Service Level Indicator (SLI)

Measured metric of service performance.

Why it matters: Evidence for SLOs and reliability reviews.

Service Level Objective (SLO)

Target reliability for a service.

Why it matters: Aligns engineering and business on reliability.

Set‑Top Box (STB)

Customer‑premise receiver that authenticates and enforces access to TV services.

Why it matters: Primary enforcement point for CAS policies and device security.

Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)

Engineering discipline to keep systems reliable.

Why it matters: Balances velocity with reliability.

Small/Medium Business (SMB)

Small to medium-sized businesses, typically under $10M ARR or early-stage scaling.

Why it matters: Requires focused, foundational digital growth strategies.

SOC 2

Security compliance framework.

Why it matters: Assurance for customers and partners.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Cloud-based software delivery model with subscription pricing.

Why it matters: Requires product-led growth, trial optimization, and retention focus.

SRT

Secure Reliable Transport.

Why it matters: Low‑latency contribution transport.

STB/Card Pairing

Binding an access card or identity to a specific device.

Why it matters: Reduces credential sharing and piracy by tying rights to hardware.

Subscriber Management System (SMS)

Manages subscribers, billing, and entitlements.

Why it matters: Coordinates operations across products and services.

T

Telemetry

Automated collection and transmission of data from systems and applications.

Why it matters: Enables real-time monitoring, alerting, and performance optimization.

Terminal Management System (TMS)

Device management layer for STBs and smart devices covering remote monitoring, firmware/APK updates, configuration, and diagnostics.

Why it matters: Keeps fleets updated with zero-touch maintenance and lifecycle tracking.

Ticket

A tracked unit of work for support or field operations.

Why it matters: Provides accountability and SLA tracking.

Tizen

Smart TV operating system used by Samsung TVs.

Why it matters: Important app ecosystem for IPTV/OTT distribution.

U

UDP / RTP

Packet-based transport protocols for low-latency video contribution and multicast delivery.

Why it matters: Enable real-time streams in broadcast and ISP networks.

Upsell

Encouraging a higher‑value version or add‑on at purchase time.

Why it matters: Increases AOV without additional traffic.

User Experience (UX)

Overall experience users have when interacting with a product or service.

Why it matters: Better UX improves conversion, retention, and customer satisfaction.

User‑Generated Content (UGC)

Creator or community content used in marketing.

Why it matters: Adds credibility and creative diversity.

W

webOS

LG’s smart TV operating system.

Why it matters: Requires dedicated app builds for living-room experiences.

Widevine

Google’s DRM system for securing premium content on Android/Chrome ecosystems.

Why it matters: Required by many device partners and OTT distribution agreements.

Work Order

Formal job instruction for a technician or team.

Why it matters: Standardizes tasks, parts, and checklists.

Glossary FAQs

What is the Ridsys Digital Glossary?
A curated list of plain-language definitions across SEO, Lifecycle/CRM, and E‑commerce. Each entry explains why the term matters and how it impacts growth metrics like CR, AOV, and LTV.
How should I use this glossary?
Browse A–Z or filter by topic to match your focus. Click a related service to see how we implement the concept in practice, and copy deep links to share terms with your team.
Can I request new terms or changes?
Yes. Send a request via the contact page with the term and context. We review suggestions weekly and prioritize high-impact clarifications.
Do definitions change over time?
We update entries as standards and best practices evolve—for example, when Google changes Core Web Vitals or platforms adjust attribution models.