What is share of voice
Also known as: SOV, voice share
Share of voice is the slice a brand holds of all communication in its category. In the classic definition, it is the brand's advertising spend divided by the whole category's spend: if the market spends $100 million and the brand spends $5 million, share of voice is 5%. Online, the same idea is measured through impressions, searches or mentions.
Share of voice = brand presence ÷ total category presence × 100
Presence can be ad spend, ad impressions, brand name searches or social mentions. What matters is using the same measure for the brand and the category.
A gym chain tracks, every month, Google searches for its own name and for its four local competitors. In January, out of every 100 searches for the five brands, 18 were for the chain.
After a summer campaign, the share rises to 26 and holds at 24 in the following months. The chain uses that number, not just monthly sales, to know whether the brand is gaining ground in people's minds.
Versions of share of voice
| How it is calculated | |
|---|---|
| Spend | Brand ad spend divided by category ad spend, the classic version |
| Ad impressions | In Google Ads, impression share: impressions received divided by the impressions the ad was eligible for |
| Searches | Searches for the brand name divided by searches for all brands in the category |
| Mentions | Brand mentions on social media and in the press divided by category mentions |
Impression share in Google Ads
Google Ads has a metric close to share of voice: impression share, the percentage of impressions ads received compared with the total they could have received. Eligible impressions are estimated from targeting, approval status and quality. A low share shows how much demand the campaign is leaving to competitors.
What it is for
- Tracking whether the brand is gaining or losing ground, not just sales.
- Comparing presence with direct competitors.
- Planning budget: to grow, you usually need to be more present than your current market share.
- Spotting early when a competitor increases its presence.
How to track it in practice
- Define the list of competitors included in the calculation and keep the same list over time.
- Choose a main measure, such as brand name searches, and a supporting one, such as mentions.
- Record the number every month, on the same date, with the same tool.
- Note campaigns, launches and crises in the period, to explain changes.
- Compare how share of voice evolves with how sales and leads evolve.
Cautions
Each version measures something different and depends on the source. Mentions include criticism, and brand searches can rise because of a problem, not only interest. Different tools give different numbers for the same brand. Pick one measure, keep the same source and track the trend more than the absolute number.
Frequently asked questions
What is share of voice?
The slice a brand holds of all communication in its category, measured by spend, impressions, searches or mentions.
How do you calculate share of voice?
Divide the brand's presence by the category's total presence and multiply by 100. With $5 million in a $100 million market, share of voice is 5%.
What is the difference between share of voice and market share?
Share of voice is the slice of communication; market share is the slice of sales. The two tend to move together over time.
What is impression share in Google Ads?
The percentage of impressions ads received compared with the total impressions they were eligible for.
Do negative mentions count toward share of voice?
They count in the total, so it pays to split mentions by sentiment. A brand can gain share of voice through a crisis.
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Rodrigo Fávaro
Founder of ROO3, a marketing and technology agency in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. Builds AI products running in production (Tobia, gerar.app, Pense Mercado) and maintains the AI Benchmark, a public ranking of AI models.
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