KPIMarketing

Share of Voice (SOV)

Brand’s share of total industry conversation or advertising presence across channels

What is Share of Voice (SOV)?

Share of voice is the proportion of the conversation or advertising in your market that belongs to your brand. It compares your presence with that of all competitors in the same space.

It matters because brands that hold a larger share of voice than their share of the market tend to grow. It shows whether you are visible enough relative to the competition, and where rivals are gaining ground.

How this KPI is measured

Function: Marketing
Sub-function: Brand & Awareness
Industry: All Industries
Type: Lagging
Impact: Quality
Unit: %
Measurement frequency: Monthly / Quarterly
Formula: (Brand mentions or ad spend / Total industry mentions or ad spend) × 100

How to calculate it

Divide your brand's mentions, or your advertising spend, by the total for your industry, and multiply by 100.

For example, if your brand received 4,000 mentions in a month and the whole set of competitors, including you, received 20,000, your share of voice is (4,000 / 20,000) x 100 = 20%.

Decide which competitors and channels to include, and stay with that set. It can be measured by mentions, search visibility or media spend, so state which one you are reporting.

Where it is used

Competitive benchmarking
See how your visibility compares with that of rivals over time.
Setting media investment
Judge whether you are spending enough to hold or grow your presence.
Tracking the impact of campaigns
Check whether a campaign moved your share of the conversation.

How to improve it

Define the competitive setList the brands you compete with and keep the list stable.
Choose the measurePick mentions, search visibility or media spend, and use the same one each time.
Measure regularlyTrack it monthly or quarterly so trends and campaign effects show up.
Find where you are weakestBreak it down by channel and topic to see where competitors dominate.
Invest to close the gapDirect effort and budget to the channels and themes where you can gain the most share.

Tips and common mistakes

Share of voice only means something against a clearly defined competitor set.
It measures visibility, not favourability. Read it with sentiment.
Compare it with your share of market. Being visible in proportion to your goals is the aim.

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