How to Calculate Share of Voice: Formula and Practical Examples

To calculate share of voice, divide your brand’s mentions by the total mentions of all brands in your comparison group, then multiply by 100. Use the same period, channels, and data collection rules for every brand. The result describes your share of conversation within that scope, rather than your share of sales or proof that people like your brand.

For PR and marketing teams, the harder question is deciding which conversations should count. This guide explains the SOV formula, a worked example, a spreadsheet layout, and how to turn the result into a useful communication decision.

What does share of voice mean in media monitoring?

Share of voice, or SOV, measures a brand’s visibility relative to a defined comparison group. In media monitoring, the unit might be a brand mention in a news article or public social post. Advertising and search teams also use the term, but their data inputs are different.

Brandwatch’s share of voice guide explains the general formula and its application across channels. In a PR report, state your operational definition clearly: for example, “the share of brand mentions in Indonesian-language online news over one month”.

If your team is still treating news monitoring and social conversation analysis as interchangeable, read about the difference between social listening and media monitoring before combining datasets. Different sources can change what a reported percentage actually means.

The share of voice formula and a worked example

SOV (%) = brand mentions ÷ total mentions of all brands in the group × 100.

The denominator already includes your own brand. Dividing only by competitors’ mentions answers a different question and should not be presented as the same percentage.

The following is an illustrative example, not Qola customer data. A travel services brand’s communications team counts mentions across the same channels over 30 days. After removing irrelevant results, the dataset looks like this:

The calculation is 186 ÷ 600 × 100 = 31%. This means the brand accounts for 31% of all brand mentions counted within the comparison group. It describes the observed dataset, rather than every conversation taking place online.

Six steps to calculate SOV with an auditable method

1. Define the decision the measurement should support

Are you comparing product launch coverage, assessing attention around an issue, or preparing a monthly report? Different objectives require different boundaries. A sustainability campaign’s SOV should focus on conversations relevant to that subject.

Write the question in one sentence, such as: “Did our share of conversation about the new service increase after launch?” That sentence helps the team exclude data that attracts attention but does not answer the analysis question.

2. Fix the comparison group and observation boundaries

Choose genuinely comparable brands based on category, service area, and target audience. Keep the comparison group consistent throughout the evaluation period. If you add another brand, recalculate previous periods or disclose the change in methodology.

• Period: record the start and end dates, including the time zone.
• Channels: define online news, a particular social platform, or a specified channel group.
• Language and geography: explain the boundaries and any limitations in identifying location.
• Source types: separate owned media, independent coverage, and paid content where the data allows it.

3. Build balanced keyword queries

Include the brand name, relevant product names, abbreviations, and common spelling variations. Apply a comparable level of detail to competitor queries. If a company name is also an everyday word, add context to prevent unrelated results from entering the dataset.

A search design might combine the brand name with a product or service category and exclude unrelated people with the same name. Test a sample of results first. Search operators depend on the tool you use; do not assume every platform supports the same syntax.

In Brandwatch’s competitive analysis guide, comparable queries are an important safeguard against artificially inflating your own brand’s visibility. Keep a record of query revisions so another analyst can trace how the report was produced.

4. Clean the data and agree on the counting unit

Decide whether an article counts once per brand or whether every occurrence of the name counts separately. For many PR reports, counting one mention per brand per article is easier to explain. An article naming two brands contributes one count to each, so the total represents brand mentions rather than unique articles.

Review irrelevant results, spam, reposts, and syndicated stories. Be consistent about whether syndicated articles remain separate or are grouped together. Retain the raw count, the excluded count, and the reasons for exclusion as an audit trail.

5. Calculate each channel before creating a summary

Start by calculating online news SOV and social media SOV separately. A news article and a social post do not automatically have equivalent weight. Avoid taking a simple average of the two percentages and calling it overall SOV.

If the organization needs a combined index, choose the weights before looking at the results and give the measure a distinct name, such as a visibility index. Include the formula and the reason for the weighting. Readers should be able to distinguish a raw mention calculation from an internal assessment model.

6. Interpret change alongside its context

Compare the percentage, absolute mention volume, conversation topics, and source quality. Higher SOV may reflect successful campaign attention, but it may also reflect complaints or reduced competitor activity. The percentage alone cannot explain the cause.

Read a sample of coverage and review how sentiment analysis works in Bahasa Indonesia to understand the context. Automated sentiment needs particular care with sarcasm, quotations, and sentences that express opinions about more than one subject.

A spreadsheet format for share of voice reporting

Use one row for each combination of period, channel, and brand. This makes it easier to check the calculation without reopening every source document during a review meeting.

If brand mentions are in cell B2 and the group total is in B5, use =B2/$B$5 and format the result as a percentage. If the group total is zero, record the result as unavailable. Division by zero does not produce an interpretable SOV value.

How to interpret rising SOV without drawing the wrong conclusion

Continuing the example, suppose the brand receives 204 mentions in the next period, while the group total rises to 680. Its mention count has increased, but its SOV is now 30%. Attention across the group grew faster than attention to the brand.

The reverse can also happen: SOV may rise while the brand’s mention count stays unchanged because competitors attract less coverage. Display percentages alongside absolute volumes and a note about events affecting each period to prevent misleading comparisons.

A change from 24% to 31% is an increase of 7 percentage points, rather than 7%. To describe relative growth, calculate (31 − 24) ÷ 24 × 100, or approximately 29.2%. Using the correct term helps leadership understand the size of the change.

Turn SOV findings into communication decisions

Once the calculation is sound, connect the finding to a practical action. If SOV is low in media used by your target audience, review the relevance of your materials and your media approach. If repeated questions are driving the increase, prepare information that addresses those questions.

Use a media monitoring report for leadership to summarize the finding, supporting evidence, and recommendation. Assign an owner and a review date to the next step. Discuss source selection and observation boundaries through the Qola media intelligence platform according to your organization’s needs.

Cover photo: 1981 Digital via Unsplash. The photograph illustrates data analysis; it does not show the Qola product or Qola customer data.

FAQ: calculating share of voice

Is share of voice the same as market share?

No. SOV measures a share of visibility using a defined metric. Market share measures a share of business, such as sales or units sold. A 31% SOV does not prove that a brand accounts for 31% of market sales.

What is a good share of voice percentage?

There is no universal target. A useful benchmark depends on the number of comparison brands, campaign objectives, channels, and conversation quality. Establish a consistent baseline, then interpret change alongside sentiment and other communication outcomes.

Should negative mentions be included?

Yes, if your SOV definition includes all relevant mentions. Break results down by sentiment as a separate analysis. Excluding negative mentions from only one brand makes the comparison unbalanced.

How often should teams calculate SOV?

Match the frequency to the decision you need to make. Routine reporting may use monthly periods, while campaigns may need more frequent observation. Keep the scope consistent when comparing periods.