Calculate Share of Voice: How to & Use Cases

In the world of marketing, visibility isn’t just helpful – it’s everything. But how do you actually measure how much attention your brand is getting compared to everyone else? That’s where a SoV calculator (Share of Voice calculator) comes in.

A SoV calculator helps you understand how your brand stacks up in terms of media coverage, online mentions, advertising, and SEO – so you can fine-tune your marketing campaigns, optimize your PR strategy, and claim your space in the digital landscape.

In this guide, we’ll break down how to calculate Share of Voice, and what it means for your brand’s presence.

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Share of Voice (SoV) is a competitive analysis market metric that shows how much presence your brand has in the conversation compared to competitors. It reflects your brand’s share of visibility across channels like news sites, major social media networks, search engines, and online advertising.

In short: It tells you how loud your brand is compared to others in your given market.

Depending on what you're tracking, SoV can apply to various channels, including:

• Social media mentions
• Press coverage
• Search visibility (SEO share)
• Paid advertising (Google Ads, display, etc.)
• Brand mentions in news or media outlets

This makes it a crucial indicator of your brand’s online presence, reputational market share, reputation, and influence.

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There are a few different formulas depending on what you're measuring, but the basic Share of Voice formula looks like this:

Or if you're measuring paid advertising:

So if your brand received 2,000 online mentions and your top competitors combined received 8,000, that means that of the total 10,000 mentions in the market, you would calculate SoV as:

That means your brand owns 20% of the conversation in that market or channel.

SoV isn’t just about numbers – it’s about context.

A high SoV often means greater brand visibility, more potential customers, and stronger market position. A low SoV could signal an opportunity to improve your marketing efforts, especially if competitors are consistently outperforming you in media exposure.

Tracking your Share of Voice gives you:

• A benchmark for your marketing strategy
• Insight into how your pr campaigns are performing
• Data to support decisions about content creation, paid advertising, and SEO
• Early detection of dips in brand reputation or spikes in competitor activity

The bottom line: Knowing your SoV helps you track progress, identify gaps, and make smarter decisions.

Once you’ve used an SoV calculator to measure your brand’s Share of Voice, the next step is interpreting what that number actually means.

• A high SoV (50% or more) indicates your brand’s position is strong, with dominant visibility across your chosen channels. You’re leading the conversation.
• A mid-range SoV (20–49%) suggests healthy traction, but room for growth – especially if one or two competitors are eating up the rest.
• A low SoV (under 20%) likely means your marketing channels need attention. Whether it's PR efforts, social media networks, or paid advertising, it's a signal to invest more intentionally.

SoV isn’t a vanity metric – it has real, practical applications across your marketing campaigns. Here are just a few real-world ways brands use Share of Voice data:

A SaaS company monitors its social media mentions and press coverage quarterly to track how it's performing relative to direct competitors.

A DTC brand measures its online mentions and search visibility before and after launching a major campaign, using SoV data to prove ROI.

A startup uses SoV tracking to detect spikes in negative sentiment and quickly address issues before they spiral.

Whether you're tracking news, social media, or search engines, SoV is a critical tool for staying on top of your brand's share of the conversation.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to tracking your market presence. Your ideal SoV calculator depends on your goals, team size, and preferred channels.

Here’s what to look for:

Not all tools are built for PR campaigns, social listening platforms, or SEO tools. Choose a platform that aligns with your strongest channels – be it online advertising, news coverage, or social media monitoring.

Look for platforms that play nice with your existing stack – Google Analytics, CRM, or reporting dashboards.

You don’t need an advanced degree to measure share of voice. Look for an intuitive interface with helpful filters and export options.

Tools like Prezly make it easy to go from reactive to proactive, with all your metrics and contacts in one place.

While tracking your SoV helps you understand how your brand stacks up in the market, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Numbers are only half the battle. The other half? Creating the kinds of stories that journalists want to write about – and building the relationships that get you in front of the right audiences.

That’s where Prezly comes in.

Prezly is an all-in-one PR software that helps you manage your media contacts, create multimedia newsrooms, send targeted pitches, and track press coverage – all in one place. It’s built for teams that want more than just numbers. It’s for PR people who care about building momentum, not just measuring it.

• Track mentions and coverage
• Pitch smarter, not louder
• Build long-term media relationships
• Try it all free for 14 days – no credit card required

Whether you're trying to calculate share, track voice important to your audience, or simply justify your next PR campaign budget – Share of Voice is a metric that matters.

It helps you:

• Benchmark your brand online presence in the total market
• Understand your market position
• Identify areas where you can improve visibility or fine-tune messaging

And best of all? You don’t need to be a data analyst to get started.

Use a Share of Voice (SoV) calculator to measure where you stand – and platforms like Prezly to help you track, improve, and report on your brand’s voice across every channel.

Start your 14-day free trial of Prezly to track mentions, run outreach, and elevate your share of voice. Prezly supports publishing stories and emails in 34 languages, making it easy to manage multiple translations at once.