[Editor’s Note: Even experienced PR professionals need a refresher on the basics from time to time, as well as insight about newer concepts. Whether it’s how to become a better writer or a review of PR ethics, PRNEWS aims to provide readers with content about a variety of topics and issues. Hence, our Explainer series was born.
Previous posts looked at the Metaverse, “off the record” and sonic branding.
Today we review the definition of “share of voice.”]
What is Share of Voice?
Share of voice (SOV) is an evolving PR benchmark. At its most basic, it measures how much of the conversation in a given category or market belongs to your brand or client compared to your competitors, across earned media, social, search and increasingly, AI-generated responses.
Robert J. Ricci, a data-driven communications strategist, defines it as "the percentage of conversation, coverage or attention my client captures within a defined competitive set—usually three to five—over a specific period of time."
Suzie Linville, a senior PR strategist, describes share of voice as "the slice of credible category conversation your brand consistently owns versus its closest competitors."
In practice, most teams evaluate SOV by tracking brand mentions across a defined set of media outlets or channels and dividing by total mentions across all competitors. Many practitioners narrow the measurement further, focusing only on high-relevance, high-readership publications to filter out noise and get a clearer picture of competitive visibility where it actually matters.
Why this Matters to Communicators
SOV is a useful competitive intelligence and planning tool—it can surface audience gaps, read progress and track whether communications efforts are building brand presence over time. Dylan Jones, Managing Partner at Boldsquare, frames it in terms of authority: "Can a reporter meaningfully write on subject X without speaking to you? If they only speak to one person, would it be your company?"
But SOV has real limits. Volume without context can mislead—a brand facing a crisis may suddenly lead in mentions without that representing anything positive. The consensus among PR experts asked to define SOV on LinkedIn, is that SOV should function as just part of the KPI puzzle—a directional indicator, not a standalone goal and should always be read alongside sentiment, message pull-through and audience relevance.
Michael Adorno, Partner and SVP Communications at Hot Paper Lantern, connects it to business purpose: "The Share of Voice question should be thought of as, 'Am I giving my biz dev and sales teams the required firepower to achieve their goals, reputationally and financially?'"
How to Measure Share of Voice
Traditional earned media SOV is tracked through media monitoring tools (some of which include Onclusive, Wizikey, Brand Analytics and others) which automate mention tracking and competitive comparisons. Some practitioners layer in quality weighting—factoring in outlet tier, readership and number of mentions.
Social and digital SOV extends the same logic to social platforms and branded search, but may also include sentiment, which can serve as a read on audience interest over time.
AI share of voice is the newest and fastest-growing category. As tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google's AI Overviews shape how buyers discover and research brands, appearing in those answers matters.
Sarah Evans, Partner and Head of PR at Zen Media and Lead Brain at AskSarah.ai, argues that "share of voice in 2026 should include AI citation share—it's how often your brand gets named when a buyer shares a prompt with ChatGPT, Gemini or AI Overview. These actually drive a purchase."
Kalie Moore, CEO of High Vibe PR, breaks AI SOV into two related metrics: Share of Media (how often a brand appears in the sources AI cites) and Share of Citations (how often a brand's own content is the source being cited).
"One is being mentioned in the sources," she explains, "the other is being the source."
Share of voice remains a useful starting point—but the most forward-thinking communicators are expanding the definition to include quality, narrative ownership and AI visibility, while tying it to real business outcomes. As Kevin Dulaney, EVP of Innovation and Integrated Marketing at SourceCode Communications, puts it: "The more important question today is share of influence: not just are you in the conversation, but are you shaping what people believe, and more importantly, are you the answer when AI surfaces your category to a buyer?"
More PRNEWS resources about share of voice:
- Havas PR’s CEO Dara Bush on Why Earned Media Is Having Its Biggest Glow Up Yet
- The New PR Measurement Stack: What Comms Leaders Should Track When the Audience Is Behind AI
- Priceline’s Christina Bennett on Why GEO Is PR’s Moment to Shine
- How AI Is Shaping the Future of PR Briefings
- Measuring PR and Comms Success With Customized Client-Aligned KPIs
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.