SOV

SOV, Share of Voice - the share of a brand’s advertising “voice” in its category. The classic formula: impressions of your advertisement ÷ total impressions of all advertisements in the category × 100%. In digital, this has become more complicated: they also consider the share of organic search (SOV in SEO), the share of mentions in the media, and the share of social conversations.

Why this matters: Binet & Field research shows that brands with SOV above their market share (SOM) are growing, while brands with SOV below SOM are shrinking. This is called Excess Share of Voice (ESOV). The logic is intuitive: if you are “louder” than your market weight, you are building future demand. If it’s quieter, you give in.

In practice, SOV is rarely tracked in performance marketing - it is too difficult to measure, especially for small businesses. But conceptually it is a useful lens. When a client asks “why does a competitor have more leads with a similar budget,” the answer is often SOV: the competitor is present at more points of contact with the audience, and overall its “voice” is louder.