9 Apr

Measuring the Media Hits

By Kaity Dunn

Account Associate

Inchworm, inchworm/Measuring the marigolds/You and your arithmetic/You’ll probably go far.

For some reason I often think of this poem when I’m reporting the media hits a client has secured for an announcement or event. It’s like I’m an inchworm that works at a Cincinnati PR agency instead of garden. Aside from the obvious information such as the date, publication and title of the article, we also include the following when creating a media summary report:

Gross Impressions: Also called opportunity to see (OTS), gross impressions are based on the total audited circulation of the publication. It’s important to note that gross impressions can vary based on the day the publication ran. For example, The Cincinnati Enquirer has a larger amount of gross impressions on Sunday compared to the other days of the week.

Ad equivalency: Ad equivalency is the dollar amount you would have paid to have an ad placed in the space that the article was published in.

Tone: We monitor if the tone is positive, negative or neutral.

An article or broadcast about your company or business is often a fantastic coup, but made all that much sweeter by objectively measuring its impact.

More information on measuring media hits can be found in this article by the Institute for Public Relations.