Share of Voice
Branding & StrategyAlso: SOV · Share of Search · Competitive Share of Voice
Quick definition
Share of voice (SOV) is the percentage of total market conversation, advertising spend or search visibility that belongs to your brand compared to competitors. It can be measured across paid media spend, organic search impressions, social media mentions or PR coverage, depending on what you are tracking.
How it varies across Australia
SOV varies sharply by how competitive a category is and how broadly you define the market. Australian challengers in concentrated categories often hold a fraction of the SOV of the incumbent even when they hold comparable product quality. The gap tends to be largest in financial services, telecommunications and retail.
See brand and positioning patterns across Australian industries →Where SOV gets measured
Your ad spend as a share of total category spend across channels.
Your share of total search impressions across relevant keywords in your category.
Your brand mentions as a share of all category-relevant social mentions.
Branded search volume for your business as a share of total branded searches in the category. Strong predictor of market share.
What it actually means
Think about a room full of people having a conversation about your industry. SOV is how often your name comes up compared to everyone else's. It does not matter how good your product is if your name is barely mentioned.
The most useful application of SOV is the relationship between SOV and market share. Research by Les Binet and Peter Field established what most brand strategists now call the excess share of voice (eSOV) principle: if your SOV is higher than your current market share, you tend to grow. If it is lower, you tend to shrink. The gap is the signal.
Most Australian businesses only measure paid SOV because it is the easiest to access via platform dashboards. Organic SOV (your share of search impressions across a keyword set) is harder to measure but often more predictive of long-term category ownership. Share of Search, coined by Orlando Wood, tracks branded search volume as a proxy for brand consideration and has strong historical correlation with actual market share movements.
The problem every SOV metric shares is that the denominator is hard to define cleanly. Your 'market' is a choice you make, not an objective fact. Define it too narrowly and your SOV looks impressive. Define it too broadly and it looks negligible. The definition should match the competitive set that actually takes customers from you.
A brand with SOV above its market share is gaining ground. A brand with SOV below its market share is slowly losing it.
How to calculate it
SOV = (Your impressions or spend or mentions ÷ Total category impressions or spend or mentions) × 100
Worked example. You track five competitors in your software category. Last month your Google Search impressions for the shared keyword set were 42,000. Combined impressions across all five competitors were 158,000. Total market impressions: 200,000. Your organic SOV = 42,000 ÷ 200,000 × 100 = 21%. Now compare that to your market share. If you hold 15% of category revenue, you have excess SOV of 6 percentage points, which suggests growth is likely.
The Australian context
Australia's smaller media market means that concentrated spend by a single incumbent can dominate paid SOV in a way that is harder to dislodge than in larger markets. The flip side is that organic SOV and share of search are more accessible for challengers who cannot match incumbent budgets. Australian categories like financial advice, mortgage broking and private health insurance show stark paid SOV concentration among the top two or three players, while challenger brands have made gains through organic and social SOV.
Share of Search is particularly useful as an Australian proxy because branded search data is available through Google Search Console at no cost. Tracking the ratio of your branded search volume against competitor branded search volumes over time gives a directional read on brand momentum without needing a large-scale media measurement study.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
How do I measure share of voice without expensive research tools?
Start with share of search. Export your branded keyword impressions from Google Search Console, estimate competitor branded volumes using a keyword tool, and track the ratio over time. For paid SOV, auction insight reports in Google Ads give impression share against named competitors at no extra cost.
What is excess share of voice and why does it matter?
Excess share of voice (eSOV) is the gap between your SOV and your current market share. When SOV exceeds market share, the brand tends to grow over time. When market share exceeds SOV, the brand tends to erode. The principle comes from long-run IPA Databank research and is one of the more robust findings in brand planning.
Does SOV apply to organic search as well as paid advertising?
Yes. Organic SOV is your share of total search impressions across a defined keyword set relative to competitors. It is often more meaningful than paid SOV because it reflects earned visibility rather than purchased reach, and it persists after you stop spending.
How often should I track share of voice?
Monthly is practical for most businesses. Paid SOV can be checked weekly if you are in an active campaign period. Share of Search moves slowly enough that a monthly read is usually sufficient. Quarterly trend reviews are the minimum for strategic decisions.
About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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