Share of voice (SOV)
What is share of voice?
Share of voice (SOV) measures how much of the conversation in a market is about you. For mentions, it is your mentions divided by the total mentions of you and your competitors, times 100. The same idea is used for ads (your share of ad spend) and search (your share of visibility).
Tracking it over time shows whether you are gaining or losing attention relative to competitors.
Why share of voice matters
Raw mention counts depend on market noise; share of voice shows your relative position. Growth in share of voice often comes before growth in market share.
Share of voice example
In a month, your brand is mentioned 120 times, competitor A 300 times and competitor B 180 times. Your share of voice = 120 ÷ 600 × 100 = 20%.
Related marketing terms
Brand mentions are any time your brand is named online, in posts, comments, reviews, articles or videos, with or without a link.
Competitor analysis studies rivals’ products, pricing, positioning and customer feedback to find where you can stand out and win.
Brand awareness is how familiar your target audience is with your brand: whether they recognise it, remember it and think of it when buying.
Social listening is tracking public conversations about your brand, competitors and market, then learning from and acting on what people say.