Media Analysis Metrics
Definitions, significance and limitations of common KPIs — and how to create a reliable evaluation for your communication strategy from them.
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Introduction
If you want to know how your communication strategy has been working out so far, there is one thing you cannot avoid—key figures. They define the value of your PR campaign and serve as a foundation for every professional social media monitoring and media analysis service. With this in mind, we have compiled a list of the most relevant analysis figures and KPIs.
KPI categories
Quantitative key figures
Hard, objective data on the presence and reach of your communication.
Qualitative metrics
Metrics to evaluate the content quality and impact of your communication.
Condensed scores and indices
Combination of multiple key figures into an overall value to make complex relationships comprehensible at a glance.
Overview
Quantitative metrics capture the amount of coverage generated and whom it reaches. Buzz, reach, share of voice - quantifiable metrics directly derived from media data.
The Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) is a monetary reference value indicating the advertising value of published coverage – not a measure of impact, but useful for budget comparisons.
Overview
Qualitative metrics capture how a company is reported on and what impact that has. Tonality, message absorption, image balance: metrics that can only be measured through content analysis of contributions.
Overview
Not all results can be captured with a single key figure. Often, a complete picture only emerges when different data points are combined. Scores and indices summarize several individual key figures into a single value, thereby making complex relationships quickly comprehensible and comparable.
An example: The sheer number of contributions (buzz) says something about presence, the tone about the evaluation. Only when both values are combined and weighted does a score like the Media Impact Score arise, making the actual media impact tangible.
Thus, scores and indices enable communication to be evaluated not only in individual aspects but in a holistic and condensed manner – an important tool for strategy, benchmarking, and management reporting.
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General: Total number of media contacts achieved - including possible multiple contacts per person (e.g., readers per issue, visits per day). Used to categorize media visibility.
In print media reach indicates how many readers are actually reached by a medium. The basic assumption is that each copy is usually read by multiple readers per issue (LpA). pressrelations uses the certified values from AG.MA and AWA (Allensbach Media Analysis) or other certified sources for reach.
In online media and blogs, the visits, which show monthly accesses, are broken down to the day (by dividing them by 30). For some large blog providers (wordpress.com, wordpress.org, blogspot.com, and blogger.com), information is typically not available.
In social media sources the numbers for followers (or fans/subscribers) of a channel form the basis for reach calculation. This constitutes the "potential reach". The value is not available for all channels (e.g., not in forums).
General: Number of unique individuals who have come into contact with a post, excluding multiple contacts. The gross reach (total number of all contacts, including multiple contacts) is used as the starting point to calculate the net reach (print: readers per issue, RTV: average number of contacts per viewer/listener, online: unique users, social media: engagement factor, impressions/views, organic reach rate).
In social media: Estimated net reach based on engagement: Likes, comments, and shares come from active users and allow conclusions about the actual visibility of a post. Using typical engagement rates (e.g., 5%), a reach estimate can be derived from the number of reactions.
Since impressions or views are not publicly available for all posts or platforms, we only use them where they are accessible via APIs or corporate accounts. For earned posts, we rely on engagement-based estimation.
To avoid rating posts with low engagement as "0 reach," we also include the platform's average organic reach rate (ORR) - that is the proportion of followers who regularly see content without interaction. This ORR-based reach is considered as minimum reach if it is higher than the engagement-based estimate.
Distribution of buzz (contribution volume) across different media channels.
Share of mentions of your company, brand, or product compared to the competition. This serves as a measure of your brand presence and indicates how strongly you dominate the conversation in your industry. In benchmark analyses, the share of voice (also: share of discussion) is calculated from the proportional coverage of a company in relation to the industry average.
The number of contributions or the reach is recorded, optionally differentiated by tonality or exclusive mention.
Unique User (UU), sometimes called Unique Visitors, refers to the number of people who have visited a website during a specific period. Unlike visits, this only counts the number of users during a period, not the total number of views. Typically, UUs are reported on a monthly basis.
Views show how often a post or video was displayed to users - that is, how many visual contacts it achieved. Depending on the platform, the counting method varies slightly; however, the metric generally measures pure visibility, without interactions like likes or comments.
Visits show the number of accesses per month to a website with the call of one or more individual pages (page impressions).
Share of coverage in previously defined, relevant media brands or media types (e.g., regional, economic, or industry media). Often referred to as penetration rate.
Share of reporting on prioritized, strategic topics of your company. Allows targeted management of the topic agenda or topic architecture.
The tone of contributions shows the mood that emerges in the media. Also often called sentiment. Different scales can be used – a common one is from -1 (negative) to +1 (positive).