What is share of voice?

A brand's slice of total advertising or attention in its category, relative to all competitors.

What is excess share of voice?

The gap between a brand's share of voice and its share of market; a positive gap tends to predict growth.

Growth Marketing Glossary

Share of Voice

noun (often SOV)

Your slice of the category's total noise — and, when it exceeds your market share, a leading indicator of growth.

Schematic — your share of category voice

Term: Share of Voice
Often written: SOV
Part of speech: Noun
Field: Brand / Media

Forms & parts of speech

share of voice · noun

A brand's portion of category voice.

"We held a share of voice above our market share to keep growing."

Definition in plain terms

Share of voice (SOV) is a brand's portion of the total advertising, media, or attention in its category — how loud you are relative to every competitor combined. It can be measured in ad spend, impressions, or even share of search and social conversation.

The mechanics

SOV matters most relative to market share. The evidence from Les Binet and Peter Field is that when a brand's share of voice exceeds its share of market (a positive "excess share of voice"), it tends to grow; when SOV falls below market share, it tends to shrink, with the size of the gap relating to growth rate.

When it matters

SOV reframes ad budget as a competitive variable — what matters is your voice relative to rivals, not absolute spend. It argues against under-investing to the point where your voice drops below your market share, where decline tends to follow.

Worked example. A brand with 20% market share sustains a 28% share of voice — a positive excess of eight points. Over the following periods it gains share, consistent with the Binet-Field finding. A rival that cut spend until its SOV fell below its market share slowly lost ground, even though its product hadn't changed.

Failure modes to watch. Setting ad budgets in absolute terms while ignoring competitive share of voice; letting SOV fall below market share into decline; and treating the SOV-to-growth link as a precise formula rather than an evidence-based relationship.

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

SOVshare of market voice

Antonyms

share of silenceunder-investment

Usage trends

Search interest for this term over the last five years:

View interest-over-time on Google Trends →

Common questions

What is share of voice?: A brand's slice of total advertising or attention in its category, relative to all competitors.
What is excess share of voice?: The gap between a brand's share of voice and its share of market; a positive gap tends to predict growth.
Why does share of voice matter for budgeting?: It reframes ad spend as competitive — your voice relative to rivals, not absolute spend, predicts whether you grow or shrink.

Related tools & calculators

toolExcess share of voice tool
toolBrand lift forecaster

Resources & people to follow

bookThe Long and the Short of It — Les Binet & Peter Field
bookHow Brands Grow — Byron Sharp
thought leaderMark Ritson — brand strategy & marketing effectiveness

Curated, non-competitor resources verified per term.

Related training

moduleGrowth marketing foundations

Disciplines

Areas of marketing where share of voice is a core concern:

Brand marketingMedia planning

Sources

trendsGoogle Trends — "share of voice"