Audience Measurement
Reach
The absolute number of distinct, individual audience members exposed to a specific advertisement or campaign at least once.
What is Reach?
Reach counts unique people exposed to a message during a defined campaign period. It is a de-duplicated headcount — someone who hears a spot ten times still counts as one reached individual. Reach sets the upper bound on how many people could possibly be influenced by a campaign.
In media planning, Reach is paired with Frequency: together they form the classic reach-and-frequency model that sits behind almost every broadcast media buy. Advertisers trying to introduce a new product emphasize Reach; advertisers trying to change behaviour emphasize Frequency. The art of planning is striking the right balance within a fixed budget.
Why it matters
In advanced media planning, reach is balanced against frequency to determine the total effective penetration of a campaign.
Related terms
- Frequency— The average number of times a targeted individual or household is exposed to a specific advertisement within a defined campaign flight.
- Gross Impressions (GIs)— The total mathematical sum of all exposures to an advertisement, regardless of whether they represent unique individuals.
- Audience Composition— The demographic, psychographic, or socioeconomic breakdown of a station's listener base, usually expressed in percentages.
- Audience Turnover— The calculated ratio of a station's cumulative audience (Cume) compared to its Average Quarter-Hour (AQH) audience.