audience share

Portion of the group of people who might receive an advertising message, or who are of interest to the advertiser, and who actually do receive the message.

Audience share can be calculated electronically, as with the nielsen ratings, or through personal, telephone, or direct-mail survey, as is commonly done by magazine publishers. For example, a sample of 2000 skiers might be sent a survey by a skiing magazine publisher asking which magazines they read and the frequency with which they read them. If 1000 respond by saying they read a skiing magazine, and if 500 of those respondents read the publisher's skiing magazine, then the publisher's audience share is 500/1000 (50) or 500/2000 (25), depending upon how the audience is defined. See also share.