What are Estimated Impressions?

Estimated Impressions is our best estimate of how many people actually saw a specific piece of content — a print article, an online article, or a social post. It's different from audience size, which only tells you how many people could have seen it.

How is it different from Reach / circulation / visitors / followers?

Those are all audience metrics — they measure the potential audience for an outlet or account. Estimated Impressions narrows that down to the likely actual audience for one specific placement.

• Circulation = copies distributed → Estimated Impressions = people likely to have read the article.
• Monthly Visitors = everyone who visited the site → Estimated Impressions = people likely to have seen that one article.
• Followers / fans = the account's audience → Estimated Impressions = people likely to have seen that one post.

Estimated Impressions is almost always smaller than Reach — and that's the point.

Does this change my MIV?

No. MIV is calculated exactly as before. Estimated Impressions is a completely separate, additive metric — it sits alongside MIV and Reach without altering either.

How is it calculated for print?

A single printed copy is usually read by more than one person (passed around at home, in waiting rooms, at newsstands). Based on established readership research, we estimate an average of 3.5 readers per copy:

Estimated Impressions = Circulation × 3.5

The same factor is applied to all print titles for consistency.

How is it calculated for online?

Most visitors to a website never see any one specific article, so we estimate the share who likely did — starting from about 2.5% of the site's monthly visitors (a widely used industry benchmark), then adjusting slightly up or down depending on how engaged that site's audience is relative to how much it publishes.

How is it calculated for social?

We always prefer real data. On platforms that publish view counts (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Bilibili, WeChat), we use the actual views where available, which on Instagram means Reels and video. On platforms that don't (Facebook, X/Twitter, Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu), we estimate exposure from the account's audience size and how the post performed, using patterns learned from hundreds of millions of real posts.

Why is my Estimated Impressions number different from what DMR showed?

If you're migrating from DMR, Estimated Impressions replaces the readership/impressions figure you saw there. The methods differ, so the numbers won't match one-for-one. Estimated Impressions is calculated the same way for every account across the panel, which makes placements comparable to each other. Your Customer Success Manager can walk through any specific difference with a source-backed explanation.

How accurate is it?

It depends on the channel. Print and online use benchmarks well established across the media-measurement industry. For social, where a platform gives us real view counts, the figure is exact rather than estimated. Where we do estimate, the method was validated against tens of thousands of posts with known view counts before release.

Why do some social posts show no Estimated Impressions?

If a post has no view count, no usable audience figure, and no engagement, there's simply nothing reliable to estimate from. In those rare cases we show no value rather than a number we can't stand behind.

Does the number change over time?

For social, yes — as a post gathers more views and engagement, its Estimated Impressions is refreshed to stay current. For online, the value is set when the article is captured and reflects the site's data at that time; it isn't rewritten later.

Is this an extra cost?

No. Estimated Impressions is included — it's a new metric available across your coverage, not a paid add-on.

Which channels does it cover?

All three: Print, Online, and Social.