How to use the media coverage reach calculator
When a story lands in several outlets, the usual way to answer "how many people saw it" is to add up each outlet’s audience. The catch is that this sum is a potential reach ceiling with duplicates left in: someone who reads two of the outlets is counted twice.
This calculator never assumes an audience figure. You enter the numbers you can verify — circulation audits, media kits, wire syndication reports, or traffic tools — and it returns the sum plus each outlet’s share. The share column shows whether reach is concentrated in one big outlet or spread across several.
Audience overlap is optional. If you have a defensible duplication rate, enter it and the tool subtracts it from the sum; that result row appears only when you enter a value, and its label states the percentage that was subtracted. Leave it blank and only the ceiling is shown.
Turning reach into a dollar figure needs a separate cost per impression, so this tool stays in people. When you report the number, keeping the words "potential reach, duplicates not removed" next to it prevents the figure from being read as net reach.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use it carefully. Adding up outlet audiences does not remove people who read more than one outlet, so it is a potential reach ceiling. Net reach — the number of distinct people who actually saw the story — is always equal to or lower than this figure.
This tool does not estimate overlap for you. Enter a figure you can back up, such as duplication data from a media study or your own survey. Leave it blank and only the un-adjusted ceiling is shown.
Monthly unique visitors for online outlets, program viewers for broadcast, and paid circulation for print all work. Mixing bases blurs the total, so it helps to compare outlets of the same type together.