Practice

Placement

media placement

Definition

Placement is one story in one outlet: a booked segment, a column slot, a reported URL. Comms teams use it the way buyers use “insertion.” Coverage is the broader pile. A placement is a single row.

Some teams reserve the word for things they scheduled (a satellite tour hit, a contributed column) and say “coverage” for anything that ran unbooked. Say which rule you use. The clip report should still be one row per URL or airing.

How it works

Log outlet, date, format, talent, link, and whether it was booked or reported. Deduplicate syndications. A morning-show booking in Cleveland and a rewrite of the same soundbite on the station’s site are two placements only if you need both the air and the URL; otherwise note “broadcast + web recap” on one row.

Worked example

Thursday: CNN hit (broadcast), CNN.com recap with a link (web), local affiliate reprint of the recap (syndication). Three files. For the CEO: one national hit plus a web URL. For SEO: one new referring page, maybe one domain.

How it differs

Coverage is the set. A clip is the saved copy. Earned media is the class. A paid native article is a placement too — in paid. Do not file it next to the reported feature without a paid flag.

Common errors

Calling a wire reprint 80 placements. Counting a quote in a roundup as equal to an exclusive feature. Using “placements this month” as the only board metric.

Sources