What does a ‘good’ level of media attention look like?

It’s a question we looked at closely in our report: Communicate & Grow.

Looking at the media output of almost 80 ambitious, early-stage tech companies, we found that fewer than half (49%) of the tech businesses we studied got enough coverage in 12 months to fill more than a page of Google News mentions. 7% generated no news mentions at all.

And only a quarter (23%) achieved the kind of sustained exposure needed to drive recognition and memorability.

A ‘good’ level of media attention differs according to levels of funding and specialism. Unsurprisingly, firms with the most funding secure the most coverage.

Allowing for differences in size, it seems to be easier for firms in some sectors – notably Fintech and Net Zero – to win coverage than those in other industries.

Net Zero firms with $10m – $100m behind them did particularly well in the period studied, mainly due to added attention on the sector with COP26.

It’s important to note that the mean figures are heavily influenced by the excellent results achieved by a few firms that are highly proactive in their communications.

If we look at the median (or middle-of-the-pack) company instead, that company secured just 18 general news articles in the 12 months we looked at – and no agenda-setting media mentions.

Businesses that are not yet driving their own media agenda don’t need to move the dial far to be well ahead of their peers and potential rivals.