Reference library · Media planning
Money Share vs Rating Share
Money Share vs Rating Share compares a channel's percentage of total market ad spend (Money Share) against its percentage of total delivered ratings (Rating Share). When Money Share exceeds Rating Share, the channel is priced at a premium per rating point; when Rating Share exceeds Money Share, it delivers more audience than its cost share implies, making it the cheaper buy.
Formula
Worked example
Channel A spends EUR 2.4m of a EUR 12m total market TV spend, giving a Money Share of 20%. It delivers 3,600 GRPs of the market's 24,000 total GRPs, giving a Rating Share of 15%. Index = 20/15 x 100 = 133, meaning Channel A's cost per GRP (EUR 667) runs a third above the market average CPP (EUR 500). A planner reading this would push back on Channel A's rate card or shift budget toward channels with an index under 100.
How it is used
Planners run this at channel or station level during upfront negotiations and mid-flight reviews to flag which channels are overpriced or underpriced relative to delivery, then rebalance budget toward channels where Rating Share exceeds Money Share. The recurring mistake is computing the two shares on mismatched bases, most often using total-individuals GRPs for Rating Share while Money Share and the campaign itself are built against a narrower target demo, which produces an index that reflects the audience mismatch rather than real pricing.
The common mistake
Calculate Money Share and Rating Share against the same target audience and the same time period, otherwise the index measures a definitional gap, not price efficiency.