The PESO model sorts a brand's media into four types: paid, earned, shared and owned. Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks created it, and it officially launched with her 2014 book Spin Sucks. Brands buy paid media, win earned media through press coverage, see shared media spread through social platforms, and fully control owned media such as a website or newsletter. The model's point is integration: the four types work best as one system, not four separate budgets.
Last updated November 9, 2026. Dated facts below carry their sources.
What is the short answer on the PESO model?
The PESO model gives every channel a job: earned media builds credibility, owned media holds the brand's own explanation, shared media spreads both, and paid media extends reach on demand. A brand that funds only one type leaves the other three jobs undone.
- Owned media is the foundation, because earned and shared media usually point back to it.
- Earned media carries the most third-party credibility and the least control.
- Paid media buys speed and precision, and its reach stops when the budget stops.
- Shared media is the audience's own redistribution, which a brand can encourage but cannot order.
Quick definition: what does PESO stand for?
PESO stands for paid, earned, shared and owned, the four media types in the framework Gini Dietrich created.
How do the four PESO media types compare?
The four types differ mainly in who controls the message and who pays for the reach.
| Media type | Who controls it | Main job | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owned | The brand, fully | Hold the brand's own explanation and a destination for interested audiences | Website, blog, email newsletter, white papers, branded social accounts |
| Paid | The brand, by paying for placement | Extend reach to a chosen audience on a schedule | Search and display ads, sponsored social posts, paid influencer posts |
| Earned | The journalist, analyst or outlet | Build third-party credibility | Press coverage, analyst mentions, awards, independent reviews |
| Shared | The audience | Spread content through people's own networks | Customer reviews, user posts, creator mentions, reshares |
What is owned media?
Owned media is any content or channel a brand fully controls, including its website, blog, email list and branded social accounts. White papers, e-books and newsletters all count, because the brand decides what gets published and when, and no third party can edit or remove it.
Owned media is also where a media kit lives, since a kit built as a live web page gives journalists and AI research tools verified facts to pull from directly. The limit is reach: an owned channel only works on people who already come to it, which is why the other three types matter.
What is paid media?
Paid media is any channel where a brand pays directly for placement, including pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, sponsored social posts and paid mentions in broadcast or print. The brand controls the message the same way it does in owned media, but it rents the audience instead of owning it.
Paid advertising comes in several forms: display ads, search engine marketing, paid social and influencer partnerships. Each lets a brand pay a platform, publisher or network to put content in front of a chosen audience, in contrast to organic methods such as search optimization or unpaid social posts, where visibility builds over time.
- Auction-based buying: many search and social platforms sell placement by auction, so advertisers bid for space and the winning bid gets the impression.
- Budget control: advertisers set a daily or campaign budget and scale spend up or down.
- Precise targeting: platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn let advertisers reach specific demographics, interests and behaviors.
- Speed: paid placements deliver visibility right away, which suits product launches, time-sensitive promotions and events.
- Measurable results: campaign dashboards report impressions, clicks, conversions and return on investment.
- Creative flexibility: brands can run anything from display graphics to video.
Scale shows how much money moves through this type. Global advertising spend is forecast to pass $1 trillion for the first time in 2026, with digital at 68.7% of the total, according to dentsu's Global Ad Spend Forecasts, published December 3, 2025. The tradeoff is that paid reach stops when the budget stops, so brands usually pair paid media with owned and earned work.
What is earned media?
Earned media is unpaid coverage a brand wins through a relationship with a journalist, analyst or outlet, such as a segment on a morning show or a mention in an industry publication. It carries more third-party credibility than paid or owned media precisely because the brand did not pay for or write it, which is also why it is harder to control or guarantee.
Earned media still starts with pitches. Cision's 2026 State of the Media Report found that 66% of journalists rely on PR content for story ideas, according to its PR Newswire summary. Nielsen's research reports that 88% of people trust recommendations from someone they know over paid messages, per Nielsen's 2021 trust research, and an independent story lends a brand some of that trust. See what public relations is for how earned work is organized.
What is shared media?
Shared media is content distributed through social platforms by someone other than the brand itself, including an influencer mention, a customer review or a user sharing a brand's own post. Dietrich separated shared media from earned media because social platforms, where brands and audiences both create content, did not fit the older paid, earned and owned framework. A piece of owned content becomes shared media the moment someone other than the brand redistributes it.
How do the four media types work together?
The four types usually work in sequence: a piece of owned content, such as a research report, earns a journalist's attention and becomes earned media, readers then share the coverage as shared media, and a paid boost extends its reach further. Deciding how much weight each type gets is a core decision in a communications plan.
Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty shows the sequence. In 2004 Dove published "The Real Truth About Beauty," a study of 3,200 women in 10 countries that found only 2% considered themselves beautiful, according to Newsweek. The research was owned content, the press coverage it drew was earned, the public debate spread it as shared media, and Dove's paid advertising carried the message to a wider audience. The guide to PR vs marketing vs advertising covers how the roles split in that campaign.
How do you build a PESO plan?
A PESO plan starts with one goal and then assigns each media type a specific job. These five steps work for a launch, a rebrand or an always-on program.
- Write one measurable goal with a date, such as qualified demo requests in the quarter after launch.
- Build the owned foundation first: a web page that answers the buyer's main question, with dated facts.
- Plan the earned moment: the proof point, the reporters and analysts to brief, and the date coverage should land.
- Decide what the audience will share, and make it easy: a quotable finding, a clear image, a link that works on a phone.
- Reserve paid budget to amplify what earns attention, and start the paid flight after the earned window opens.
How do you measure each PESO media type?
Each type needs its own measures, read together against the single goal from the plan. Mixing the numbers into one total hides which type is doing the work.
| Media type | What to track | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Owned | Visits, email sign-ups, conversions on key pages | Whether the foundation turns interest into action |
| Paid | Reach, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend | What bought reach costs and what it returned |
| Earned | Coverage quality, share of voice, referral traffic, AI citations | Whether credible outlets carry the message |
| Shared | Mentions, reshares, review volume and sentiment | Whether the audience repeats the message |
The guide to measuring PR effectiveness explains how to set baselines before the program starts.
Why does PESO matter for AI search?
PESO matters for AI search because earned and owned media supply the sources AI answers draw on, and click-through from search results is falling when an AI summary appears. Pew Research Center found that users clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% when none did, per its July 2025 analysis. Being named in the answer therefore matters as much as ranking, and independent coverage is one way a brand earns that mention. No tactic guarantees a citation.
Frequently asked questions
Who created the PESO model?
Gini Dietrich, founder of the Spin Sucks agency, created the PESO model. Spin Sucks says it officially launched in 2014 with her book Spin Sucks, after several years as a process her agency used. The PESO Model is copyrighted and trademarked by Dietrich and Spin Sucks, which allows use with attribution under Creative Commons.
What does PESO stand for in PR?
PESO stands for paid, earned, shared and owned, the four media types in the framework.
What is the difference between earned and shared media?
Earned media is coverage a journalist or outlet chooses to publish, while shared media is content the audience redistributes on social platforms, such as a review or a reshare.
Which media type should a small brand prioritize first?
Owned media is usually the right starting point because it needs no media relationships or ad budget, only a website or blog the brand controls, and earned and shared media can then point back to it.
Can one piece of content be more than one media type?
Yes. A blog post is owned media when published, becomes earned media if a journalist cites it, and becomes shared media when a reader posts it to social platforms.
What is the main advantage of paid media over organic methods?
Speed and control. Paid placements deliver visibility immediately and can be targeted by demographic, interest or behavior, while organic methods take longer to gain traction.
How do you measure a PESO plan?
Track each type on its own measures, such as conversions for owned, cost per acquisition for paid, coverage quality for earned and mentions for shared, then compare them against one goal set before launch.
What should a brand do first?
A brand should write one measurable goal, publish the owned page that answers its buyer's main question, and plan the earned moment before it commits paid budget. 5W's digital PR practice builds integrated programs that move one message across owned, earned, shared and paid channels. The PESO Model© was created by Spin Sucks.
