Circulation is a key concept in public relations, especially when looking to reach target audiences and measure the potential reach of an organization's message. Put simply, circulation is a measurement of the number of people likely to encounter a media message. It provides an indicator of the total potential audience who can read or view a message.
The concept of circulation works in tandem with the idea of reach - which indicates how many times a media message or ad was seen or heard by viewers or readers. For example, if an advertisement was seen or heard three times (through radio, print, and billboard) by a particular audience, it is said to have three ‘impressions’ and one ‘reach’. That one reach captures all of the impressions.
The concept of circulation is used by PR teams and media outlets to estimate the potential size of the audience they can reach with a public relations message. It involves calculating the number of people who are exposed to the message, and it is used in a variety of ways – both internally by companies and agencies, and by media outlets. Calculating the potential reach of a media campaign also helps PR teams understand how to best coordinate their efforts and maximize the success of their campaigns.
When trying to measure the potential reach of a public relations message, circulation must be considered alongside several other factors. This includes understanding what publication or medium the message is being delivered on, the frequency of the publication (how often the particular source is published, i.e. monthly, weekly, daily etc.) and the size, demographic and industry focus of the publication or audience. Looking at the data for each of these variables helps refine circulation estimates.
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Circulation figures are often provided by media outlets themselves to help PR teams estimate their potential reach. Media outlets provide circulation reports which detail how many copies of a publication were sent out, how many people visited a particular website in a specific period of time, or how many people heard a particular radio or television broadcast. Estimating the circulation of an online publication takes into account the number of visitors and pageviews the site had in a given time period. When possible, the circulation numbers reported by media outlets should be taken into account in order to get an accurate estimate of the potential reach.
In addition to taking circulation into account, it is also important to look into other metrics that impact potential reach of a message such as total page views, time spent on page, bounce rate, and click-through rate. All these figures further help PR teams estimate the potential reach of their message and make more informed decisions on how to target their messaging accordingly.
Once the estimated reach and potential audience size for a media message or campaign is measured, PR professionals can then look at their efforts and see what worked and what didn’t. This helps them refine their strategies and create better campaigns going forward. For example, if a particular message or ad was well-received by the audience, PR teams can then use this feedback to determine which publications or media sources reach the target audience best and what type of messages and delivery methods to use going forward.