Impression Share (Metasearch and OTA Advertising)

Impression share is the percentage of eligible ad impressions a hotel actually receives, compared with the total it could have received for the searches it targeted. In hotel metasearch and OTA sponsored placements, it shows how often a property's rate or listing was shown out of all the opportunities available.

Formula

Impression Share = Impressions Received / Total Eligible Impressions × 100

Example

Over a week, hotel searches on a metasearch platform in a hotel's target markets create 50,000 eligible impressions. The hotel's ads are shown 30,000 times. Impression share is 60%. The remaining 40% is lost, for example because the bid was too low (lost to bid) or the budget ran out (lost to budget).

Why it matters

Impression share tells revenue and marketing teams whether growth is limited by competitiveness or by budget. A low share on high-converting dates suggests raising bids or adding budget; a high share with poor results points to price, content or conversion problems instead. It helps balance direct bookings against commission-based channels and supports decisions on bid modifiers.

Lost share reasons

• Lost to bid: competitors bid higher or offered more attractive rates.
• Lost to budget: the daily or monthly cap ended exposure early.
• Lost to rate: the hotel's price was not competitive enough to be shown.

Related

See Metasearch, Google Hotel Ads, CPC (Cost per Click), CTR (Click-Through Rate) and ROAS (Return on Ad Spend).