Owned media is valued bottom-up: by auditing every media format the organisation owns and operates, quantifying each format’s audience and inventory, and benchmarking it against market rates. The result is a realistic monetary value for every format, and for the media network as a whole.
Owned media covers everything an organisation owns and controls that attracts an audience: websites, apps, email, stores, screens, packaging and loyalty programs. Most organisations rigorously audit the media they buy, but rarely value the media they own, which is why so much of it is given away or underpriced.
The method matters. Top-down approaches, taking a revenue figure like GMV and assuming a percentage will convert to media income, produces numbers that look impressive but will be hard to achieve. A bottom-up valuation builds confidence from the media asset itself: the media formats that exist, the audience size and profile, and uses benchmarked owned media CPMs (cost per thousands) rather than guesswork or nearest proxies.
A credible valuation answers three questions: what is each format worth, what is the total commercial opportunity, and how to unlock that revenue. Whether the commercial model is a retail media network, a commerce media network, or value-exchange, a valuation provides the only viable starting point for defining the business case.
The scale of the opportunity is significant. Sonder’s 2026 Global Report, produced with media analyst Andrew Lipsman and the CMO Council, sized the global commercial potential of owned media at $573 billion, with less than 30% of that currently being commercialised. An audit and valuation is how an organisation defines its share of that potential.
FAQs
What is owned media?
The media an organisation owns and operates: websites, apps, email, stores, screens and loyalty programs. It is the asset beneath every retail media network and commerce media network.
How long does an owned media valuation take?
An audit and valuation takes 6-8 weeks and it becomes the foundation for every commercial decision that follows.
What do you get from a valuation?
A media asset value for your organisation as a whole, the total commercial potential and the pathways to realise it, whether through a media network or other commercial models.
