πΊ GRP Calculator
Reach times frequency, the media weight metric.
Gross rating points
Estimates for planning only, not financial advice.
Gross rating points measure total advertising weight: reach percent times average frequency. Reach 60% of the audience an average of 4 times and the campaign delivers 240 GRPs. It is the oldest currency in media planning, and still the one TV and radio buy and sell on.
How to Use This Calculator
Enter the percent of the target audience reached at least once and the average number of exposures per reached person. The calculator multiplies them into GRPs.
Enter reach as a percent of your target audience.
Enter average frequency, exposures per reached person.
Read GRPs. For the cost side of the same plan, our ROI calculator judges whether the spend paid back.
The GRP Formula
GRPs can exceed 100 because frequency stacks: reaching 60% of people 4 times is 240 GRPs, meaning the equivalent of the whole audience saw it 2.4 times. Target rating points (TRPs) are the same math against a specific demographic instead of households. The metric is deliberately dumb: it counts exposures, not attention, which is both its strength as a trading currency and its weakness as a measure of effect.
Worked Example
Reach 60% at frequency 4: GRPs = 240. Two ways to buy the same 240: reach 80% at frequency 3, or reach 40% at frequency 6. The first builds broad awareness; the second hammers a smaller group, better for a complex message that needs repetition. Media planners argue about this tradeoff constantly, and the GRP total alone cannot settle it, which is why reach and frequency are always reported separately alongside.
What GRPs Miss
Everything about quality: a GRP from a distracted second-screen viewer counts the same as one from a captivated one. It ignores creative strength entirely; the same 240 GRPs behind great creative versus terrible creative produce wildly different sales. Digital added viewability and attention metrics precisely because GRPs could not see them. And frequency has diminishing returns: the 8th exposure adds far less than the 3rd, but GRPs count them equally.
My planning rule: buy reach for new news and frequency for persuasion, and never judge a plan by GRPs alone. Set an effective-frequency goal (usually 3+) and check what share of reach actually got there. The GRP total tells you the weight; the reach curve tells you whether it landed.
Estimates for planning only, not financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are gross rating points?
Reach percent times average frequency: the total weight of an ad campaign. 60% reach at 4x frequency is 240 GRPs. It is the standard trading currency for TV and radio advertising.
What is the difference between GRP and TRP?
GRPs measure against a broad base like households; TRPs (target rating points) measure against a specific demographic, like adults 25-54. Same formula, narrower audience.
How many GRPs do I need?
Rules of thumb: 100-200 per week for maintenance, 300+ for launches. New products need heavier weight. But the right number depends on creative strength, category noise, and whether you need reach or frequency.
Can GRPs exceed 100?
Yes, routinely. Frequency stacks without limit, so 60% reach at 4 frequency is 240 GRPs. Values in the hundreds are normal for national campaigns.
What is effective frequency?
The idea that an ad needs about 3+ exposures to register. Planners check how much reach cleared the effective-frequency threshold, not merely the total, since sub-threshold exposures waste money.
Do GRPs work for digital advertising?
Approximately. Digital uses impressions and reach the same way, but adds viewability, completion, and attention metrics that GRPs ignore. Cross-platform plans often still total everything into GRPs for comparability.
GRPs vs impressions?
Impressions are raw exposure counts; GRPs normalize them as a percent of the audience times frequency. 240 GRPs against a 10M audience is 24M impressions. Same weight, different units.
Why do planners still use GRPs?
Because it is a simple, comparable currency for buying and selling media weight across programs and markets. Its flaws are well known, which is why it is supplemented, not replaced, by quality metrics.
What is share of voice?
Your brand's GRPs divided by total category GRPs: the share of advertising weight you own. It correlates with market share over time, which is why planners track it as religiously as the absolute number.
How do streaming platforms measure GRPs?
They translate impressions into GRP equivalents against Nielsen-style audience panels, so a connected-TV plan can be compared head-to-head with linear TV. The math is the same; the measurement plumbing is newer.
What is a good cost per GRP?
It varies wildly by market and daypart: national TV might run a few thousand dollars per point while local radio runs tens. Compare cost per point within the same medium and market, never across them.
Do GRPs measure attention?
No, they measure exposure opportunity. Attention metrics from eye-tracking and device data are the newer layer planners add on top. A plan can deliver its GRPs while earning little real attention.