What Is the PESO Model?
The PESO Model is a planning framework from Spin Sucks, the communications training company founded by Gini Dietrich, that sorts marketing and PR work into four media types and plans them as one program. The current definition on Spin Sucks's PESO Model page (last modified August 3, 2026, according to the page's metadata) reads, verbatim:
“The PESO Model® is an integrated marketing and communications operating system that unifies paid, earned, shared, and owned media into one measurable strategy. Created by Gini Dietrich, founder of Spin Sucks, and introduced in 2014, it has graduated from a framework into a full operating system—one that feeds itself, where each channel makes the next one stronger.”
Dietrich's earlier, shorter definition, in her 2020 article What Is the PESO Model?, is: “The PESO Model takes the four media types—paid, earned, shared and owned—and merges them together.” Both versions make the same point. The four letters are categories; the model is the integration between them. Spin Sucks puts it as “Four media types. One operating system. The power isn’t in any single channel—it’s in how they reinforce each other.”
Where the PESO Model Comes From
Gini Dietrich created the PESO Model, and Spin Sucks dates its launch to 2014. In her 2020 history of the model, Dietrich writes: “The PESO Model© officially launched in 2014, when Spin Sucks (the book) was published.” She says it was the process her agency, Arment Dietrich, used with clients for several years before that, and that it was named and written down after she read the business book Traction in early 2013, followed by Built to Sell.
The model built on an older three-way split. In December 2009, Forrester analyst Sean Corcoran published Defining Earned, Owned, And Paid Media (archived copy), noting that the terms “earned, owned, and paid (aka bought) media” had “become very popular in the interactive marketing space”. In that framework, social accounts were “partially-owned media (like Facebook fan page or Twitter account)”, and earned media had “evolved into the transparent and permanent word-of-mouth that is being created through social media.” PESO's main change was to give social activity its own category: shared.
Dietrich has also answered why the acronym starts with paid. “If I were to order the media types in order of importance, from a communications perspective, it would be OESP—owned, earned, shared, and then paid,” she wrote. “But that’s a lot harder to remember, isn’t it?”
The Four Media Types in the PESO Model
Spin Sucks defines each of the four PESO media types by its job and lists what it includes. The table quotes the current PESO Model page verbatim. The last column is our summary of who controls the message and who pays, which is the practical test for classifying anything not on the lists.
| Media type | Spin Sucks's description (verbatim) | What Spin Sucks says it includes (verbatim) | Who controls it / who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid | “Amplify trusted signals. Paid doesn’t manufacture results; it scales the ones already working.” | “Sponsored and boosted content, paid influencer programs, search and social ads, retargeting, lead gen campaigns, and pay-for-play media placements.” | You pay a third party to carry your message |
| Earned | “Validate what you claim. Earned media is third-party credibility. It’s the proof others vouch for you.” | “Media coverage, brand mentions, backlinks, awards, reviews, creator and influencer content, podcast interviews, analyst recognition, thought leadership, and AI citations.” | A third party decides what to say about you; you do not pay for it |
| Shared | “Distribute, stress-test, and listen. Shared is where your narrative travels and where your market talks back” | “Social media posts, comments, shares, community platforms, co-created content, and social listening.” | You post on platforms you do not own; audiences respond and redistribute |
| Owned | “Define your authority. Owned media is your source of truth and your destination” | “Website, blog, email, podcast, video library, and resource hubs.” | You control the message and the platform |
Two details in the lists matter for buyers of media services. “Pay-for-play media placements” sit under paid, not earned. And “paid influencer programs” are paid, while “creator and influencer content” that is not paid for is earned. Dietrich's 2020 article draws the owned line the same way: hosting content on a platform such as Medium is not owned, because “the reason it’s called ‘owned’ is because you own it and are not renting it to anyone.”
Our count of items in each type's "includes" list on the current PESO Model page, October 10, 2026; a count, not a measurement
Source: Spin Sucks, The PESO Model page (lists quoted in the table above); count by Media Morpheus.
A count of named examples, not a measure of importance or spend. Earned is the widest list because it now includes backlinks, reviews, podcast interviews and AI citations.
How the Definitions Have Changed Since 2020
The PESO labels have stayed the same since 2014, but Spin Sucks's description of what sits in each category has changed. Comparing the 2020 article with the current PESO Model page shows email moving from paid to owned, and earned media widening from journalists to backlinks, reviews, podcasts and AI citations. Dietrich's January 2026 primer says of the model: “It’s no longer the list of tactics we launched in 2014.”
| Media type | 2020 article (Spin Sucks, Sept 8, 2020) | Current PESO Model page (read Oct 8, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Paid | “social media advertising, sponsored content, and email marketing” | Sponsored and boosted content, paid influencer programs, search and social ads, retargeting, lead gen, pay-for-play placements |
| Earned | “what you know as either publicity or media relations” | Coverage plus brand mentions, backlinks, awards, reviews, creator content, podcast interviews, analyst recognition, AI citations |
| Shared | “what you know as social media” | Social posts, comments, shares, community platforms, co-created content, social listening |
| Owned | “what you know as content. It is something you own, and it lives on your website or blog.” | Website, blog, email, podcast, video library, resource hubs |
If you cite the PESO Model in a plan or a brief, cite the current page and date it. Older articles, including Spin Sucks's own, describe the categories differently.
How the Four Media Types Work Together
Spin Sucks says the value of the PESO Model is in the hand-offs between media types, not in running all four at once. Its PESO Model page distinguishes the two: “Coordination puts tactics on a timeline. Integration designs the handoffs between them, where the output of one channel becomes the input of the next.”
Dietrich's 2026 primer sums up each type's role in four lines: “Owned media proves expertise. Earned media validates it. Shared media tests it. Paid media accelerates it.” The PESO Model page describes the order in which they build on each other: “Owned content becomes your foundation. Shared distributes it. Earned reinforces authority. Paid amplifies what’s already working.”
In practice, that means one asset moving through all four types. A hypothetical example: a company publishes original survey findings on its own site (owned); a trade reporter covers them and links to the page (earned); the company's executives post and discuss the coverage (shared); and the company pays to promote the posts that drew the most engagement (paid). The PESO Model page also describes a six-stage maturity ladder for how integrated a team is: Foundation, Pilot, Scale, Systemize, Real-Time and Leadership.
What the PESO Model Is Not
The PESO Model is a proprietary planning framework, not an industry standard, a measurement method or a search ranking system. These limits follow from what Spin Sucks, AMEC and Google publish:
- Not a sequence. The letters do not tell you to start with paid. Dietrich says that by importance she would order them owned, earned, shared, paid.
- Not a measurement standard. Spin Sucks says the model is “built to prove outcomes, not count outputs,” but the measurement standards PR teams cite, such as AMEC's Integrated Evaluation Framework, come from AMEC. AMEC's framework uses PESO as a way to tag activities.
- Not public domain. Spin Sucks says the PESO Model is a registered trademark of Spin Sucks, “free to use with attribution and licensed for commercial use.” Using it to train teams, pitch clients or deliver strategy requires a commercial license, according to Spin Sucks.
- Not a way to relabel paid work as earned. Spin Sucks lists pay-for-play placements under paid. Separately, Google's spam policies list “Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass ranking credit” as link spam, unless the links carry
rel="nofollow"orrel="sponsored". - Not a guarantee of AI visibility. Spin Sucks markets PESO for “an AI-first world”. That is the model owner's claim. No framework controls what an AI system retrieves or cites.
How to Classify Common PR Activities Under PESO
Most PESO arguments are about edge cases: activities that look like coverage but were paid for, or content that sits on someone else's platform. Where Spin Sucks's lists name the activity, the table follows them. Where they do not, the classification is ours, using the control-and-payment test from the four-types table. Our explainer on the difference between a wire release, a contributed post and earned coverage covers three of these in more detail.
| Activity | PESO type | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| News story a journalist chose to write | Earned | Spin Sucks lists “Media coverage” under earned |
| Sponsored article or paid placement in a publication | Paid | Spin Sucks lists “pay-for-play media placements” and “Sponsored and boosted content” under paid |
| Press release distributed through a paid wire | Paid distribution of owned content (our classification) | Not named by Spin Sucks. You write it and pay to distribute it; coverage that follows is earned |
| Guest interview on someone else's podcast | Earned | Spin Sucks lists “podcast interviews” under earned |
| Your company's own podcast | Owned | Spin Sucks lists “podcast” under owned |
| Host-read ad on a podcast | Paid | Dietrich's 2026 primer lists “host-read placements” among paid media's jobs |
| Executive's LinkedIn post | Shared | Spin Sucks lists “Social media posts” under shared |
| Boosting that LinkedIn post | Paid | “Sponsored and boosted content” is listed under paid |
| Customer reviews and awards | Earned | Spin Sucks lists “awards, reviews” under earned |
| Being cited in an AI answer | Earned | Spin Sucks lists “AI citations” under earned |
Classification has consequences beyond the plan. A paid placement presented as independent coverage raises disclosure issues; our explainer on what the FTC requires when a placement is paid for sets out the rules, and our analysis of whether a paid placement passes SEO value covers Google's side.
PESO vs Related Frameworks and Terms
The PESO Model is often confused with the frameworks it grew from or is measured with. The table sets out what each covers and who defines it.
| Term | What it describes | Defined by | Relationship to PESO |
|---|---|---|---|
| PESO Model | Four media types planned as one integrated program | Gini Dietrich, Spin Sucks (2014) | — |
| Earned, owned and paid media | Three-way categorisation of media options | Forrester, Sean Corcoran (2009), among others | Predecessor; PESO separates shared (social) media from owned and earned |
| Integrated marketing communications (IMC) | The idea that messages should be integrated across channels | Marketing discipline (no single owner) | Spin Sucks: “IMC is a philosophy”; PESO “is the operating system that makes that integration real” |
| AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework | Free planning and evaluation tool from objectives to impact | AMEC | A measurement framework; its activities step lets users tag work as paid, earned, shared or owned |
| Share of voice | Your share of the total visibility or spend in a category | Varies by source | A metric you can calculate for each PESO type; see What Is Share of Voice? |
How to Apply the PESO Model to a Communications Plan
Applying the PESO Model starts with business goals and owned assets, not with choosing channels. Spin Sucks's PESO Model page says to “Start with your business goals, not your media tactics” and to “design the handoffs before you design the calendar.” A practical sequence based on that guidance:
- Audit what you already have in each type. List owned assets (site, blog, email, podcast), current earned coverage and reviews, shared channels, and any paid programs. Use the four-types table to classify edge cases consistently.
- Fix the owned foundation first. Dietrich calls owned media “the system of record”. Earned coverage and paid promotion need a credible page to point to.
- Plan the hand-offs. For each campaign, write down what each type feeds the next: which owned asset earned outreach will cite, which coverage shared channels will redistribute, which proven post paid will boost.
- Keep paid and earned separate in reporting. Label sponsored placements as paid, even when they appear in a publication. Mixing them makes earned results look larger than they are.
- Measure outcomes by type. AMEC's framework separates outputs, out-takes, outcomes and impact. Our guide to measuring whether placement worked explains why advertising value equivalency is not one of those measures.
- Check AI answers as one outcome, not the goal. If AI visibility matters, record what assistants say before and after a campaign using our guide to checking what AI says about your company.
Common Misconceptions About the PESO Model
Most PESO misconceptions come from reading the acronym as an order of work, or from older descriptions of the categories. Each row checks a common claim against what the source says.
| Myth | What the source actually says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| “PESO means start with paid media.” | Dietrich: by importance it “would be OESP—owned, earned, shared, and then paid.” PESO is easier to remember. | Spin Sucks, 2020 |
| “Shared media is the same as owned media.” | Spin Sucks lists social posts under shared and the website, blog and email under owned. Dietrich's 2020 article says hosting content on platforms you do not own is not owned. | Spin Sucks PESO Model page |
| “A paid placement in a well-known publication counts as earned.” | Spin Sucks lists “pay-for-play media placements” under paid. | Spin Sucks PESO Model page |
| “Earned media means press coverage only.” | Current earned list includes brand mentions, backlinks, awards, reviews, creator content, podcast interviews, analyst recognition and AI citations. | Spin Sucks PESO Model page |
| “PESO is a public-domain industry standard.” | Spin Sucks says it is a registered trademark of Spin Sucks, free to use with attribution, with a commercial license for training, client pitches or strategy work. | Spin Sucks PESO Model page |
| “Running all four channels at the same time is PESO.” | “A shared calendar and a launch date don’t make a PESO campaign; connected handoffs do.” | Spin Sucks PESO Model page |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who created the PESO Model?
Gini Dietrich, founder and CEO of Spin Sucks. Spin Sucks says the model was introduced in 2014, when her book Spin Sucks was published, and Dietrich writes that her agency, Arment Dietrich, used the process with clients for several years before that.
What does PESO stand for?
Paid, earned, shared and owned: the four media types the model groups communications work into. Spin Sucks summarises it as “Four media types. One operating system.”
Is the PESO Model free to use?
Spin Sucks says the PESO Model is a registered trademark of Spin Sucks, “free to use with attribution and licensed for commercial use.” It says that if you use PESO to train teams, pitch clients or deliver strategy, you need a commercial license.
Why is it PESO and not OESP?
Dietrich has written that, ordered by importance from a communications perspective, the sequence would be owned, earned, shared, then paid. She kept PESO because it is easier to remember. The letters are not a sequence of steps.
Is a press release on a wire service earned media?
Spin Sucks's lists do not name wire releases. On the model's own test, a release you pay a wire to distribute is not earned: no third party chose to cover you. Coverage a journalist writes after reading it is earned.
Is email owned media or paid media?
It depends on which Spin Sucks text you read. A 2020 Spin Sucks article listed email marketing under paid media. The current PESO Model page lists email under owned media, alongside the website, blog and podcast.
How do you measure a PESO program?
Spin Sucks says the model should measure outcomes such as visibility in AI and search, engagement depth and business results rather than impressions. AMEC's Integrated Evaluation Framework, a free industry tool, lets users tag activities as paid, earned, shared or owned.
Does the PESO Model help with AI search visibility?
Spin Sucks says it does and lists AI citations under earned media, but it is the model's owner making that claim. No framework can guarantee an AI citation; the AI systems decide what they retrieve and cite.
What is the difference between shared and earned media?
In Spin Sucks's current definitions, shared media is social activity such as posts, comments, shares and communities, while earned media is third-party credibility such as coverage, reviews, podcast interviews and analyst recognition. Creator and influencer content appears under earned; paid influencer programs appear under paid.
Sources and Methodology
This explainer is built from primary sources read on October 8, 2026: Spin Sucks's PESO Model page (last modified August 3, 2026, according to its metadata), Gini Dietrich's September 8, 2020 article on the model's history and her January 20, 2026 primer, Forrester's December 16, 2009 post on earned, owned and paid media (read via the Internet Archive copy captured October 4, 2021, because the live address now redirects), AMEC's Integrated Evaluation Framework page and Google's spam policies (last updated August 28, 2026, according to the page). Definitions and category lists are quoted verbatim. Where Spin Sucks does not classify an activity, the classification is ours and is labelled as such. Spin Sucks's performance figures, such as its diagnostic statistics and its claim about the share of AI-cited links coming from earned, shared and owned media, are the vendor's own and are not repeated as findings; we could not check their method. We did not test the PESO Model or Spin Sucks's training. Spin Sucks updates its pages, so quotations are dated to the day we read them.
- originator Spin Sucks, The PESO Model® (last modified August 3, 2026, according to the page's metadata). Read October 8, 2026.
- originator Gini Dietrich, Spin Sucks, What Is the PESO Model©?, September 8, 2020 (modified April 4, 2024). Read October 8, 2026.
- originator Gini Dietrich, Spin Sucks, A PESO Model® Primer for Marketers and Communicators, January 20, 2026. Read October 8, 2026.
- analyst Sean Corcoran, Forrester, Defining Earned, Owned, And Paid Media, December 16, 2009 (Internet Archive copy). Read October 8, 2026.
- industry body AMEC, AMEC’s Integrated Evaluation Framework. Read October 8, 2026.
- official Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search (last updated August 28, 2026, according to the page). Read October 8, 2026.