What is the difference between earned, owned, and paid media in reputation?

The earned-owned-paid distinction matters in reputation work because the three behave very differently over time. Earned media is third-party coverage – press, analyst mentions, podcast appearances – that you influence but do not control, and that carries credibility precisely because it is independent. Owned media is the properties you control completely: the corporate site, executive profiles, microsites. Paid media is advertising, where you control the message but rent the placement. For durable digital reputation, owned and earned do the lasting work: owned properties anchor the entity and hold branded results, while earned coverage supplies the authoritative third-party validation that search and the AI engines weight heavily. Paid amplifies reach in the moment but rarely persists in the result set or the engines’ synthesis once the spend stops. The strategic implication is to build owned and earn credibility for the durable base, using paid to accelerate rather than substitute. We track how owned and earned assets hold up across search and the engines with IMPACT™ and AIQ™.