PR industry measurement has been broken for a decade. AVE (advertising-value equivalence) is discredited. Impressions are unaudited and gameable. Share of voice conflates paid, earned, and social. The measurement CMOs actually need is one number, defended by one formula, benchmarked against a public dataset — and until now that number did not exist.

CPT1 is that number. It is deliberately simple. It uses a defensible denominator (tier-1 placements, strictly defined) and a defensible numerator (fully-loaded annual spend, including reimbursed expenses). It benchmarks well because the underlying dataset is large enough to be credible and small enough to update quarterly. It is opinionated in exactly the right places — it refuses to reward volume, refuses to accept looser tier-1 definitions, and refuses to treat brand-lift and pipeline-influence as substitutes for measurable coverage output.

The metric is released under CC BY 4.0. If it becomes the industry standard, that's the outcome we want — including if that outcome benefits agencies we compete with. A category with a shared efficiency metric is a category that rewards agencies that actually deliver, and Crackle PR is willing to be measured on the same metric as everyone else.

If you're a CMO or VP Comms running this against your incumbent right now and the number is uncomfortable, hello@cracklepr.com. A partner will walk your CPT1 with you on a 45-minute call — no deck, no pitch. If the answer is 'stay,' we'll tell you.