PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Michael T. Ewing
AU  - David B. Stewart
AU  - Dineli R. Mather
AU  - Joshua D. Newton
TI  - How Contagious Is Your Viral Marketing Campaign?
AID  - 10.2501/JAR-54-2-205-216
DP  - 2014 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of Advertising Research
PG  - 205--216
VI  - 54
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/54/2/205.short
4100  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/54/2/205.full
SO  - J Advert Res2014 Jun 01; 54
AB  - Few marketing campaigns purely are viral. Most comprise both viral (peer-to-peer transmission) and non-viral (firm-initiated transmission) components. Unfortunately, current metrics for assessing viral-campaign performance seldom differentiate between these components, potentially overstating the true contribution made by the viral component. Moreover, reach (number of users who received the content) is a time-based metric that typically is favored at the expense of campaign sharing, which fundamentally is a generation-based metric (transmission of content to others). This paper presents and tests a mathematical model that addresses these issues, thereby providing a more accurate and valid means for assessing campaign performance.