A placement report should list every site where your story ran, with a live link to each page, so you can open any link and see the story. Totals, impressions and screenshots are not enough on their own. NewsUSA closes every campaign with a report listing every site with a live link, and only live placements are billed. Before you buy from anyone, ask for a report from a recent campaign and open the links.
Want to know whether your story would run? Todd Simon, National PR Director, will tell you on a strategy call.
Book a call with ToddWhat a useful report contains
- One line per placement, with the site name and a live link to the page where your story ran.
- A total that matches the lines. If the summary says one number, the list should have that many entries.
- The date each placement went up, so you can see the story ran within the agreed time.
- The headline as published, so you can search for it.
- How the story was labeled on each site, where that varies.
How to check a report in an hour
- Count the lines and compare them with the total.
- Open twenty links picked at random, not the first twenty. Each one should show your story.
- Look at the site around the story. A real news site has its own news on the same pages.
- Search the published headline in quotes to see where else it appears.
- Open a few links again after a month to see whether the pages are still up.
- Ask the vendor what happens to a placement whose link stops working.
Red flags
- Totals with no list of links.
- Reach or impressions in place of placements: "potential audience" is an estimate, not a placement.
- Screenshots instead of links you can open.
- Links that land on a home page or a search page instead of the story.
- No answer to "can I see a report from a recent campaign?"
NewsUSA's report
Every NewsUSA campaign closes with a placement report listing every site, with live links you can click through yourself. If a placement does not run, it is not invoiced. Todd Simon, National PR Director, walks through a report from a live campaign on the strategy call. Ask Todd which of the items above it shows.
Questions
Which news distribution services give you a report with live links to every placement?
NewsUSA closes every campaign with a report listing every site with a live link. Brandpoint describes "a placement report showing exactly where your content ran and the audience it reached," and StatePoint offers "real-time online coverage reports." Neither page says whether its report links to every placement, so ask any vendor for a report from a recent campaign before you buy.
What is the difference between a placement and an impression?
A placement is a page where your story ran. An impression is an estimate of how many times something may have been seen. A report can show both, but only placements can be opened and checked.
How long do placements stay up?
It varies by site. Check a sample of links again a month after the campaign, and ask the vendor how it handles links that stop working.
Can I use the placements in my own marketing?
Yes, as long as you describe them accurately. "Our story ran on these sites" is accurate. Saying an outlet "covered" you, when the story was placed, is not.
How this page was made
NewsUSA figures (2,000+ US news sites within 30 days, live-only billing, the 2,637-site September 2026 campaign) come from NewsUSA and its campaign reports, which Todd Simon can show you on the call. Quotes from other companies are taken from their own pages, read on November 5, 2026. The checklist is general advice. How these guides are made.
- Brandpoint: Pricing and packages, read November 5, 2026
- StatePoint Media: Sponsored features, read November 5, 2026