Coverage

Coverage is the set of markets, technologies and vendors an individual analyst is responsible for researching.

Firms assign coverage internally and revise it regularly as markets converge, split or lose relevance. An analyst's coverage determines which evaluations they author, which inquiries route to them, and which vendors they are expected to know.

Analyst coverage vs. media coverage

Media coverage means published mentions — a record of what has already been written about you.

Analyst coverage means scope of responsibility — a statement about what an analyst is accountable for, independent of whether they have ever written your name. A vendor can be squarely inside an analyst's coverage and entirely absent from their published work.

Why it matters

Coverage is the first filter, ahead of seniority, firm size or personal profile. An analyst who does not cover your market cannot help you, however senior they are, and a briefing with them is a pleasant conversation with no downstream consequence.

Coverage also moves. Analysts change markets, firms restructure practices, and categories get absorbed into larger ones. A relationship map built two years ago will confidently route effort toward people who no longer have any reason to write about you.

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Related: Coverage map · Industry analyst · Research agenda · Analyst tiering

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