Entity Allowance: How Reports Consume Entities

Overview

Demand Intelligence is sold as a package of entities. Each report you create consumes a number of entities from that package, depending on the report type.

This article explains how the allowance works, what each report type costs, what doesn't consume entities, and what to do when you run out.

What is the Entity Allowance?

Your entity allowance is the total number of entities your account can spend on Demand Intelligence reports during your contract.

An entity is the unit of work Demand uses to bill report creation, a brand, a celebrity, an IP, an account. The term originated in Demand Reports, where ‘entity’ is the actual object of analysis. It was extended to the other report types so billing stays denominated in the same unit across the product, for the foundational concept, see What is an Entity? in the Demand Reports section.

Different report types consume entities in different ways.

Where you see your allowance

Your remaining entities are always visible at the top of the Reports List, right under the "My reports" title — for example: "96,554 entities available". The counter updates automatically every time you create a report that consumes entities.

How Each Report Type Consumes Entities

The cost in entities depends on which type of report you create:

Report type	Cost	Example
Creator Discovery	Free, does not consume entities.	A Creator Discovery search of 100 Instagram accounts: 0 entities.
Demand Reports	1 entity per entity included in the basket.	A Demand Report comparing 5 brands: 5 entities.
Influencer Reports	1 entity per report.	An Influencer Report on @nike on Instagram: 1 entity.
Overlap Reports	1 entity per account analysed (between 2 and 5 accounts).	An Overlap Report across 5 Instagram accounts: 5 entities.

Demo reports don't count. Demo reports provided by Audiense are pre-built so you can explore each report type without consuming any of your allowance.

What Doesn't Consume Entities

Entities are only consumed when a new report is created. Anything you do on a report that already exists is free:

Opening a saved report.
Re-downloading a report.
Renaming a report.
Sharing a report (making it public, generating a link).
Viewing the report definition.
Browsing the Reports List and its pagination.

How the Allowance Renews

Your entity allowance is included in your plan as part of your account's contract. It does not renew on a monthly cycle: it stays valid for the duration of the contract or until it's depleted, whichever happens first.

Contracts at Audiense are minimum one year, in exceptional cases, six months.

What Happens When you Run Out

Once your allowance reaches zero, creating new reports that consume entities is blocked. You can still:

Open, read, and download any report you've already created.
Run Creator Discovery searches, which don't consume entities.
Explore Demo reports.

Need more entities? Contact your Audiense Account Manager. They can review your usage and discuss options to expand your allowance or align it with your contract.

Planning your Usage

A few practical tips to keep your allowance under control:

Validate before you commit. Use Creator Discovery (free) to surface candidates before spending entities on Influencer or Demand Reports.
Be mindful of basket size. Each entity in a Demand Report counts. Keep the basket focused on the entities you actually need to compare.
Re-use, don't recreate. If a report already exists, opening or re-downloading it costs nothing. Only build a new one when the underlying need has changed.
Track the counter. Check your remaining entities at the top of the Reports List before kicking off a large Demand or Overlap Report.