Analysis · 26 June 2026 · 4 min read
How the Cast Index actually scores a model
Runway, campaigns, editorial, cultural — the four pillars, the weighting, and why we publish the evidence instead of just the number.
By The Cast Index Desk · Editorial
Most public model rankings show a number with no visible working. The Cast Index Rating is built the other way round: runway presence (40%), campaign and commercial work (30%), editorial authority (20%) and cultural impact (10%), with each pillar backed by dated, linked evidence on the profile itself.
A booking is not worth the same forever. A cover or campaign keeps its full weight in the year it happens, half its weight the year after, and a residual ten percent from then on — so a score reflects who is working now, not who was famous a decade ago. It is also why the site does not use a maximum age cut-off: several of the highest-scoring profiles on the current Index are in their forties and fifties with genuinely current bookings, and a hard age ceiling would have removed real, evidenced work.
Every profile also carries a confidence label — high, medium or baseline — that says how thoroughly the desk has verified the underlying bookings. A number without that context is not useful, so we do not publish one.
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