It is no secret that one of the biggest challenges in public relations is demonstrating the value of earned media, and although it’s not a perfect comparison, ad value equivalency or AVE has commonly been used to assign monetary value to media hits.

AVE is calculated by multiplying the column inches or segment seconds by the respective outlet’s advertising rates.

So, how can AVE more accurately reflect the value of our PR results?

Given the simplicity of this calculation, it’s unfortunate that it often grossly underestimates the value of earned media. The most significant deficiencies lie in it not taking into consideration whether a media placement meets a strategic goal of exposure in front of a target audience, the true quality or impact of a media placement, and to a less important degree, the time and effort PR professionals take in coordinating a single media opportunity.

AVE ≠ Target Audience

The basis of our work is to get sources in front of their target audiences. If one target audience is a niche group of people in a small locale (e.g., the readers of Dairy Foods Magazine in Troy, MI), the advertising rate of this outlet will certainly be substantially less than a national top-tier media outlet like The Wall Street Journal.

While exposure to a niche audience is the goal, AVE will not accurately reflect achieving that goal given the outlet’s smaller marketplace and lower advertising rates.

AVE ≠ Quality + Impact

AVE also doesn’t account for the quality and overarching impact of a media hit. For instance, all of these things matter and add value to an earned media placement, but aren’t included in AVE:

• Where on the publication’s website the media hit appears,
• Quote placement and whether other sources were used,
• Whether the client was featured or wrote the piece,
• Whether the article is repurposed by the outlet and reporter on social media, and
• Whether readers engage and further share the media hit, resulting in increased brand awareness and visibility.

When published online, earned media has a longer-lasting impact than paid advertising, as it can continue to generate exposure and engagement over time. While paid ads typically have low-credibility and a finite run, positive earned media coverage has high-credibility and can be cited, shared, and referenced indefinitely. The longevity of earned media can also improve a brand’s search engine ranking (SEO) over time by generating backlinks and increasing the overall authority of the company’s online presence.

Hellerman’s AVE Fix

So, how can AVE more accurately reflect the value of our PR results?

Depending on the outlet and the impact of the coverage, multiply AVE by 1.7 to 2.0. Though this still won’t be 100% accurate, it will surely be a much closer estimate of the value of earned media versus a paid ad.