EMV, AVE… How to use media impact measurement indicators?

Small and large companies rely on media relations and influencers to ensure their visibility. Press and influence managers work hard to ensure that the brand or celebrity they represent makes the front page of magazines, creates a buzz on social networks, in short, gains visibility, “earned media”.

However, it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of this long-term work and to estimate the return on investment. This is where media impact indicators such as EMV or AVE come into play…

AVE, EMV, what is it?

A.V.E. stands for Advertising Value Equivalency and corresponds to a monetary value calculated from the advertising rates of a medium. This refers to the occupation of a space, a surface, a time slot… In a nutshell, it is the budget you would have spent through advertising.

E.M.V., for Earned Media Value, also aims to give a monetary value to earned media but is based on a different calculation method.

To evaluate it, several parameters are integrated:

– Reach; Based on an estimate of unique impressions, this indicator corresponds to a reduced percentage of the audience (i.e., most often, the number of followers). As each algorithm has its own specificities, this percentage varies according to the distribution platform and the type of publication. It aims to give a figure that is representative of the reality of the number of people reached by the content.

– Engagements; Understand the number of likes, comments, shares and any other interaction with the content…

Estimation Media uses the Ayzenberg method to calculate EMV. This means that each person reached and each type of engagement is assigned a fixed monetary value that varies by platform and type of publication. For example, the view of an Instagram story is not worth the view of a YouTube video.

Which method to choose?

As you can see, these indicators are two different valuation methods, each with its own advantages and limitations.

The AVE is ideal for measuring your ROI. To do this, you simply value your earned media and relate it to the amount invested to obtain it. Keep in mind, however, that an organic article will always have an intrinsic value that distinguishes it from advertising!

However, it is difficult to apply the AVE principle to social networks. Indeed, even if most media offer rates for the diffusion of posts or stories via their account, prices are more variable on the influence side. It would be a shame to exclude the impact of nano-influencers on the grounds that they do not offer advertising rates.

For this reason, Media Estimation uses the AVE method to value press, web-editorial and audiovisual content, and the EMV method for social network content.

What are the limits of this practice?

Although EMV is a popular way of valuing social networks, it must be handled with care: depending on the platforms and social listening tools, the percentages and fixed monetary values applied may differ, thus making the results vary. To overcome this problem, Estimation Media centralises data from different platforms in order to offer you consolidated results at 360°.

Finally, the MVE is to be considered as a “super-indicator” aggregating many different KPIs. This represents an opportunity for marketers: to visualise at a glance the global results of a campaign or an influencer, and to compare them with their own campaigns and those of their competitors.

However, the use of EMV must be complemented by other indicators in order to evaluate the impact of a strategy, to identify the success factors and weak signals. Did my campaign have more reach than the competition? How was the content received?

Estimation Média carries out 360° tailor-made media studies. We specialise in decoding your visibility, measuring your performance through AVE, EMV and many other KPIs and qualitative data that will provide you with a detailed and multidimensional analysis of your impact.

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