How we measure earned media in a post-AVE world
Advertising Value Equivalent belongs in 2010. Here’s the four-metric framework we present to clients instead.
We stopped quoting AVE five years ago. The number was always a fiction, and clients running any kind of paid programme could see the gap immediately.
Here is what we report on instead.
1. Share of voice, by conversation
Not share of category — share of the specific cultural conversation the brand is trying to own. Defined narrowly, measured monthly.
2. Tier-weighted reach
Reach against a hand-scored list of publications and creators that actually influence the target customer. A single feature in the right title outweighs twenty in the wrong ones.
3. Sentiment and message pull-through
Did the coverage carry the two or three messages we briefed? If not, the volume doesn’t matter.
4. Downstream signal
Branded search lift, direct traffic, retailer sell-through in the week after coverage. This is where earned media proves its commercial case.