AVE and earned media value calculator
Estimate what your coverage would have cost as advertising. Enter the reach of your coverage, your CPM rate and an editorial multiplier, in any currency. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
How AVE is calculated
Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE), also called estimated media value, uses this formula: reach ÷ 1,000 × CPM rate × editorial multiplier. The CPM rate is what you would pay for 1,000 impressions of advertising in your market. The multiplier reflects that editorial coverage is often seen as more credible than an advert.
For example, 2.5 million reach at a CPM of 15 with a multiplier of 3 gives an AVE of 112,500.
Use AVE as an estimate, not a fact
AVE depends entirely on your assumptions: the same coverage gives very different totals at different rates. Choose rates that match how your market really buys media, keep them consistent over time, and report AVE alongside Share of Voice, sentiment and the seriousness of the coverage.
Questions people ask
What is AVE in PR?
AVE (Advertising Value Equivalency) estimates what your earned media coverage would have cost if you had bought the same exposure as advertising.
Is earned media value the same as AVE?
They are closely related, and many teams use the terms interchangeably. Both put a money value on coverage you did not pay for.
What editorial multiplier should I use?
Many teams use between 1 and 3. Use 1 if you want a conservative figure, and stay consistent so period-to-period comparisons are fair.
Let BrandsLens calculate it for you, every day.
BrandsLens works out Share of Voice and Estimated Media Value automatically from your real mentions, for any period, in every report.
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