Earned Media Value (EMV)

Earned media value solves a fundamental marketing measurement problem: how do you quantify the business impact of free publicity? Traditionally, marketers could easily measure paid media (cost per impression) and owned media (website traffic), but earned media—the coverage you don't pay for—was treated as a bonus with no clear ROI.

Think of EMV like this: if a major publication writes about your product, that article has real value. If you had to buy an equivalent ad in that same publication, you'd pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. EMV calculates what that coverage would have cost if you'd purchased it as advertising. It's not the actual revenue generated, but rather the advertising equivalent value.

Here's how it works in practice. A tech startup gets mentioned in TechCrunch (earned). A CMO calculates: a TechCrunch display ad costs $50,000. Therefore, that mention has an EMV of $50,000. If the same startup gets 15 press mentions in a month, the total EMV might be $750,000. This number helps justify PR budgets and shows executives that earned coverage is delivering measurable value.

In marketing tools, EMV appears in PR analytics platforms and social listening software. These tools monitor mentions across news sites, blogs, and social media, then assign a dollar value based on publication reach, audience demographics, and advertising rates. Some platforms also factor in sentiment—positive mentions are worth more than negative ones.

For CMOs evaluating AI-powered PR and content tools, understanding EMV is critical. You need to know: Does the tool calculate EMV? How does it define 'equivalent advertising value'? Does it account for audience quality, not just reach? The difference between a mention in a niche industry blog versus a major publication can be 10x in actual value, but basic EMV calculations might miss that nuance.