Earned media value (EMV)
An estimate of what the attention a campaign earned would have cost to buy as advertising.
Also called: EMV, media value
Formula
EMV = impressions ÷ 1,000 × CPM, where CPM is what paid media would cost for the same audience
EMV turns impressions into money so an influencer or PR campaign can sit next to paid media in the same report. If posts earned 400,000 impressions and comparable paid social costs AED 30 per thousand, the EMV is AED 12,000.
It is an estimate, and it is only as honest as the CPM behind it. A made-up CPM, or one borrowed from a different market, can make any campaign look like a success. Use a CPM you could defend to the client, state it in the report, and keep it the same from one month to the next.
What EMV is not
EMV is not revenue and not return on investment. It says what the exposure was worth as advertising, not whether anyone bought anything. Put it alongside the outcomes the client actually cares about: sales, sign-ups, store visits or leads.