Earned Media Value Calculator
Put a money figure on the exposure a campaign earned. Type the impressions and the engagements by type, and the value your brand gives to each one. You get the earned media value with every line of the calculation written out, and a card for the report. The values are yours: there is no standard EMV rate, and EMV is an estimate, not revenue.
- Free
- No sign-up
- Runs in your browser
Earned media value
Type impressions with a value per 1,000, or at least one engagement with its value.
EMV is an estimate of what this exposure would have cost as paid media at the values you typed. It is not revenue, not sales and not a return on investment.
What this number means
The formula
EMV = impressions ÷ 1,000 × your value per 1,000 impressions, plus, for each engagement type, the count × your value for one. Every line is rounded to cents and the lines add up to the total shown.
Where the values come from
From your own paid media. The value per 1,000 impressions is the CPM you pay for comparable placements. The value of a like, a comment or a click is what the same action costs you in your ad accounts. If you have no paid history for a type, leave it out.
What EMV is
An estimate of what the same exposure would have cost if you had bought it. It lets you compare campaigns, creators and months on one scale, as long as the values stay the same.
What EMV is not
It is not revenue, not sales and not a return on investment. Nobody paid you that amount and nobody was necessarily going to. An impression that is valued here may not have been seen by a buyer, and a like is not a purchase.
Why two tools give two answers
There is no standard EMV formula. Agencies and platforms each use their own values and often add multipliers they do not publish. That is why this page ships no default: an EMV figure only means something next to the values that produced it.
Avoid counting twice
Impressions and engagements overlap: the person who liked the post was also an impression. Valuing both is common practice, but say so in your report, or value only the layer your team has agreed on.
Show your campaign results in one link
Put your results, your rate card and your contact on one VISU Link page, at a short visu.to address. You edit the page after every campaign and the link stays the same. Free to start.
Create your VISU Link See VISU LinkHow to use it
- Collect the impressions and the engagements by type from the insights of the content or from the creator's report.
- Type the value your brand gives to 1,000 impressions and to one engagement of each type, taken from your own paid campaigns.
- Add the campaign cost if you want EMV per unit spent.
- Read the EMV and the calculation, then download the card or copy the result for your report.
Examples
One campaign, four lines
Made-up values to show the arithmetic: 250,000 impressions at $8.00 per 1,000 are $2,000. 4,000 likes at $0.10 are $400, 300 comments at $1.00 are $300 and 150 shares at $2.00 are $300. EMV: $3,000.
EMV per unit spent
With the same made-up campaign and a cost of $1,200, EMV per $1 spent is 3,000 ÷ 1,200 = $2.50. It compares an estimate with a cost. It is not a return.
Questions
What is earned media value?
Earned media value, or EMV, is a money figure for exposure you did not pay for directly: creator posts, mentions, press, shares. It answers one question: what would these impressions and engagements have cost as paid media?
How is EMV calculated?
There is no single formula. The transparent version is the one on this page: impressions ÷ 1,000 × a value per 1,000 impressions, plus each engagement count × a value for one. The result depends completely on the values, which is why they are shown next to it.
Is EMV the same as revenue or ROI?
No. EMV is a cost equivalent, not money earned. A campaign can have a high EMV and sell nothing, or the opposite. To measure return you need sales or leads that you can attribute to the campaign.
What value per 1,000 impressions should I use?
The CPM your brand pays for comparable paid placements on the same platform and audience. It is in your ad accounts. If you have never bought media there, a figure from someone else will not describe your case, so say that the value is an assumption.
What is one like or one comment worth?
Whatever the same action costs you when you pay for it. Your ad platforms report cost per engagement and cost per click. Use those, keep them the same from one report to the next, and write them in the report.
Why does another tool show a different EMV?
Because it uses other values, and usually does not show them. Some add multipliers for reach, sentiment or the size of the creator. Two EMV figures can only be compared when they come from the same formula and the same values.
Can a creator use EMV in a media kit?
Yes, with the values in plain sight. Use the rates the brand works with, or state your own, and keep the label that says it is an estimate. The card from this page prints "estimate, not revenue" under the number.
Does this page send my numbers anywhere?
No. The maths runs in your browser. The counts, the values, the cost and the campaign name you type are not uploaded, are not added to the page address and are not saved.