What’s Earned Media Really Worth? A PR ROI Guide
How I Help Clients Measure Earned Media Value
One of the first questions I hear from clients (especially those newer to PR) is: “What am I actually getting out of this media coverage?”
It’s a fair question. You’re investing your time, money, and trust into getting your story out there. And while earned media doesn’t come with a neat price tag like a paid ad or sponsored post, there are clear ways to understand earned media value and impact.
This is the framework I use to help my clients measure PR ROI and show exactly how coverage contributes to awareness, credibility, and long-term business growth.
Why AVE Is Outdated (But Still Worth Understanding)
You may hear people talk about AVE, or Ad Value Equivalency. It’s the method of assigning a dollar value to a press placement by estimating what it would cost to buy the same space or airtime as an advertisement.
Here’s the problem with conflating AVE with earned media value: editorial coverage carries a level of trust and credibility that ads simply don’t. You can’t buy a New York Times journalist’s opinion. You can’t pay to be featured in Better Homes and Gardens as a respected expert or tastemaker. And readers know that. That’s why earned media delivers a different kind of influence – more personal, more enduring, and often more powerful.
Still, some teams like having a baseline number for budget comparisons, and in those cases, I’ll include an AVE estimate in reporting (with context).
Reach and Visibility: It’s About More Than Eyeballs
Not all media hits are equal. Audience matters. That’s why I also evaluate how many people could potentially see the story and who those people are.
Let’s compare a few examples:
A mention in The New York Times, which has over 90 million monthly readers, may reach a broad, diverse audience and carry high authority.
A feature in Better Homes & Gardens, with a strong following among home and lifestyle enthusiasts, may be smaller in audience but laser-focused on your ideal customer.
A product roundup in TechCrunch could help a startup get seen by investors, other journalists, and early adopters who influence B2B sales.
Reach alone doesn’t tell the full story, but when paired with audience relevance and brand alignment, it becomes a powerful metric.
Not All Placements Are Created Equal: Quality & Context Matter
When evaluating a press hit, I look well beyond where it ran. I consider what was said, how your brand was positioned, and how easy it is for the audience to take action.
For example:
Is your business mentioned by name (and accurately – always correct those misspellings!)?
Is there a quote presenting your leader or spokesperson as an expert?
Is there a photo that showcases your work or product?
Is your ideal audience likely to read or trust the outlet?
Does the article link back to your site (more on that in a moment)?
A short mention isn’t as valuable as a full feature with visuals, quotes, and context. Placement at the bottom of a long article isn’t as visible as an early mention. A flattering write-up on a niche blog with a small-but-loyal following might drive more sales than a major outlet read by everyone but your actual customer.
Example: I helped one interior designer client earn seven press hits in as many weeks, including The Washington Post, Martha Stewart Living, and Real Simple. Every single article included a backlink to her site from a high-authority, relevant outlet. Since most of her clients found her through Google searches like “interior designers in Denver,” those links pushed her higher in the search results, and gave her added credibility when people clicked through. The result? More inquiries, more conversions, and faster decision-making from clients who already trusted her before the first call.
When I pitch media, I’m not just aiming for logos. I’m targeting the coverage that will actually move the needle for your goals, whether that’s awareness, web traffic, leads, or credibility with a particular audience. That’s what drives real PR ROI.
Tracking Business Impact: What Happens After the Story Runs?
This is where things get interesting. One of the most rewarding parts of PR is seeing how media coverage leads to real business outcomes. That might include:
A spike in website traffic (which we can often track through referral links or correlate timing in branded searches)
New client inquiries or sales tied to the week a story runs
A noticeable uptick in social media followers or email signups
Coverage being picked up or reshared by other outlets or influencers
Even qualitative feedback can be telling. Did a prospective client mention seeing your name in a story? Did a new partnership come out of a media appearance? These moments may not be measured in spreadsheets, but they’re often the start of meaningful growth.
And sometimes the results are immediate and overwhelming.
Example: When I was working for a B2C tech startup in the fintech space, NBC’s Nightly News with Lester Holt decided to run a story on our industry — and recommended our SaaS product. It aired on a holiday weekend, and even then the traffic spike was so intense it crashed our website. Of course, you don’t want your site to crash, but the visibility was invaluable. Our direct and organic traffic remained elevated for weeks. The equivalent paid traffic would have cost at least six figures (and it wouldn’t have carried the same trust or momentum)!
The Hidden Power of SEO: Why Backlinks Matter So Much
A greatly overlooked (but valuable) result of earned media is the backlink.
When a journalist links to your website in an article, it doesn’t just send traffic in the moment. It also tells search engines, "This site is credible." That signal builds over time. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the better your site tends to rank in Google, and that means more organic discovery, more leads, and long-term ROI. In some cases, a backlink is one of the highest-value marketing outcomes a founder or small business can get.
Not all backlinks are created equal. A link from a highly authoritative outlet like TechCrunch or The New York Times is far more powerful than one from a random blog. And the page they link to matters too. A homepage link is great, but a link to a product or service page can drive more conversions directly.
I always aim to include a backlink to a client’s website in earned coverage, but it’s never guaranteed. In fact, some reporters or editors strip all links or only include them highly selectively.
So… What Is a Media Placement Actually Worth?
Let’s break it down. Here’s a simple model I use to estimate value:
Value = AVE + SEO Value + Backlink Bonus
Where:
AVE = Approximate cost to run a similar ad
SEO Value = Domain authority of the site × a base SEO rate
Backlink Bonus = Extra value if the story links to your site (especially a dofollow link)
Earned Media Value Sample Calculations
| Outlet | DA | AVE | SEO Value | Backlink Bonus | Total (with backlink) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Times | 95 | $5,500 | $950 | $1,425 | $7,875 |
| Washington Post | 97 | $5,000 | $970 | $1,455 | $7,425 |
| TechCrunch | 92 | $3,500 | $920 | $1,380 | $5,800 |
| Business Insider | 90 | $4,000 | $900 | $1,350 | $6,250 |
| Real Simple | 80 | $1,800 | $800 | $1,200 | $3,800 |
| House Digest | 60 | $800 | $240 | $900 | $1,940 |
Calculating SEO Value of PR
The base SEO rate is a simplified way to estimate the monetary value of a backlink based on the authority of the site linking to you. While it's not an official number from Google, it draws from real-world benchmarks used by SEO agencies and digital PR professionals. High-authority backlinks (from sites like The New York Times or TechCrunch) are known to improve search engine rankings, drive organic traffic, and build long-term visibility, making them extremely valuable.
This rate is modeled after industry data on what SEO agencies charge for link-building services. For example, a backlink from a site with a Domain Authority (DA) of 85 might cost $1,500 or more on the open market. Using a base rate of $10 per DA point offers a conservative, credible way to reflect that value without inflating results.
This model is used by some PR and SEO pros to help quantify how editorial coverage supports search performance and organic discoverability, but consider some asterisks…
*Domain authority (DA) and domain rating (DR) are not universal metrics used in analyzing SEO performance because they are developed by SEO companies like Ahrefs and Moz — not by Google.
That said, a domain rating from Ahrefs or Moz can directionally provide a lot of value for PR pros. For example, see the organic authority of the following outlets:
News:
The New York Times: DA (Moz): 95
Tulsa ABC News: 72
Home Design:
Better Homes & Gardens: 81
House Digest: 57
When it comes to hard news, The New York Times is a global news outlet with one of the strongest industry reputations and has been operating since 1851. Tulsa’s ABC News outlet, by comparison, operates in a smaller, more localized market with a smaller readership and started in the 1950s.
Even comparing two national publications that both focus on home design and lifestyle content, you may know the Better Homes and Gardens name – it’s been around for over a century, after all – while House Digest, which is less than 5 years old, is still building name recognition.
The respective domain authority scores for these publications may be taken with a grain of salt, but directionally you can gauge the impact of each on organic authority in search engine results.
These are estimates, not guarantees, but they give you a clear picture: a single high-quality media mention, especially one with a backlink, can be worth thousands in visibility, SEO value, and long-term brand credibility.
Final Thoughts
Press coverage is more than a bragging right. Done well, it’s a powerful business development tool that builds trust, expands your reach, and supports your brand in ways that ads or social posts often can’t.
I don’t just aim to “get you in the news.” I aim to get you noticed by the right people, in the right context, with stories that make an impact — and keep driving PR ROI long after the story runs.
If you’re curious how this might apply to your business, I’d be happy to walk you through a custom plan or reporting model tailored to your goals. Reach out below!