Universal Information Services

AVE: An Inappropriate Metric

The controversy within the media measurement over AVE  usage (advertising equivalency value) has been swirling for years. In a recent article, CBSsports.com cited Gonzaga University as receiving $406 million in “value” from their recent run at the NCAA Basketball championship. This article, and how Gonzaga monitors and measures their media exposure is a good case study into why AVEs are bad, but also sheds light on better measures.

In the article on “value” it is important to note that Gonzaga is specifically talking about hiring an automated monitoring service to give calculated metrics. With a service like that there is normally no human touch. It is a software as a service tool. In a SaaS model you essentially set your search, modify the search terms as needed, then accept the results and automated measures the computer turns out. In most cases, there is no analyst ensuring the outcomes are accurate unless you subscribe to enhanced services and pay substantially more money.

[To read the full article, visit Commpro.biz…]