Leadership means confronting the systemic measurement crisis in public relations

The launch of the Barcelona Principles 4.0 gives us a fresh opportunity to confront an old truth: it’s time for an honest conversation about AVEs.

Earlier this month, AMEC released the fourth iteration of its measurement framework. Barcelona 4.0 builds on what many in public relations have long accepted: we must evaluate our work based on real impact, not outdated proxies like Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs).

And yet, AVEs remain stubbornly present.

AVEs are a system-level industry issue

Look closely at the leading media intelligence platforms - Cision, Meltwater, Muck Rack, Vuelio - and you’ll still find AVEs quietly embedded. Not front and centre, but sitting alongside more meaningful indicators: impressions, engagement, sentiment, share of voice, conversions.

These tool providers champion AMEC’s principles. Many are even members. They promote smarter measurement and integration with business outcomes. Yet they continue to offer AVEs because clients keep asking for them.

This isn’t just a vendor issue. It’s a systemic industry problem.

For more than two decades, we’ve known AVEs are unfit for purpose. They ignore context, quality, risk and actual business outcomes. They’re based on a false equivalency between editorial coverage and paid advertising. They imply that media coverage is the end goal in itself.

AVE assigns a notional advertising value to earned media and often multiplies it arbitrarily, based on the flawed belief that earned coverage is more valuable than paid. It's bad logic and it persists, even at the highest levels of practice.

Recent data shows just how deeply entrenched AVEs still are.

Demand drives supply: Why AVEs persist despite the evidence

The Deloitte 2023 Corporate Affairs Report, based on interviews with 30 corporate affairs leaders at major listed companies, referenced AVE as a standard metric alongside top-tier coverage. Meanwhile, the ICCO World PR Report 2022–23 found that 61% of organisations globally still use AVEs. In the UK, that figure was 48%.

ICCO represents more than 3,000 agencies in 82 countries. While the survey sample was relatively small, the results reflect a reality many practitioners recognise.

In short, AVEs remain part of the measurement conversation, not because they’re credible, but because clients are still willing to pay for them.

And that tension, between advocacy and sales, sits at the heart of our credibility problem. It undermines our ability to position public relations as a true management function.

We need to draw a line in the sand.

It’s time for a clear, honest conversation across the entire corporate communications ecosystem. Not to shame, and not to relitigate old debates, but to agree that we must stop undermining our own credibility.

Moving from measuring coverage to proving value

Yes, it's hard. AVEs are simple and familiar. Smarter measurement takes more effort. It requires better data, stronger capability, and tougher conversations with stakeholders.

But Barcelona 4.0 gives us both the opportunity and the responsibility to lead.

You can’t promote the Barcelona Principles in your marketing materials and still quietly serve up AVEs in client dashboards. Not anymore.

If you’re a vendor, commit to Barcelona 4.0 in practice and remove AVEs from your platforms.

If you’re a client, ask your providers to help you build meaningful metrics aligned with your organisational goals.

If you’re an agency, push for better and explain why it matters.

We have the frameworks. We have the data. We have the tools. What we need now is leadership.

Let’s not waste another decade.