Blog
Is the industry too focused on AVEs?
10 December 2025
By Jason Weekes, Commercial Director
The communications evaluation industry has a long-running fixation with Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs), but has this become a distraction from deeper methodological challenges? Fifteen years after the Barcelona Principles, AVEs remain the perennial villain on almost every conference agenda, yet their persistence suggests the debate has lost its usefulness.
Well-established evaluation frameworks are at the core of meaningful measurement, and approaches that link output metrics to the actions they generate elevate communications teams from cost centres to value creators. Outputs offer the essential diagnostics that establish the link from activity to effect, but the most powerful evaluation depends on progressing to audience understanding and action: how messages are received, understood, and acted upon. These stages are where communications demonstrates real value by evidencing changes in stakeholder perception and behaviour.
Ultimately, the path forward lies not in debating outdated metrics but in investing in robust insight frameworks. By aligning measurement with organisational objectives and focusing on outcomes and impact, communications can prove its strategic contribution, elevate its standing, and secure greater influence within the business.
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