Are AVE’s and OTS becoming outdated?

Acronyms apart (and PR seems to love them) there is a view that these measures of output are becoming increasingly out dated and irrelevant. Jim McNamara pioneered the concept of output, outtake and outcome, probably one of the most incisive observations on the world of media measurement, although it often seems like organisations have become entrenched in the measurement of output only.

Sure it’s relevant, but in an increasingly online dominated world the difficulties with establishing accurate audience and value data is making output measurement fundamentally unsound.

Instead, organisations interested in data driven PR will need to look beyond simple output and consider the measurement of outtake. Tools like the BBC’s News Most Popular Now indicates a comparison of the stories people are opening and reading (a metric which would be almost impossible to get for newspapers). Other tools which exist include tracking a stories usage within the blogosphere as a measure of media buzz, in addition to a track on other consumer generated media.

The internet posses many challenges to PR measurement. It also presents new opportunities and I am optimistic that the community will embrace the potential of this new environment to the eventual benefit of PR.

Very happy Christmas, one and all!