You’ve seen the words "Media Impact Value" popping up all over the place lately.
Vogue reported that Kendrick Lamar’s bootcut jeans drove $2.3M in Media Impact Value for Celine, making them “the star” of his 2025 Super Bowl performance. And WWD reported that the announcement of a Skims x Nike collaboration generated $6.1M in Media Impact Value, with a single Instagram post by Kim Kardashian earning a whopping $1M.
You may be asking yourself: what is Media Impact Value?
In this post, we’ll break down how MIV is calculated by exploring the algorithm behind it and the key factors that drive its impact.
In this article you’ll learn…
Let's take a closer look at the MIV algorithm
Media Impact Value is a proprietary algorithm developed by Launchmetrics to measure the impact of placements and mentions across different Voices in the Fashion, Lifestyle and Beauty (FLB) industry.
It helps brands quantify media performance across paid, owned and earned channels. For example, during Couture S/S25, Chanel doubled its MIV from the previous year, reaching $51.1M and surpassing long-time leader Dior. A significant driver of this success was the brand’s 305% increase in Celebrity Voice impact, with Jennie Kim ($13.4M), Dua Lipa ($9.1M) and Go Yoon-jung ($2.3M) playing a pivotal role in creating media buzz.
Using MIV, Chanel’s fashion week strategy can be easily assessed both in comparison to other brands and in terms of the ROI of various collaborations and media activations.
Brands can also see the buzz generated by celebrities wearing their creations compared to that of other brands. For example, while Zendaya’s total red carpet impact at the 2024 Met Gala reached $32.7M in MIV® across two looks—$19.1M for Maison Margiela and $13.6M for Givenchy—Tyla led the rankings for a single brand, generating $26.8M in MIV® for Balmain.
The unique formula is designed to compare results across various Voices, channels, media types, time periods, products, regions and more. This allows brands to benchmark performance along with cross-compare strategies to better gauge what’s overperforming and what’s falling flat.
How to Calculate MIV
MIV was developed to address some of the unique challenges the FLB industry is facing when it comes to measuring performance.
Understanding how to calculate MIV requires a look at the broader challenges in measuring media impact today. Traditional metrics like reach and engagement only tell part of the story, as the lines between paid, owned and earned media continue to blur.
For instance, how can you compare a Jaclyn Hill makeup tutorial on YouTube to a sponsored Instagram post, or even a post on your brand’s own social channels? And how does a placement in Vogue's September issue compare to a backstage NYFW post on their Instagram Story?
This is where MIV provides a standardized metric. It takes quality as well as quantity into account and offers a consistent way to measure media impact across all channels.
Which Factors Does the Formula Include?
There is no simple MIV calculator for measuring Media Impact Value; instead, it’s determined using our proprietary Machine Learning algorithm, which is finely tuned to the Fashion, Lifestyle and Beauty (FLB) industries.
Trained on actual media rates and years of FLB-specific campaign data, the algorithm evaluates more than 100 quantitative and qualitative attributes to provide brands with a precise, meaningful way to measure their impact in a landscape that’s ever-evolving
Using this machine learning approach, the algorithm follows a structured formula across channels:
MIV = [advertising/activation value equivalent] × [source-based factors] × [content-based factors]
At its core, MIV considers four key criteria to assess media impact:
- Reach – The potential audience size of a placement.
- Media Rates – The industry-standard value of advertising or activations across different channels.
- Media Quality – The authority and relevance of the source. A placement in a top-tier fashion magazine or from a high-profile influencer holds more weight than mentions on general news sites or low-tier blogs. Similarly, media that are directly related to Fashion, Lifestyle or Beauty topics are valued higher than corporate sites or news feeds.
- Content Quality – Takes into account engagement metrics (e.g., likes and share counts) as well as factors such as images or videos and the number of brands quoted. A full editorial on the inspiration behind a look is far more valuable than a quick image in a Red Carpet slideshow.
Example of an Oscars red carpet slideshow from Harper’s Bazaar. While this exposure still holds value, it is less impactful than, say, a full article about the look. MIV is calculated to take these factors into account.
Because not all media placements hold the same value, MIV applies weightings based on these factors. For example, an Instagram post by a celebrity with high engagement and industry relevance will generate a higher MIV than a low-quality, low-reach mention. This approach ensures that brands receive a precise, data-driven measure of their media performance that goes beyond simple engagement numbers.
Authenticity checks on both the content and media sources also ensure that mentions from “spam-like” sources are discounted or eliminated. This includes everything from posting too frequently (so that content gets lost in the clutter) to more overt indicators like #follow4follow.
By leveraging this MIV calculation, brands can benchmark their campaign performance, influencer activations and media placements with unmatched accuracy. This is invaluable in helping them make more informed, strategic decisions and maximize impact long-term.
Benchmark Your Marketing ROI With the Standard Metric Built for the Fashion, Lifestyle and Beauty Industries.
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By Launchmetrics Content Team
The Launchmetrics content team is always on the lookout for new trends in the fashion and technology sector. We are geeks with style and lovers of good stories!
