diff --git a/panels_ref_formatter.module b/panels_ref_formatter.module
index 7feea63..46ccf99 100644
--- a/panels_ref_formatter.module
+++ b/panels_ref_formatter.module
@@ -171,7 +171,10 @@ function panels_ref_formatter_get_entity_id($field, $item) {
       return $item['target_id'];
     case 'media': case 'file':
       $type = panels_ref_formatter_get_entity_type($field);
-      return current(entity_extract_ids($type, (object) $item));
+      if (!empty($item[$type])) {
+        return current(entity_extract_ids($type, $item[$type]));
+      }
+      return FALSE;
     default:
       return FALSE;
   }