For example, on a publisher’s website where a user is actively reading an article, the opportunity for the ads to be viewed is higher than in a social media environment where users are mindlessly and endlessly scrolling, without necessarily engaging with anything. In terms of quantity of attention, we need to make a distinction between content that users engage with, and that which just happens to be on a page that they are looking at. The ‘Attention Economy’ study reveals that attention itself can be measured in two dimensions: quantity, which relates to the volume of attention, measured in seconds and quality, which is linked to the nature of the attention. Given that the size of an ad is proven to be correlated to the level of attention it earns, the pre-eminence of viewability as a verification measure is actively diminishing the effectiveness of brands’ advertising. Smaller and smaller ads have been crammed onto web pages, and more and more clutter is competing for the consumer’s eyeballs. But while providing brands with a minimum benchmark to determine what exposure they should pay for, it has also led to a race to the bottom. This is a critical step for our industry, as viewability has been the standard way to qualify impressions for the last 15 years. The research has demonstrated that attention predicts outcomes three times better than viewability. In this respect, almost every week a new proof point comes to light that moves the industry towards attention and away from viewability.ĭentsu’s ‘Attention Economy’ study is the latest landmark on this journey. If marketers can agree on one thing, however, it is that there must be a way to quantify the basic value and quality of the ad impressions a brand buys. There has probably never been more discussion and debate about the right ways to measure marketing effectiveness than there is today.

How to resist the attention economy