Attention metrics are proving to be one of the best metrics for certain online advertising. With the rise of digital advertising, capturing audience attention has become more important than ever. The focus on attention is part of an industry-wide push for measurement tools that go beyond recording a person viewing an ad and instead focus on whether they had an opportunity to absorb its messaging. In this article, we will explore the concept of attention metrics and why they are becoming increasingly important in the advertising industry.
Attention metrics are a collection of data points that are used to predict the likelihood that a given media environment and ad creative will draw attention from a hypothetical audience member. These data points can include eye-tracking studies, which follow the path of a participant’s gaze around the screen, as well as proxy signals like viewability, time in view, dwell time, contextual alignment, cursor hover time, scroll depth, click-through rate, and audio volume levels. All of this data is fed into a machine-learning model that predicts what types of media content and campaign creative will resonate with people.
One of the most important aspects of digital advertising is capturing audience attention. According to a recent report by Oracle Moat, for an ad or campaign to be successful, a combination of metrics will give brands a holistic view of performance. These metrics should be measured against industry benchmarks and the brand’s own business goals. For desktop and mobile content, the industry benchmarks for in-view time, exposure time, hover rate, and touch rate are 28.8 seconds for in-view time on both desktop and mobile, 7.5 seconds for interaction time on desktop, 3.4% for hover rate on desktop, and 11.8% for touch rate on mobile.
When it comes to video, which is the most common content type used in branding campaigns, a mix of sight, sound, and motion signals are important to assessing the quality of the ad exposures. The Oracle Moat report states that video played in-view should be 78.7% (approximately 79 seconds), video completions in-view with audio enabled should be 29.56% (approximately 29.6 seconds), impressions where the ad was audible for any period of time should be 37.97% (approximately 38.0 seconds), and impressions where the video was played to completion should be 69.4%.
Ads optimized for attention can increase recall and get more attention than a traditional advertising campaign. Attention metrics show how much time a user is spending on any given piece of content, which then helps brands determine whether their ads are effective at getting users to watch videos or read articles. By tracking how many people are engaging with their ads, they can also measure how well ads perform compared to competing products or services.
The importance of attention metrics has been demonstrated by Lumen Research, which has released a report from PwC just TODAY that reviews the Lumen Attention Measurement Platform (LAMP). LAMP is the first attention technology product to be assessed by PwC. From June 2022 to October 2022, PwC conducted a detailed walkthrough with Lumen on the company’s attention prediction methodology across both global and domain models.
PwC reviewed the application of Lumen’s methodology for three blue-chip advertisers; assessing the datasets and calculations used to verify the correlation between attention and click-through rate and conversion, in comparison to viewability.
PwC found that Lumen’s attention model correctly predicted whether an impression was viewed 70% of the time, where “viewed” is measured by a detected eye gaze on an ad for at least 100 milliseconds. The review’s findings demonstrated that attention per impression was correlated with superior click-through rates and conversion, in comparison to viewability. This indicates the importance of attention metrics for brands as a way to drive better performanceacross both engagement and purchase orders. The relationship between predicted attention and brand lift metrics such as ad recall was more complicated, and in line with viewable time metrics due to brand size and creative execution.
The findings of this report highlight the value of attention metrics in the advertising industry. By measuring whether an ad has captured a person’s attention, brands can better understand how their ads are performing and optimize them accordingly. Attention metrics are becoming increasingly important as advertisers seek to engage with audiences in more meaningful ways.
With the rise of ad-blocking technology and the increasing use of mobile devices, capturing attention has become more challenging than ever before.
Attention metrics can help advertisers identify the most effective media environments and creative formats to engage their target audience
By understanding which media environments and creative formats are most effective at capturing attention, brands can allocate their budgets more efficiently and maximize their return on investment. Attention metrics can also help brands optimize their campaigns by identifying areas for improvement and making data-driven decisions.
The use of attention metrics is not limited to digital advertising. Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is another area where attention metrics can be applied. For example, Lumen Research has developed a platform for measuring attention in OOH advertising. The platform uses computer vision to track the eye movements of people as they pass by OOH ads. This data is then used to predict the effectiveness of different OOH ad formats and locations.
Attention metrics are proving to be one of the best metrics for certain online advertising. By measuring whether an ad has captured a person’s attention, brands can better understand how their ads are performing and optimize them accordingly. Attention metrics can help advertisers identify the most effective media environments and creative formats to engage their target audience. The use of attention metrics is not limited to digital advertising and can be applied to other areas such as out-of-home advertising. As the advertising industry continues to evolve, attention metrics will become increasingly important for brands seeking to engage with audiences in more meaningful ways.
