Capturing Attention: Impact of Quality Brand Engagement in Advertising

I was recently gobsmacked when someone on the Monetizr team found research that stated – consumers see 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day. Even the lowest of these numbers didn't ring true. After all, I'm a consumer and I don't remember seeing 4,000 ads.

But after double and triple checking the number in various sources, it turns out to be correct. On a regular day, for someone without an ad block who works on the internet all day and spends their free time, let's say, streaming TV series, 4,000 ads is a pretty low number.

For a consumer that sounds exhausting. No wonder I don't remember those ads. For a brand, on the other hand, – it's like being a needle in a haystack. How do you stand out if you don't have Super Bowl ad money to spend? How do you actually capture someone's attention?

So today I want to talk about consumer attention – what it is and why advertisers don't talk about it enough, how to measure it, and, ultimately, how to make sure you're capturing it and don't stay lost in a haystack.

Let's dig in!

What we think when we think about attention

The importance of attention boils down to one statement – it's not enough to be seen.

Honestly, I could end this part of the newsletter right here because that's the essence of it. When you're competing with potentially up to 10,000 other brands, you can't just be there, be background noise. You need to create ads that customers actually engage with and pay attention to.

If you need a more business-driven explanation, there's a direct link between attention and brand outcomes. In 2022 and 2023, Lumen did an extensive study which proved that more time spent with a brand results in higher… well, everything. Take a look yourself!

The more time consumers spend with the ad (seconds of exposure), the better the results in ad recall, awareness, familiarity, and even purchase intent. Lumen noted that even just 100 milliseconds of attentive exposure can impact these and many more ad metrics.

What's more, the same study found that attention is a stronger predictor than, let's say, viewability. It means that attention shows statistically more significant results and higher metrics across the board.

So it sounds like thinking about attention in advertising is a no-brainer. Then why is it not something you hear about more often?

One word: measuring.

Quantifying attention

Ad industry is notoriously slow to change its ways. And you don't have to look far for an example – it's confirmed that third-party cookies are going to get phased out in 2024; the process has already started. But so far marketers are mostly just chatting about it.

As Digiday succinctly puts it: “[There's ] no mad dash to explore alternatives, no frenzied quest to fathom the full scope of the repercussions and they’re still scratching their heads over what this Privacy Sandbox thing even is.”

And a similar reluctance to change has put attention on advertisers' backburners. It's there, but it's not a priority.

For most brands, it's easier to stick to the formulas and KPIs they're used to. After all, if your media buying department has painstakingly figured out a formula on how to measure ROAS, CTR, CPM, and other metrics that make sense for your brand, it feels unnecessary to change the established processes. Especially, if the results are good (though they quite often are not).

Luckily, I see more and more advertising networks and platforms showcasing attention metrics. The two most popular ones are attentive seconds per 1000 impressions (APM) and cost per attentive seconds per 1000 impressions (aCPM).

These metrics quantify attention and how much a brand pays for it. With such specific numbers, it's much easier to justify why ad dollars need to be spent on specific ad networks and formats that result in higher attention metrics.

In the future, I imagine advertisers logging into their DSP of choice and optimizing their media spend on the most effective CPMs, based on how much attention time these impressions get. Wouldn't that be the dream?

But how to know which ads will perform better on attention?

How to capture attention?

Think of the last ad that caught your attention. For me, it was one I literally saw last night on Linkedin – the STōK Cold Brew Super Bowl ad with the esteemed Anthony Hopkins.

Obviously, not all brands can afford Anthony Hopkins (we all wish we could). And not every week is Super Bowl week which is the Oscars of the ad industry with everyone pulling out their shiniest toys.

These flashy ads definitely capture attention and boost brand results. But most advertisers need to capture attention on a much smaller budget and, what's more important, on a regular, consistent basis.

Taking attention per mille (APM) as the main attention metric to follow, it's clear that classic display or social media ads aren't performing. For most, there are fewer than 4000 attentive seconds per 1000 impressions.

The channels and networks that perform way better are the more innovative ones, such as live streaming and gaming. This can also be seen in a recent gaming advertising study by dentsu – it showed that gaming generated higher viewability and attention, and a more efficient cost compared to denstu benchmarks.

On a more personal note, I can't help but boast a bit about Monetizr here – according to our data, the APM in our mobile in-game ad network is 51k. More than tenfold of what social media is showing. Full disclosure – not all platforms report these numbers.

So it looks like brands will have to fight their reluctance to change. Both by taking a closer look at the metrics they're measuring, as well as dedicating more of their efforts to standardize attention-driven campaigns in their media plans.

The process for standardization is well-known for brands – similar to how they use 3rd party impression or viewability measurement partners. For measuring attention, Lumen Research is emerging as the go-to partner. So you can check them out and already find out how many attentive seconds your ads are getting.

Don't become background noise

So will all brands soon switch to measuring attention? Probably not. Change takes time, and brands can be quite set in their ways.

What's more, I believe that there's room at the table for all players. The ad networks brands are familiar with, innovative solutions such as in-game ads, whatever Meta is cooking up for the future, and probably many more upcoming ad opportunities we don't even have a concept of yet.

Who knows, perhaps getting rid of third-party cookies will force advertisers to look for new ways to reach audiences and measure how effectively they're spending their budgets.

I hope that this edition of the Game Changers newsletter made you think about attention in advertising. Don't forget to subscribe to get bi-weekly advice and industry knowledge. You can also keep up with me here on LinkedIn for more content.

As a treat if you've gotten this far – every month, we here at Monetizr survey our gaming audiences, asking a bunch of questions. Is there anything that you'd like to find out? Let me know in the comments or DM.

Thanks for reading. If you want to chat to me directly about attention metrics and how to get them work for your brand, don't hesitate to reach out in DMs or in the comments.

See you in 2 weeks!