Attention: A better way to measure advertising effectiveness beyond viewability

[Dimaeiya333]

At the very heart of advertising lies the art of creating meaningful, lasting relationships between brands and consumers. As the industry rediscovers this fundamental truth, traditional criteria such as mere viewability are no longer sufficient to measure advertising effectiveness. Attention metrics are emerging as an indispensable new currency, capable of aligning brands with essential business objectives.

What are attention metrics?
Attention is a new metric recognized by the IAB that measures engagement or the attention paid by a user to an advertisement. Unlike traditional standards such as impressions and views, which only verify the diffusion of the ad, this new approach goes further by evaluating the ability of users to absorb the advertising message. In this way, it offers valuable insight into the quality of engagement and the real impact of campaigns, marking a significant evolution in the way we evaluate advertising effectiveness.

Why is attention important?
Did you know that average screen attention has decreased by 69% since 2004 ? In an media directors email database age where content is fighting for our gaze, attention has become an essential currency in the digital world.

Several major shifts in the digital ecosystem are driving advertisers and publishers to rely on additional insights that demonstrate the impact of digital campaigns. These changes include:

Cookie Deprecation: As third-party cookies become obsolete, advertisers and publishers are looking for alternative metrics that can act as performance indicators.
Advances in creativity and copy: Advances in digital advertising give brands greater freedom to express their message through personalized creative and advertising content. Attention metrics are emerging as a solution to determine which messages and creatives have the optimal impact.
Increased demand for measurement: Brands and agencies are increasingly focused on the need to demonstrate the correlation between brand awareness strategies and tangible business results.
Attention metrics are emerging as the crucial bridge between meaningful interactions and concrete business outcomes. Studies confirm a direct correlation between attention and performance throughout the entire funnel.