Attention matters in advertising, and part of the answer lies in screen real estate
If attention is a currency, some advertisers are paying for nothing, especially if people can’t see their ads, as Kim Portrate explains.
It’s not news that capturing people’s attention is difficult. On an average day, we are exposed to thousands of advertisements. The big question is, how many do we pay direct attention to? The answer is, sadly, very few and in advertising, attention matters.
For ads to be effective, two things need to happen: people need to see them and they need to pay attention to them.
Others may tell you that the size of the ad on the screen isn’t a factor in grabbing and holding people’s attention. Common sense should tell you otherwise. And if it doesn’t, The Benchmark Series – an independent, in-home study into how Australians really engage with video advertising across different platforms and devices – shows just how critical this is.
According to Benchmark, ads which are fully rendered – taking up 100% of a screen’s pixels – generate twice the sales impact of ads that only fill half the screen. When it comes to video advertising, it turns out size does matter.
Similarly, attention is a powerful driver of business results with Benchmark proving media channels that capture attention generate sales growth. To gauge which platforms people are genuinely paying attention to, Benchmark tested the attention-generation capability of the same advertising execution across linear TV, BVOD, Facebook and YouTube.
The same ad captured fluctuating levels of attention from one platform to another. While attention began high and stayed that way for the duration of the ad on some platforms, for others, it dropped off within seconds, which ultimately means money wasted.
Understandably, when chasing top of the funnel awareness, marketers consider all media channels as attention sources and spend time and money working out how to use them as effectively as possible. Every channel has its strengths (and weaknesses) that need to be understood to maximise the brand’s opportunity. It pays to discard vanity metrics with little to no influence over the effectiveness of an ad. For example, a media platform’s ability to capture time and attention is vastly different, and vastly less important, than time spent on said platform.
It’s terrific that, as an industry, we’re starting to focus more on metrics that consider a media platform’s ability to drive ad awareness and engagement. The reality is that from a TVC played full-screen in prime-time all the way through to a social video in a social media feed, viewable impressions have varying levels of opportunity to capture consumer attention and knowing this is vital to maximising the ROI of your campaigns.
While ad length, targeting, creative strength and other attributes contribute to improving attention creation, the platform itself is the ultimate decider.
All of this is important because when campaign reach and frequency goals are delivered with what looks like impressive efficiency and low CPMs, you simply must measure the level of attention paid and the ability of the ad to drive real business results such as sales. When you do, you may find the result is the exact opposite of the efficiency metrics.
Frankly, if you have the choice between buying media with low CPMs no one sees or engages with, or media consumers will notice and pay attention to, low cost, invisible media isn’t really an option, is it?
The economics of attention demonstrate that media which captures attention and generates business growth remains in high demand. So, when you’re planning your next campaign, don’t pay for nothing, pay for screen real estate and the attention it brings your ad.
Kim Portrate is the CEO of ThinkTV
topics
Advertising
advertising attention
kim portrate
screen real estate
The Benchmark Series
ThinkTV
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TV ads
Great insight – Is there any info you can share on how you’ve defined and measured ‘Attention’?
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“For ads to be effective, two things need to happen: people need to see them and they need to pay attention to them.”
1. Wow!
2. That’s a little myopic, isn’t it? (see what I did there!)
Broadcast, streaming and video ads are consumed with the eyes AND the ears…And Ipsos’s research in Europe claimed 46% of people aren’t looking at the screen when they’re watching television… they’re multi-tasking. It’s the audio that prompts them to look at the screen.
After all, it’s called AV… not V, right?
And what about radio, streaming and podcast content? People sure don’t need to see them, to be effective.
Maybe myopic wasn’t the right term… Tunnel Vision is more accurate. 😉
(Come on… what did you think a post from “The Audio Guy” would say?!!!
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What a brilliant article! “Frankly, if you have the choice between buying media with low CPMs no one sees or engages with, or media consumers will notice and pay attention to, low cost, invisible media isn’t really an option, is it?” really sums up that marketers need to delve through their numerous, ongoing reports and really understand what their business drivers are and how their advertising truly achieves these outcomes, rather than focusing on high level vanity metrics.
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We should all be buying Cinema?
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Is this a sponsored post?
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saying one option is bad doesn’t mean that the other option is good.
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Yes you should.
We’re like TV, but 150x bigger.
Attention is our jam.
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Seriously, is the state of industry research now?
“Frankly, if you have the choice between buying media with low CPMs no one sees or engages with, or media consumers will notice and pay attention to, low cost, invisible media isn’t really an option, is it?”
Did anyone just go- oh, wow, I thought I was supposed to have advertising that no one saw. I should stop that campaign I put up with no one seeing it. It’s insulting research. Even the research she quotes proves that smaller video does something. Isn’t the question how much does it do for how it costs me? Otherwise if we follow this logic, stop spending on TV and put it on cinema.
Sometimes I seriously think I’m a little bit dimmer for reading ThinkTV research. The name is becoming an oxymoron.
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Funny how I rarely fail to notice an ad promoting something Im really interested in, no matter how boring, or poorly executed the ad might be.
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I think a reasonable question might be;
If attention drives sales impact, what does audio attention deliver in the same context. What does video attention + audio attention deliver, as opposed to just audio attention.
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I believe the original research is based on STAS, short-term advertising strength.
Well established literature area.
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What about YouTube ads on connected TVs? That’s all that gets seen in my house before Netflix comes on with no ads.
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During such a tough time in the industry why aren’t we cutting research budgets or investment in consortium’s like ThinkTV.
How many people’s jobs could have been retained if the industry wasn’t besotted in telling people what they already know about advertising.
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No problem. The details are at https://thinktv.com.au/facts-and-stats-type/the-benchmark-series
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No problem. The details you want are at http://www.thinktv.com.au/fact.....rk-series/
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We are all in “the industry” dude. Researchers, media marketers, media owners. Good research = revenue = jobs !
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Great ideas get attention.Dull ones don’t.
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I’ve always wondered what % of YouTube CTV audience is kids under 12..
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Industry in-fighting is so passé
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