SXSW Sydney: 90% of OOH is committed to long-term memory – QMS unveils new data on attention
QMS has debunked the myth that out-of-home (OOH) is a glance-only medium, unveiling the results of its global-first research on the role attention plays in OOH environments at SXSW Sydney on Wednesday.
Showcasing how brands can leverage the attention flywheel to maximise their OOH investments, the research by QMS in partnership with audience measurement company Amplified Intelligence revealed that OOH ads scored an average 12 seconds of total attention.
90% of the QMS sites tested secured more than 2.5 seconds of active attention, which is the global threshold for something to be committed to long-term memory.
In addition, it found that OOH was 5.9 times more likely to deliver above the attention memory threshold that other digital channels.
“This research is at the forefront of global campaign innovation and is a significant step forward in understanding how people engage with OOH and the various dimensions that need to be considered for OOH planning and buying in this new era,” said chief strategy officer at QMS, Christian Zavecz.
“Traditional metrics like reach and opportunity-to-see still have a role to play in measuring OOH, but they are not enough. It’s time to pay attention to modern media metrics that will shape the future of OOH and omnichannel marketing and drive greater campaign
effectiveness.
“As leaders in understanding real human attention, Amplified Intelligence’s first to market technology, real world approach and uniformity of models for channel comparison, have allowed us to understand the power OOH has in gaining attention like never before,” he said.
Dr Karen Nelson-Field, founder and CEO of Amplified Intelligence, added: “The research confirms that OOH is far more than a fleeting glance – it captures real, measurable attention that translates into meaningful brand impact. This OOH data will serve as a powerful extension of our attention measurement framework, demonstrating how attention-based insights can complement traditional metrics to reveal the true impact of ads across multiple channels.
“In an era where capturing and holding attention is increasingly difficult, this data is key to driving stronger, more effective brand outcomes.”
The initial phase of the research included 11 different advertiser categories across 12 large and small format sites in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast,. It captured a significant sample size of 1.23 million – the single largest sample collected by Amplified Intelligence globally.
QMS and Amplified Intelligence will continue to build on their attention based research study adding more markets, more formats and more modes.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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