For advertisers, attention is emerging as the new standard for evaluating ad effectiveness. But with the average person spending seven hours online every day—browsing, chatting, watching or working across multiple devices—and seeing anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 ads in that time, standing out in an era of distraction is no easy feat. 

Pre-dating the internet we know today, the concept of an attention economy—where a wealth of information causes a scarcity of attention—was first coined by economist Herbert A. Simon in the 1970s. The use of attention as a metric for ad effectiveness, however, is a relatively new development. 

Already, clickbait headlines, never-ending social media feeds and personalized algorithms work tirelessly to keep users engaged. So how might a renewed focus on attention reshape the industry for the better?

What is attention? 

According to one study, a 5% increase in attention volume leads to a 40% surge in in-market ad awareness. But attention is not an “all or nothing” concept. Rather, attention quality and quantity can vary greatly. So how do we measure this? 

While no foolproof method has been developed, a variety of technologies including head movement-tracking, skin conductance, EEG scans, MRI scans and AI-enhanced eye-tracking have all been tested. Other ways of measuring attention involve ad interaction rate and time, active time on a screen, in-view time and audible or visible completion rates.

With many unknowns and variables still at play, greater research and a broader range of metrics are needed to clarify the specific factors that make online ads effective and how best to track and even define attention. In the meantime, however, it’s possible to optimize ads and the environments they’re placed in to boost consumer engagement and interactions, such as quality of the page, ad position, digital environment, page clutter, frequency and time of day. 

Putting the consumer first 

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