Attention Measurement: The 5-Minute Wrap-Up

Let’s face it: attention has become the most important metric in today’s advertising world. So much more than a hot topic, it’s a definitive sign of a revolution taking place in the established advertising effectiveness measurement system. 

Indisputably, Prof. Karen Nelson-Field, Founder and CEO of Amplified Intelligence, a globally acclaimed researcher in media science, is at the forefront of this revolution. As one of the brightest minds in the industry, we’ve been following her research for years. In case you have missed any of them, you can revisit our publications on Prof. Nelson-Field’s impactful research here and here.

In the video below, Prof. Nelson-Field is talking to Paul McIntyre, Executive Editor of Mi3 Australia, at a recent event of AANA – the Australian Association of National Advertisers in Sydney. 

Curious for a snapshot of the key points on attention measurement, all within 5 minutes? Check out our summary of takeaways from this insightful talk and watch the entire fireside chat in the video below:  

• Attention vs media reach. According to Prof. Nelson-Field, we need reach with attention, not versus. The reason it is such a hot topic is because that’s rare. There is so much error that sits underneath impressions that being able to do reach-based planning is almost impossible. That means, when you are buying 1000 eyeballs, you are not necessarily getting 1000 eyeballs, for a whole bunch of reasons. The recipe behind that is different for every platform and format. Advertisers are unaware of the volume of attention against how much reach they buy, so it’s a dice roll.
• Methodology of attention measurement. Prof. Nelson-Field points out that essentially, it’s “gaze tracking plus”. What is important is that we measure humans firstly. That means filming people with permission and translating that data through machine learning models that translate to: people are looking actively, passively or not looking at all.
• The role of creative. Creative is important, it is the vessel to the sale. However, what CMOs need to understand is that the performance of the creative is tempered by how much attention a certain platform can achieve. It’s fixed as a principle, with very infrequent exceptions. The user experience defines whether you pay attention or not. It is the functionality of the platform, as well as the format, that defines how much attention your creative can achieve and the creative has to work within these boundaries.

Novelty Media, via SmartAdd, is an attention-based media channel endorsed by Mobile Operators. We enable the display of multimedia messages on the smartphone screen in a new and impactful way. Thus, we empower advertisers with a reliable platform to reach real human beings – smartphone users – and deliver content at specific instances throughout the day. Keep following our Marketing Bites to gain further insights into our innovative solution.