Time’s Up: Ad Attention Plummets to Just 2.2 Seconds, Report Reveals

What’s the most valuable asset in advertising today? For many, it’s capturing and holding attention in a crowded media world. With so much content competing for eyeballs, attention isn’t just a goal – it’s essential. But here’s the thing: the time to make an impact is extremely limited (it turns out, a mere 2.2 seconds), and not all attention is equal. Therefore, different platforms require different strategies to achieve your goals.

How to make your ads truly stand out? For a start, they should break the mould and surprise. Not sure where to start? Check out our selection of key insights from the world’s renowned attention experts and get ready to capture quality attention in a world where everyone’s fighting for it:

• “Attention is the new currency – and you’re broke!” In one of his latest posts, Dr. Thomas Zoëga Ramsøy, Founder, CEO and Chief Science Officer of Neurons, a leading consumer neuroscience company, makes a claimthat serves as a wake-up call based on the company’s latest “State of Advertising 2025” report. It is the result of 321 global advertisers and marketing professionals surveyed in January 2025. The report reveals an alarming finding: in just seven years, ad attention has dropped by 37%. In other words, this leaves us with a mere 2.2 seconds to capture someone’s focus – down from 3.4 seconds. What’s happening? According to Dr. Zoëga Ramsøy, consumers are sharper and faster at deciding what deserves their attention. Overexposure to ads leads to fatigue and the rise of short-form ads (e.g. TikTok and Snapchat) has trained us to move on in a flash. Due to the above, the expert says it’s time for brands to think “Do in Two”, in comparison to which the previously relied upon 6 seconds’ time slot “feels like an eternity”. Does it mean the whole ad needs to stop after 2 seconds? Of course not, according to Dr. Zoëga Ramsøy. Brands need to think about how to deliver what is the most crucial for them in that 2-second period – e.g. not waste time building a story arc or providing a punchline for which no one will stick around. In the fight for attention, the first second has already made most of the decision.
• Quality attention delivers better outcomes. According to this recent article, Attention Time Per View could be the missing link to identifying high-value ad inventory. But how can marketers and other comms professionals secure focused and undisturbed moments for audiences to engage meaningfully? It’s all about being in the right place to capture it, Convenience Advertising‘s director and founder David Stanley and government engagement manager Alexandra Lipman argue, by considering where money is allocated and understanding what channels have the highest impact for specific audience groups. The article points to research by the Nielsen Company highlighting a broader behavioural shift; users now engage with content in an increasingly fragmented manner, often scrolling rapidly through social media feeds. This fleeting interaction underlines the challenge of capturing and retaining audience attention in an era of information saturation. The most pressing issue that has emerged? “We’re spending too much on digital ads that are annoying, too often not viewed, or don’t have the reach we thought,” per Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer at P&G. With the proliferation of social media and the corresponding shift in advertising expenditure, attention has emerged as a far more precise measure of influence. Dr. Nelson-Field, Founder of Amplified Intelligence , who has focused her decades of work on attention, conceptualises attention not merely as the number of individuals who are exposed to an ad but as the depth of their engagement and how long they actively focus on the content.
• Attention and engagement specifics across media channels. According to Dr. Zoëga Ramsøy, the largest neuromarketing study in recent history confirms that platform choice has a significant impact on how positively consumers perceive ads, brands, and products. Neurons tested ads on over 4000 participants to find out how different platforms impact ad performance. The reality is, fewer than 1 in 10 impressions go completely unviewed. This means that the number one measure of ad success is unreliable, leading to a false understanding of ad performance. For reliable results, using attention as a key metric when measuring ad performance is a superior strategy. According to Amplified Intelligence, the leading company in attention measurement, no two platforms are built with the same user experience, and as a result produce different types and styles of attention from their audiences. Each has its own strengths and challenges, shaped by how audiences interact with content. To maximise your campaign’s success, you need to adapt your strategy to the unique characteristics of each platform. Dr. Nelson-Field’s research highlights that high-attention media is directly linked to stronger returns on investment (ROI), underscoring its significance for marketers aiming to maximise campaign effectiveness. The recent State of Cross-Channel Marketing in 2025 report developed by MoEngage in collaboration with Tom Fishburne, aka Marketoonist, helps marketers stay on top of the challenges. It features insights from 847 B2C marketers, and covers, among others, what B2C marketers working at brands like Peacock, SoundCloud, Samsung, Crocs, and Deutsche Bank are doing, their top priorities, the biggest challenges, how they are utilizing technology and AI to enhance customer engagement, and what they believe it takes to launch a successful cross-channel marketing campaign. According to the report, we are seeing more marketers experiment with newer channels. This could be due to shifting consumer preferences and marketers’ attempts to break through the noise. The top three barriers to executing cross-channel marketing, according to the report? Reconciling digital and offline marketing channel data (23.6%), creating personalized messaging that resonates (22.6%) and customer segmentation (21.2%). The takeaway? Having a seamless cross-channel marketing program becomes even more relevant — regardless of where the data is coming from.

• Notice what’s different! According to Maris Krasnikovs, Managing Partner Creative Upfront, the brain has a simple rule: Notice what’s different. It’s called the oddball paradigm (discovered by Sutton, S., Braren, M., Zubin, J., & John, E.R. 1965) – a core neuroscience principle that explains why we pay attention to certain things and ignore others. As Krasnikovs explains, when an ad follows the expected pattern, the brain filters it out. When something unexpected happens, the brain shifts from passive scanning to active processing. This is how memory and recall are formed. If something breaks the predictable pattern, it demands focus. That’s why people remember the one email subject line that stood out in a flooded inbox or the one ad that did something different. Krasnikovs explains that this is where interactive and behaviour-responsive ads outperform static formats. The result? Brands that use interactive formats see stronger engagement and better recall – because the brain is wired to pay attention when something demands a response. 

Attention is without a doubt the key to successful advertising. Capturing undistracted moments leads to significant impact, better retention, and tangible results. The potential is present – it’s about being in the right place to capture it.

Novelty Media, via SmartAdd, is rewriting the rules of mobile advertising. Forget loud, intrusive ads – SmartAdd harnesses the power of video, the most engaging format, to create a novel, seamless and impactful ad experience. Instead of screaming for attention, we focus on micro-moments: those quick, meaningful interactions that make your brand shine. With a laser-focused approach, SmartAdd boosts engagement and loyalty by delivering your content during carefully selected instances without annoying users, exactly where it matters most: on their smartphones. Endorsed by Mobile Operators, SmartAdd ensures authentic engagement – 100% human, zero fraud. 

Ready to elevate your advertising? Reach out to us and learn more about the semantics of our solution!