Why attention is key to brand lift

In our increasingly cluttered and time-poor world, capturing and maintaining consumer attention is more crucial than ever. And with the average UK user spending upwards of 6 hours a day between mobile and desktop devices, it’s no surprise that branding has had to move online. But how do you measure its impact when traditionally online advertising has been more about direct response in the form of cold, hard clicks?

Well, the answer can be found in groundbreaking new research which provides compelling evidence for the value of attention in digital advertising and its impact on wider brand outcomes.

Linking attention metrics to brand lift

A comprehensive study conducted by Havas Media Network, Lumen Research and Brand Metrics has provided the largest examination to date of how attention impacts brand metrics in digital advertising. The research analysed over 9,000 brand lift studies encompassing 1.8 million respondents and 5.6 million viewable impressions. It reveals:

1. Aggregate attention time is a crucial variable. It's not just about a single ad impression, but the cumulative time spent with a brand's messaging.
2. Different attention strategies can influence different brand outcomes:

• For awareness and consideration, multiple short attentive experiences were most effective.
• For driving preference and action intent, sustained attention in a single exposure showed strong results.

4. Frequency drives attentive reach and aggregate attention time, highlighting the importance of giving consumers multiple chances to view an ad.

What is brand lift?

Brand lift refers to the measurable increase in consumer awareness, perception, and intent to purchase as a direct result of an advertising campaign. It quantifies how effectively a marketing effort has improved various brand metrics, such as:

• Brand awareness: The extent to which consumers recognize or recall your brand
• Brand perception: How consumers view your brand in terms of quality, value, or other attributes
• Purchase intent: The likelihood that a consumer will buy your product or service
• Ad recall: Whether consumers remember seeing your specific advertisement

In the context of this new study, brand lift was measured across four key areas: awareness, consideration, preference, and action intent.

The value of sustained attention

The research found that campaigns generating 2-5 seconds of aggregate attention time showed the strongest performance for brand lift. This aligns with previous findings from attention researcher Dr. Karen Nelson-Field, who identified 2.5 seconds as a useful threshold for video advertising.

For companies like us who specialise in branded content, these findings are particularly relevant. Our native article benchmark of 30 seconds average dwell time far exceeds the thresholds identified in this study, once again proving that sustained attention is key to driving significant brand outcomes.

Attention metrics gaining traction

The importance of attention metrics is increasingly being recognised across the advertising industry:

• A survey by Digital Content Next found that 96% of advertisers plan to rely on attention metrics for at least some of their ad buys in 2024.
• Research from DoubleVerify's 2024 Global Insights Report showed a 47% adoption rate of attention metrics among media buyers.
• An Adelaide study revealed that 88% of senior US marketers trust the correlation between attention and advertising outcomes.

Beyond traditional metrics

Attention metrics offer several advantages over traditional measures like viewability:

• More accurate representation of engagement: 57% of brands and agencies see attention metrics as a more holistic measure of engagement than viewability, according to IDC research.
• Better alignment with brand goals: Attention metrics can be tailored to specific brand objectives, from awareness to purchase intent.
• Privacy-friendly measurement: As the industry moves away from cookies, attention metrics offer a privacy-compliant way to measure ad effectiveness.

The future of attention

As the industry continues to embrace attention metrics, we can expect to see:

• More sophisticated attention-based media products from major platforms
• Increased use of attention guarantees in media contracts
• Further refinement of attention measurement techniques
• Greater integration of attention metrics with other performance indicators

By focusing on capturing and maintaining consumer attention, advertisers can drive meaningful brand lift across the entire marketing funnel. To learn more about The Attention Network, and how we can help you, please contact us today.