Four Tips to Boost Ad Attentiveness

Summary

In the digital space, marketers often focus on viewability. However, just because an ad is viewable does not guarantee that it will actually be viewed or that it will get attention. This study presents analyses to show that attention to ads is crucial: “attention directly correlates to sales impact,” i.e., an ad needs to be seen “to convert to sales.”

The research, conducted by eye tracking company Lumen in the UK, focused on digital display ads. The purpose was to document the importance of attention measures and, given the link between attention and sales, to examine how advertisers can increase attention to digital display ads.

The researchers identified four factors that marketers can evaluate to bolster ad attentiveness:

• Time: the amount of time that an ad was seen increased the engagement and interest viewers had with that ad
• Format: not all ad formats were “noticed at the same rate” — and size mattered
• Site content/brand: context affected ad attentiveness
• Creative: engaging and visual content boosted time spent viewing an ad and click through rates