Editor’s Note: The following presentation was rated among the best at ARF’s AUDIENCExSCIENCE Conference
Attention to advertising is an indicator of an ad’s ROI. Lumen measures what people actually see vs. what they say they see, across a wide range of media. Using eye-tracking they can see how people actually interact with ads and, with sales information, what they do as a result of those ads.
This presentation focused on desktop display ads and their impact. Passive attention tracking monitors what people actually see. Lumen then developed models based on this data. Just because it is viewable, does not mean it will be seen; e.g., 76% of ads that could be seen, get ignored. The average engagement with viewable ads is 22%. Not everyone looks at everything, just because they can.
Crucial factors:
- Viewable time: the longer an ad is in view, the more likely they are to look at it.
- Format choice: Large ads get more attention than small ads. Large ads are especially noticed in less time.
- Site choice-context is important. A London Times ad is more likely to be viewed than the same ad on eBay.
How do you gauge quality? Not all media is equal. Marketers should advertise on quality sites because ads on such sites are more likely to result in conversion.
“Does attention link to sales?”
Among their observations: An impression does not automatically lead to a sale. Even viewable impressions do not lead to sales. There is a link between attention and sales.
Lumen’s approach is to use the panel data, look at viewability impression data. The data show that time spent viewing an ad is an important factor in this equation. Ads only glanced at, do not convert. The longest sight leads to sales.
It is not just about media. Creative matters, too. Lumen advises doing A/B tests to determine effective creative. Simply putting a penguin in British Gas ads increased attention and sales.
Follett, M. (2018). Paying (for) Attention: Using Eye Tracking at Scale to Put a Price on Visual Attention. Presented at the ARF AUDIENCExSCIENCE Conference on June 12, 2018.