While a recent ARF survey documents the rising interest in attention metrics among marketers, a new report reminds us that “attention” comes in different shapes – which have different outcome implications.
As we reported (May 6), the ARF contributed to the current discussion about “attention” with a new survey that represented both the buy-side (advertisers and agencies) and market researchers.
- The survey found differences between the groups on several issues, but almost universal agreement on the idea that attention measures will soon play a more important role: e.g., augmenting, but not replacing, currency metrics.
The ARF‘s
report on the study, and other ARF publications about attention, also point to the complexities of the “attention” concept and whether more attention always leads to more ad impact. Professor Karen Nelson-Field and Hayun Jung, both at Amplified Intelligence, have issued a new report that addresses these issues. They describe how their research led them to focus on what they call “shapes of attention — six kinds of attention based on clusters of viewing behavior that are defined by a complex interplay between ‘passive’ and ‘active’ attention.
- The authors’ initial research on attention found that viewing an ad for similar seconds often resulted in different outcomes. This led them to shift their focus from what people watch to gaining a deeper understanding of how they watch on various platforms and on measuring the different kinds of attention accurately.
- Their new research found that different attention “shapes” affect upper and lower funnel outcomes in different ways. These insights, the authors hope, will change the conversation from more attention to the right kind of attention.
Sources:
The ARF, The Attention Council. (2022, April 26).
The ARF Attention Report.
The ARF & The Attention Council.
The ARF. (2021, June 8).
Attention and Ad Impact: New Insights from New Research.
The ARF.
WARC. (2022).
The shape of attention: mining gold from individual level attention view.
WARC.
(WARC members only)
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