Angelina Eng: Understanding the New Frontiers of Attention Metrics
Angelina Eng, Vice President, Measurement and Attribution, IAB, introduces the evolving field of attention metrics, and how marketers are trying to think beyond impressions when it comes to really understanding the impact of their advertising.
By Angelina eng
In our complex media environment, many marketers believe that being served an impression isn’t enough. When audiences are served an ad, are they actually paying attention to the type of content in front of them? And is that actually creating some sort of lift when it comes to outcome, via a sale or a lead for the brand?
Marketers are looking for measurement metrics that can help them determine the quality of their impressions. They want to better understand how and if those ads are influencing or changing user perception of the brand or product, and how it relates to outcomes.
Throughout 2022, there have been several announcements and trade articles in which brands, agencies and publishers have begun to lean into different solutions beyond impressions and viewability. There appears to be an effort to add the next level of measurement: attention metrics.
“Marketers sometimes confuse attention with engagement. Engagement obviously leads to attention, but it doesn't always work in the same way.”
Currently, there is no standard way of defining attention metrics, and the conversation is very reminiscent of the early days of viewability and ad verification, when everyone had their own definitions and approaches of what ad viewability meant: was it five seconds, was it two second, was it 50% of pixels in view or 100%? It’s also complicated by the fact that there are three different ways of measuring attention:
Biometric. Biometric attention tracking involves following the actual human physical movements of consumers or viewers reacting to what is on their devices, whether mobile, computers, or the TV. Actual bio data like heart rate and blood pressure can be collected in a lab setting, but another biometric way of tracking attention uses special devices that reside in the household. These identify if someone is in the room, if sound is on or off, if people are showing any body movement, whether they're paying attention to what's on screen, and even eye-tracking.
As biometric collection devices are typically hardware that sit on top of or even within TVs, the panel sizes at this time tend to be small, and may be too small to be reliable. We’re still trying to learn whether certain biometric collection devices are more reliable within a TV-type set-up, or in devices like laptops and mobile phones.
Data proxy signals. Another form of attention metrics involves leveraging data signals that are coming from the device itself, and then triangulating actual on-screen user activity—not necessarily biometric, but still tracking actual on-screen behavior. Signals vary from looking at mouse-over movements, changing the sound, expanding an ad unit, hitting stop or play, and if the ad is actually viewable on screen.
Emotional & psychological. The third set of attention metrics is around more of what is is considered the emotional and psychological impact of ads. This typically involves a survey-based solution and audience segmentation, like A/B testing control studies and brand lift studies that ask about brand consideration, brand awareness, and sentiment—have you recently seen an ad, and about which company? Are your ads increasing brand awareness, or changing brand perception and consideration?
Attention as currency
We see brands and agencies trying to move towards some sort of currency format, where publishers are more accountable for delivering ads to an attentive audience.
There’s a lot of interest in measuring attention metrics across TV and digital video, as well as gaming. Brands that are more awareness-driven are likely to lean in to using attention metrics for measurement and optimization while direct response advertisers will typically focus on a specific KPI, such as conversions, sales, or leads.
However, some publishers are not enthusiastic about attention metrics, particularly since a shift to attention metrics could impact ad revenue, pricing, and inventory. Should publishers be accountable for attention driving outcomes? What role does creative have? What if the ad is not compelling enough, or doesn't communicate the product or the service or the value? Publishers are wary of accepting accountability for performance since there are additional factors to consider.
“At the IAB, our point of view is that attention metrics, at the moment, should be an optimization tool, and not a currency. There Are too many factors to consider, and not enough consensus on the standard definition and methodology of attention metrics.”
If attention deserves to be a future currency or KPI, then what's the metric? Impressions delivered is not right—the whole point is that impressions aren’t enough. In the digital space, we have added viewability, and specifically viewability by a human. Viewable CPM rates are currently being negotiated, and companies are transacting on viewable impressions. Now, the question is: do we transact on attention, and how?
At the IAB, our point of view is that attention metrics, at the moment, should be an optimization tool, and not a currency. There are too many factors to consider, and not enough consensus on the standard definition and methodology of attention metrics, particularly as attention-based KPIs can vary from brand to brand.
For some brands, attention means viewing an entire video and/or doing some sort of action, such as sharing or liking an ad. Some brands may value just time spent with an ad. Is watching an ad within a long-form video on a television screen equal to watching a social video ad on a mobile device? Many would agree it’s not. How do we begin quantifying that? Right now, it's too complex to be reduced to a single sort of number set or methodology.
The future of attention
It's important for marketers to keep in mind that we sometimes confuse attention with engagement. Engagement obviously leads to attention, but it doesn't always work in the same way. In 2023, the IAB will launch an initiative centered around attention metrics, which will include best practices, contractual terms for direct buys, industry standard definitions, and business application examples. In the end, this will lead to standardizing data signals and measurement methodologies, facilitating consistent measurement and reporting of attention metrics.
December 6, 2022