In this piece, Convenience Advertising‘s director and founder David Stanley and government engagement manager Alexandra Lipman delve into attention as an essential metric when engaging with audiences. But how can marketers and other comms professionals secure focused and undisturbed moments for audiences to engage meaningfully? It’s all about being in the right place to capture it, they argue, by considering where money is allocated and understanding what channels have the highest impact for specific audience groups.
The global media landscape is hyper-fragmented. With the advent of social media platforms and the smartphone in 2007, brand guardians, media buyers and communication experts face a challenging task to get audience attention. In this time, ad spend has pivoted sharply. Once anchored in TV, radio and print, it now proports to thrive on the precision and reach of social media.
Why is this so?
Global advertising spend has shifted en masse to social media, reshaping the digital marketing landscape. Facebook swiftly emerged as the dominant force in this space, leveraging its vast user base and advanced targeting capabilities. Its ability to deliver highly tailored content, coupled with real-time engagement insights has positioned it at the forefront of the media communications ecosystem.
Similarly, Instagram has witnessed a significant surge in global ad spend. As a visually driven platform, it appeals to brands aiming to captivate younger audiences. The rise of shoppable posts and influencer marketing has further accelerated its growth, making it a powerful tool for consumer engagement.
Meanwhile, LinkedIn has maintained steady growth within B2B markets, serving as the premier platform for reaching professionals and decision-makers. Its ability to facilitate corporate connections has solidified its role as an essential channel for brands targeting business audiences.
Understanding the evolving media landscape requires an appreciation of how people process information in the digital age. A 2015 study by Microsoft Corporation revealed a significant shift in human attention spans, noting a decline from 12 seconds in 2000 to just 8 seconds in 2015. This reduction is largely attributed to the accelerated consumption of digital content, driven by the ubiquity of smartphones and social media platforms.
In parallel, research by the Nielsen Company highlights a broader behavioural shift; users now engage with content in an increasingly fragmented manner, often scrolling rapidly through social media feeds5. This fleeting interaction underlines the challenge of capturing and retaining audience attention in an era of information saturation.
A generational gap
These two factors impact differently across generations, with younger cohorts, particularly Millennials and Generation Z, exhibiting markedly shorter attention spans than their older counterparts. The literature suggests that this phenomenon is largely attributable to their early and sustained engagement with digital devices and social media platforms.
“We’re spending too much on digital ads that are annoying, too often not viewed, or don’t have the reach we thought,” Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer at P&G said.
This sentiment echoes the growing frustration with the effectiveness of digital advertising, despite it consuming an estimated 65 per cent of advertising budgets in Australia.
Why attention matters in effectiveness
Dr Karen Nelson-Field has focused her decades of work on attention. Her research brings an insightful perspective to the ongoing discussion around advertising effectiveness, challenging the over-reliance on metrics like reach and frequency.
With the proliferation of social media and the corresponding shift in advertising expenditure, attention has emerged as a far more precise measure of influence. Dr Nelson-Field conceptualises attention not merely as the number of individuals who are exposed to an ad but as the depth of their engagement and how long they actively focus on the content. When integrated with scan engagement data and URL tracking, attention-based measurement, in my estimation, constitutes the gold standard for assessing advertising efficacy in the modern media landscape.
One of Dr Nelson-Field’s significant findings is the differentiation of attention levels across media channels. Digital media, while ubiquitous, tends to deliver low attention scores due to the fleeting and often passive nature of engagement. By contrast, channels like out-of-home (OOH) advertising score significantly higher.
Static and unskippable ad formats inherently command a level of engagement that many digital formats struggle to achieve. Dr Nelson-Field’s research highlights that high-attention media is directly linked to stronger returns on investment (ROI), underscoring its significance for marketers aiming to maximise campaign effectiveness.
Studies further suggest that consumers engage with out-of-home (OOH) advertising for longer durations and with greater focus compared to digital channels. This effect is particularly pronounced in environments where advertisements are seamlessly integrated into the physical space, allowing for uninterrupted viewing and deeper audience engagement.
Contextually-placed ads
Convenience Advertising (CA) is a prime example of a high-attention OOH format that takes this a step further. Imagine this: you’re in a bathroom stall or urinal, with a message directly in your line of sight. International research measures the dwell at 44 seconds for men and 130 for women in a cubicle.
CA delivers this through its network of over 3,000 venues nationwide, from its travel channel (airports) shop channel (shopping centres) study channel (universities and tertiary colleges), to entertainment channel (bars, clubs, stadia, pubs and clubs).
CA provides opportunities for communicators and brand owners to secure extended attention. Our client’s content with QR codes is strategically positioned in environments where people are stationary and free from distractions. Gender-specific and demographic targeting reduces cost and waste and further increases impression impact value, coupled with the ubiquitous smartphone, allowing for non-touch engagement.
This is especially relevant for products naturally placed in bathrooms and parent rooms, where habitual use reinforces purchasing decisions. Key categories include personal hygiene, skincare, beauty, hair care, towels, linens, cleaning supplies, first aid essentials, OTC medications, and grooming tools.
Attention is the currency of effective advertising. Securing focused, undisturbed moments drives real impact, stronger recall, and action. The opportunity is there, it’s about being in the right place to capture it. So, what’s next?
It’s active-attention time.
