Playground XYZ today released a report titled, “Attention Time: Redefining How Marketers Measure and Optimise Ads in Real Time.”
The report explores a blind spot that has continued to challenge digital advertisers: differentiating between the opportunity for an ad to be seen (known as Viewability) and whether an ad was actually looked at (a metric the company calls Attention Time).
Independent firm Kantar verified the accuracy of the statistical calculations used when analyzing the brand studies contained in the report, which was over a year in the making. A key result across seven separate studies using ads from blue chip brands found that compared to Viewability, Attention Time is 7.5 times more powerful a predictor of driving Awareness, and 5.9 times more predictive when it comes to driving Recall.
“Consumer attention is something we always try to quantify in our campaigns; however, we know that measures like Viewability don’t give us a true picture of who looked at our ad,” said KFC performance marketing manager Matt Richard.
“The results of this research showed us how Attention Time is a very potent metric to drive our brand outcomes, and it’s definitely something we’ll be using moving forward.”
The research coincides with the launch of the company’s Attention Intelligence Platform, the world’s first advertising stack designed to maximize Attention Time on the fly. The platform is fueled by data from Playground XYZ’s custom-built, opt-in mobile web browser.
The web browser captures the users’ eye gaze coordinates using the front facing camera on the device. Consumers explicitly opt in and give their consent, then read trending news articles while the privacy-compliant research is conducted. The Attention Intelligence Platform enables brands and agencies to create and deploy attention-grabbing mobile ads. Along with industry standard metrics such as Viewability, the system reports on which assets are being looked at most and makes real-time improvements to creative and media.
“As an industry, we need to keep exploring new ways to capture and quantify consumer attention,” said Playground XYZ CEO Rob Hall.
“Viewability is a great baseline metric for advertisers; however, this research proves Attention Time is a vital KPI. Our new ad platform optimizes creatives, formats, placements and publishers to maximize visual engagement with ads and by doing so, drives greater Awareness and Recall for brands.”
When consumers use the web browsing market research app to read trending news articles, Playground XYZ makes a donation on their behalf to the The Fred Hollows Foundation, an organisation dedicated to restoring eyesight. The company has already committed to restore the eyesight of 1,000 people.
Adds Hall, “We wanted to create a value exchange for consumers who opt into our app in return for their participation. With this model, their eyesight is literally helping to restore the eyesight of others.”
