As seen in Exchange Wire – Ben Foster, chief operating officer at The Kite Factory, looks at why the attention metric will drive success for advertisers next year.
Attention has been a buzzword in the media industry for more than a while and, like most hot topics, after a huge amount of coverage the discussion has tailed off as some hotter topic steals the spotlight. However, this doesn’t mean it shouldn’t remain a key focus in 2026 as having a strategic approach could deliver significant impact with minimal effort.
Marketing teams are under extreme pressure to hit targets in a tough economic climate, which is why we’ve seen less focus on workstreams perceived as non-business critical workstreams, such as sustainability (even though it is critical for the planet). Attention, however, is far from one of these optional areas.
The limits of reach and viewability
An ad placement cannot influence audience behaviour if it can’t be seen. This is why reach, frequency, and online viewability have been cornerstones of media planning for so long. But just because an ad appears, it doesn’t mean the viewer consciously saw it, read the copy, or even absorbed the message subconsciously. Optimising for attention as a short-term media quality signal can influence longer-term business outcomes – it’s about much more than improving initial engagement rates.
Optimising for attention and ROI
Before diving into how we embed attention into campaigns, it’s worth dispelling the myth that younger generations have shorter attention spans. Studies show their attention levels remain remarkably consistent; it’s their patience that is shorter and their expectations that are higher. They won’t wait for content to load, skip to the interesting bit, or engage with anything they don’t find compelling. Despite this, studies have shown 50% of TV creatives trigger less of an emotional response than showing the viewer a video of cows grazing in a field, wasting millions in ineffective media spend.
Quality creative is crucial in driving campaign outcomes, and attention is no different. In an omni-channel campaign, there’s a classic tension between using a ‘matched luggage’ approach to content creation versus tailoring creative for specific environments and audiences to boost engagement. For example, attention decay curves vary massively by channel, environment and platform with initial attention windows as short as 1.3 seconds on TikTok. Tailoring content for different platforms isn’t just about story arcs – audiences have different expectations when engaging on LinkedIn versus Snap. They are in very different mindsets. Relevance isn’t just about personalisation, it’s also about aligning with the content that surrounds you.
Premium inventory vs multiple touchpoints
For brand-building campaigns, planning has historically focused on premium inventory, where dwell times are higher and ads have a better chance of being processed, even subconsciously. However, the challenge in digital has been that the increased action intent from premium sites, such as quality news content, is almost entirely offset by the higher media cost. Recent studies, however, show that gaining attention across several engagements can be as effective, or even more effective, than a single longer touchpoint. While brand perceptions and reputation remain important, this opens up more channels and placements, often at a lower cost.
When planning for attention there are three key considerations. Firstly, attentive channel engagement varies massively by platform. Secondly engaging multiple senses increases memorability – yet some platforms are often visited without sound on – and lastly audience mood and mindset varies throughout the day. This then waterfalls into buying strategies with a focus on inventory with higher screen real estate and ad units that demand attention i.e. skippable, clickable or swipeable, because active attention drives seven times more memorability than a subconscious glance.
Attention has evolved from an upper funnel metric to a full funnel one. Studies have proven significant incremental uplift on KPIs throughout the funnel when campaigns are optimised for attention alongside other primary objectives. These reporting insights can be fed back into campaign optimisation in real time and even included into modelled attribution such as econometric models.
Rather than viewing active attention tracking as just another tech cost, see it as an investment with positive ROI. At the very least, it’s worth testing to measure its incremental impact.
Full article as featured in Exchange Wire: Beyond Impressions: Why Attention Will Drive Media Success in 2026 – ExchangeWire.com