• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, February 6, 2023

Teads, a global media platform, has released research it conducted in collaboration with Censuswide that found 83% of UK marketers believe attention metrics are  important in order to reduce the environmental impact of digital ads.

Jeremy Arditi, co-chief executive officer at Teads, believes attention metrics picked up steam in the UK before coming to the United States. Privacy regulation became a driving factor.

“As cookies continue to be deprecated, attention seems to be emerging as currency to capitalize on a loss of data,” he said.

Attention metrics has become a foundational metric to drive positive business outcomes, according to Monique Pintarelli, president of North America at Teads.

“We want to take attention to the next level, such as integrating it into our platform, and eventually support things like planning optimization as measurement,” she said.

The survey sample of 100 senior-level UK marketers, although small, found that 58% believe the adoption of attention metrics provides a better online experience for consumers, while another 52% said it improves accountability and transparency in the media ecosystem.

And what may be a more critical finding to some is that 49% said attention metrics can monitor investments to reduce campaign emissions. 

Some 55% of UK marketers said attention measurement would help improve campaign planning, while 67% said campaigns benefit from in-flight optimization, and 68% thought it would improve post campaign evaluation.

When asked about the importance of attention metrics on reducing the environmental impact of digital ad campaigns, 42% of UK marketers said it was relatively important and 42% said it was very important.

By optimizing for attention, brands can be more efficient with their ad spend, with the potential to deliver better outcomes whilst simultaneously being more carbon efficient.

With Heineken Brazil under more pressure to measure the value of its digital ads, it conducted its first experiment with attention metrics as part of its sponsorship of Brazil’s Rock in Rio 2022 music festival.

Working with Teads, the campaign’s APM -- which means the average attention per 1,000 impressions measured in seconds -- was found to be five times higher. The view rate was two times higher, 66%, than Lumen’s benchmark on digital campaigns.

Teads launched an attentions program last summer and has been working on securing partnerships with third-party measurement companies to support it. Companies like Adelaide, Lumen, and Realeyes.

Globally, the company is running hundreds of tests, between 30 and 50 in the United States, from agencies to brands, she said.