Commentary
Stand At Attention? Not Enough When It Comes To TV, Media Advertising
- by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, October 17, 2024
Do I have your attention? Even then, where do we go from here?
A report from the ARF with Kroger Precision Marketing says that getting "attention" from a media campaign isn’t all that effective at predicting whether it moves sales -- or other brand outcomes.
According to the report, there is little to no correlation between attention metrics and sales lift.
So attention results might include data as weak as watching a Geico TV commercial but not knowing much about the service or product, for example.
Attention data sits in the upper part of the marketing funnel -- which is very different from pulling out your credit card and swiping it on a machine.
Attention is at the beginning of this journey. After this come such things as "interest," "consideration," "intent’," "evaluation" and "purchase."
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In terms of a better business outcome, consideration and evaluation come with someone getting off their couch and driving to a mall or showroom -- perhaps to touch and feel an expensive product such as a mobile phone, a fancy EV vehicle or a modern cooling mattress.
Integral Ad Science says: “Higher attention impressions have double the success rate as those with low attention. This is because when consumers pay genuine attention to an ad, they are more likely to remember the brand, understand the message, and take desired actions.”
In responding to the new ARF study, Kevin Krim, CEO of measurement company EDO Inc., which provides TV outcomes data results, recently commented on LinkedIn: “We’ve long known that attention alone is not consistently linked to actual business results. Part of why marketers love TV is that attention is consistently high. We watch the ads to get to our shows! Obvious metrics like attention may make for good headlines, but consumer engagement actually helps move the needle.”
Perhaps new studies should look deeper into the funnel as well. The best measure of a good business result should be added -- maybe something called "consumer purchase with no apparent returns on the horizon’."
I may have your attention now.
Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost. You can reach Wayne at wayne@mediapost.com.
Of course attention to ads is not the only indicator of whether the ad got its message across or whether the consumer was motivated in favor of the brand. But none of this matters when we come to defining media audiences---especially for TV.
Assuming that everyone understands that you can't have any outcome without ad attentiveness, the problem we face--and have faced throughout TV's history--is that we don't have a true TV audience measurement on a minute by minute---or a second by second basis. All we have is a set usage indicator and based on this we assume that a person who claims to be "watching" when the channel is selected, actually saw every ensuing second of content---unless the "viewer" signifies otherwise---which is not what actually happens. People often leave the room only to return and viewers frequently become distracted or lose interest in what's on the screen---especially for commercials.
In other words, without attentiveness measures we don't even have an opportunity- to- view finding for TV commercials. My company--Media Dynamics Inc--- will shortly be offering a 20-25-page report on TV attentiveness ---where we've been, where we are and looking to the future---which covers all of this---and a lot more---- and concludes with a suggestion which may break the log jam and move us forward. Stay tuned.