Dentsu Attention Economy Project - in collaboration with Lumen.

The Dentsu Attention Economy project is the single largest attention study ever undertaken. It has helped us understand the reality of attention to advertising, and the reality of memory imprinting for advertisers. It combines innovative data collection techniques with robust study design and analytics.

Ads in most media are sold on the basis of an ‘opportunity to see’ rather than the actual attention. However, just because an ad is viewable doesn’t mean that it will actually be viewed, or viewed for very long. We also know what matters to brands is building memories and driving brand choice. RESEARCH QUESTIONS: How big is the difference between viewable ads and the ads that are viewed? What is the relationship between attention to advertising and brand recall / brand choice? How can we deploy attention insight to help brands buy attention, not impressions? Data from the ‘in the wild’ and the ‘controlled’ tests revealed that attention to advertising is finite, valuable and is affected by various factors. For us, these are the real results - the discoveries that we can pass down to clients to power their digital advertising and more closely refine their ad viewability. As a result, we created three new tools: - A measurement tag - A custom algorithm within Google's DV360 system - A fast-turnaround system to conduct brand-specific controlled tests for individual ads Ultimately, the research was designed not simply to inform business, but to drive change: the tools that have resulted from the study are now being trialled by Dentsu’s clients, to great effect, thus fulfilling both Lumen’s and Denstu’s mission to change the way we think of viewability.