Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

83% of UK marketers believe attention is a key factor in reducing environmental impact of digital ads

Teads, the global media platform, has revealed the results of new research in collaboration with CensusWide, which found that 91% of UK marketers think the trend towards attention measurement is important, while a further 83% said it is an important factor in reducing the environmental impact of digital ads.

Of the 100 senior-level UK marketers that were surveyed, more than half (58%) thought the adoption of attention metrics provides a better online experience for consumers, while a further 52% said it improves accountability and transparency in the media ecosystem. What’s more, just less than half (49%) thought attention metrics are beneficial for reducing campaign emissions.  

Nearly all respondents (98%) stated they were already at an advanced stage of adopting attention measures, and all could see specific areas where attention would benefit the campaign cycle. With 55% of UK marketers saying attention measurement would help improve campaign planning, 67% said in-flight optimisation would benefit, while 68% thought it would improve post campaign evaluation.

When asked specifically 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 a further 42% said that 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.

Justin Taylor, UK MD at Teads commented: “The excitement about attention’s potential ramped up last year as the full scope of improvements it can bring to advertisers became clear. It is also obvious from the level of integration amongst respondents that gearing media plans toward attention is no longer a project on the horizon, but something that UK marketers are taking action on right now. The ability to have a cross-channel metric that predicts outcomes 3x better than viewability will be an enormous step forward across the entire campaign cycle. It’s hugely encouraging to see such confidence in attention from marketers, and if we can work together then the benefits are clear, not just for the advertising industry but for the planet as well.”

Nendra van Wielink-Mohamed, Associate Director, Global Media, The Kraft Heinz Company said: “It is encouraging to see from the survey that a high percentage of marketers are realising the importance of attention measurement. It’s even more inspiring that a large base of the respondents believe that they are already in the advanced stages towards adoption. This is exciting for the industry as a whole. At Kraft Heinz, we continue to learn and uncover the different levers of attention to optimize our campaigns effectively. We are driven to see how both media effectiveness & creative performance will continue to improve, and how this will provide a better online experience for consumers while enhancing accountability, transparency, and reduced campaign emissions.”

Bobi Carley, Head of Media and Diversity & Inclusion at ISBA added: “Off the back of our updated programmatic supply chain transparency study with PwC released last week, we’re delighted to see brands leaning into innovation when it comes to media measurement, improved accountability and improved campaign effectiveness. Brands who are moving to live attention measurement, partnering with attention experts and then optimizing towards that metric to deliver both better business results and potentially reduce their carbon footprint will certainly be on the front foot in 2023.”

After launching the Teads Attention Program in June 2022, 130+ brands and 325+ campaigns have now signed up to the program, measuring value of attention and educating advertisers on how to best use the new metric to drive outcomes for their business.