Consumer attention: Look here!

• Consumer attention varies based on content, medium and age.
• Quality of time spent determines consumer conversions.
• Across the markets, TV still the king of Ad revenue generation.

In today’s crowded digital marketplace, consumer attention isn’t just a metric—it’s the prize. Advertisers are the contenders, and marketing is their battleground. New insights reveal that for media houses, creators, marketers, and brands alike, capturing attention has become a high-stakes competition. But rather than focusing on quality engagement, the race is often reduced to chasing eyeballs and maximizing screen time.

“This approach overlooks a more important issue, the quality of time spent,” says Kabir Ahuja who led the research team into consumer attention, marketing and trends in revenue generation from a spectrum of adverstisments avenues.

In the report titled: ‘Winning the battle for consumer attention’ the research paper shoes that consumption and monetization vary widely across what they refer to as the attention economy.

“Our research suggests that the media business has been missing the full story on consumer attention,” Ahuja suggests.

These findings are backed by an in-depth survey of 7,000 consumers worldwide and as a result the researchers developed an attention equation that reveals the full drivers of attention value. Notably, attention doesn’t simply equal the amount of time spent, it equals the amount of valuable time spent, driven by focus and intent, it states.

“This new way of thinking about media monetization includes an assessment of what makes attention valuable, which media formats are most efficient at monetizing attention, how distinct consumer segments approach media consumption, and strategies and questions for media players to consider as they compete in the attention economy.”

The research shows that the challenge of attracting and retaining consumer attention is a matter of supply and demand.

“The sheer volume and diversity of content available to audiences is greater than ever before. But the time that people have or are willing to devote to consuming those various forms and formats of media and entertainment, including video, audio, gaming, print, social platforms, and live events, is finite,” the report warns.

Also, and not surprising, the report shows that over the past decade, the total number of hours each day that consumers watch, listen to, read, or otherwise interact with content has been increasing by about 1 to 2 percent each year.

“At the same time, technological innovations in production and distribution, the rise of user-generated content, and the proliferation of premium content have created a dizzying array of choices,” the report says.

The report findings hold that; “There are 50 times more amateur uploaders than professionals on Spotify, 25,000 times more hours of content produced last year on YouTube than on all traditional television networks and video streaming services, and every new television season and movie release competes for time on the same platforms that offer nearly every series and film that came before it.”

So, not only is there more content to consume but also more devices to consume it on and more often than not, consumers do so simultaneously. For example, in the time it has taken you to read this line, chances are, you have also looked at another device (TV, laptop, phone), another App, a pop-up Ad etc.

“An overwhelming majority of media consumers, across generations now routinely browse the internet or apps while watching TV. New content increasingly is created to drive and cater to shorter attention spans, with programming executives reportedly telling writers that they should assume viewers will be accessing two screens at once,” the report reveals.

“Media multitasking is so prevalent, both in professional and personal time, that consumers now spend, on average, roughly 13 hours a day engaging with media,” it has been found.

What marketing officers need to pay attention to is the fact that, this explosion in content, platforms, and devices has fragmented consumers’ collective focus, making it only more difficult for companies to effectively monetize the public’s shifting engagement habits, the research shows.

Also Read: Catalyst Zero: An AI solution for agri-processes

TV is still king: Consumer attention, consumption, revenue generation

Interestingly enough, when it comes to advertisement revenue generation, TV is still king; “Inflation-adjusted media revenue has remained relatively flat in recent years, as the growth in consumption across social media platforms, video streaming services, and digital audio hasn’t generated levels of consumer spending or profit that are comparable with cable television, legacy print publications, movie theaters, and physical media.”

“Digital media tends to generate a smaller share of revenue and profit compared with its share of consumption,” the researcher have concluded.

The researchers say that out of 20 primary media that are vying for consumers’ attention, the value of an hour of consumption ranged from highs of $33 per hour for live sports, $24 per hour for amusement parks, and $17 per hour for live concerts to lows of $0.12 per hour for digital music, $0.11 per hour for radio, and $0.05 per hour for podcasts (in the US).

“Notably, though social media and social video are among the fastest-growing arenas in terms of monetization (revenue per hour is projected to grow 10 and 7 percent annually, respectively, from 2024 to 2028), they currently fall squarely in the middle of the nonlive-media pack, garnering $0.25 per hour,” the research showed.

On the flip side; “By contrast, legacy-media formats such as print newspapers, magazines, and books, while declining in value, still generate the highest levels of monetization after live events and gaming, well ahead of their digital peers.”

The research has underpinned that sporting events, amusement parks, video games, and traditional linear video are the most effective monetizers of attention, generating the greatest revenue per hour relative to their levels of consumption.

Also, contrary to general belief, younger consumers aren’t less attentive, they just pay attention to different mediums. “Gen Z consumers and baby boomers report the same level of average focus, but it’s split across different mediums: Gen Z consumers are highly focused when playing video games, using the same level of focus boomers exert while reading a newspaper,” the report underlined.

It says; “The greatest disparity comes in attending live sports, with boomers being far more focused than Gen Zers even though Gen Z exhibit modestly more focus when watching live sports on television.

“Overall, the more focused consumers are, the more likely they are to spend. Across consumers, a 10 percent increase in average focus paid across mediums is associated with a 17 percent increase in spend across mediums. Consumers in the top quartile of focus spend twice as much as those in the bottom quartile, the report sums up.