Boulder, CO, London, GB (November 2, 2021)
Measuring engagement is shown to drive an increase in attention.
New research from publisher technology provider Sovrn shows that “Engaged Time” offers a better way to predict ad performance than the current industry standard. The IAB defines a viewable impression as one where at least 50% of the ad’s area is displayed onscreen for at least one second. Engaged Time goes significantly further by combining viewability with 45 distinct on-page consumer interactions, to measure when an ad has both the chance to be seen and when that person is actively engaged with the content.
“The data clearly shows that Engaged Time delivers more than double the attention compared to viewability alone” said Babac Vafaey, Vice President, Signal Product at Sovrn. “While viewability is useful in measuring ad inventory quality, it doesn’t go far enough to demonstrate performance. Viewability only measures whether an ad is potentially visible – not whether it’s actually seen or noticed by an engaged person.”
A recent study found Engaged Time captures 2.6 times more attention than viewable time. Sovrn partnered with demand side platform Avocet and attention technology company Lumen to analyze the correlation between Engaged Time and attention. Using Lumen’s eye tracking data and predictive modeling, the study identified signs that a reader actually looked at an ad when it was in view. Sovrn’s Signal technology was applied to measure 45 distinct on-page actions and confirm that the reader engaged with the page while the ad was in view. The data showed that Engaged Time captures 2.6 times more verified attention than viewable time (see Chart 1). The difference in performance is shown over time in Chart 2.
Chart 1: Engaged Time compared to viewable time
Chart 2: Engaged Time compared to viewable time over a period of 10 seconds.
Sovrn’s Signal technology arms publishers with insights to measure, compare, and monetize viewability and Engaged Time. To learn more about this research and the methodology used, read this blog post.
