Are you paying attention?
The time we spend with newsbrands is increasing says Newsworks’ chief executive Rufus Olins – which is great news for advertisers as they look to ensure they hold our attention in an age of mass distractions.
There is a story about a little boy who was so immersed in his book that he failed to notice a leak that had started in the corner of his room. The flow of water eventually built up to such an extent that his parents heard it from the room next door, rushed in and carried their little boy to safety, shortly before the ceiling collapsed from an overflowing bath in the flat upstairs.
The leak had been going on for quite some time, but the little boy had not been paying attention.
When it comes to paying attention, we are all uneven. The amount of attention we pay is determined to a large extent by our level of interest. That is one of the reasons we are so influenced by the occupation, status and attraction of a new acquaintance.
If you meet someone whose work interests or engages you, for whatever reason, you are likely to listen harder to what they have to say. If you find them appealing, for other reasons, you are also likely to pay more attention. But what you absorb is not directly related to the amount of time you spend with them. Two minutes can make more of an impression than two hours.
Sir Martin Sorrell’s oft-repeated comments about the proportion of time spent online compared to the amount of money spent online are interesting in this context. He suggested again at a conference recently that the quantity of time spent with a medium should roughly equate to the amount of advertising money spent with that medium.
Quantity is of course one factor that needs to be taken into account – and I am pleased to report that time spent with newsbrands is increasing, as confirmed by the IPA’s TouchPoints.
But quality is another. Is the audience paying attention? And how does that work in the age of dual – and even triple – screening?
When I sat down to watch television with my 13 year old son the other day, he was fiddling around with his phone as usual. I asked him which was his first screen and which his second when he was watching the football. “What do you mean?” he said. “I spend more time on my phone but I care more about what is happening on the telly.”
Most of his time was spent in one place but his focus and his heart were in another.
With distractions everywhere, attention is becoming a more important issue for advertisers. So we need to ask ourselves, how do we grab it? Creative work matters hugely in this, and so too does the choice of media.
In a bid to demonstrate the way in which newspapers hold our attention, our Belgian friends Newspaperswork commissioned an enjoyable ad by Duval Guillaume Modem, below.
So there is not a simple relationship between time spent and effectiveness. Content matters too.
A long-time spent on a site is no guarantee of an appropriate audience. Visitors to online gaming sites typically spend almost twice as long on each visit as they do on a newsbrand. The difference is that games sites index highly for low income households (£25k and under), whereas newsbrands index highly for affluent people earning £50k plus. A factor worth taking into account, I would think.
As well as audience and attention, another critical issue is context. Advertisers recognise that appearing in a trusted and relevant environment is powerful – something you can find out more about on 16 April when Work Research is presenting a thought leadership piece in conjunction with Bournemouth University at our Shift 2013 event.