Singapore – Consumer awareness, recall, and consideration are all strongly influenced by core attention metrics, with increasein the majority of outcomes also occur quickly, with most seeing a lift prior to 10% of an ad having been watched. This is according to the latest report from attention measurement and optimisation platform Playground xyz.

The report notes that on average, it takes 1.4 seconds of consumer attention to drive a 10% lift in brand awareness at the top of the engagement funnel. For mid-funnel results, however, a longer attention threshold is required: 1.6 seconds for consideration and 3.9 seconds for prompted recall. The level of lift achieved also differs significantly per outcome. 

In addition, the takeaway for brands here is that attention plays an integral role in moving consumers toward a purchase – but not all attentive seconds are created equally. The Optimal Attention threshold can help define how much attention is needed, depending on the target outcome and whether a campaign is targeting upper, mid, or lower-funnel results. 

The report also stated that the thresholds for Optimal Attention were notably different depending on what creative was used – versus the platform that content appeared on (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube), which had less impact on performance. Ultimately, the way attention is paid to a specific creative – rather than the ad environment – is what determines the lift in specific brand outcomes. 

Unlike traditional methods, neuroimaging doesn’t rely on conscious responses – it measures the brain’s activity as consumers encounter advertising. And in the study, brain activity data supports the pivotal role of brand creative. Results from over 150 lab sessions indicate that creative content significantly influences memory encoding; which, in turn, impacts critical marketing goals such as brand loyalty and sales.

Lastly, larger brands with a baseline awareness above 75% are almost 1.5 times more likely to get lift with an Optimal Attention threshold of below 2 seconds. They’re also almost twice as likely to have an Optimal Attention threshold below 1 second. This is probably the consequence of pre-existing brand recognition and the use of distinctive assets (e.g. strong visuals, unique colors or audio jingles). Both of these require less attention to “jog” the mind of the consumer, triggering strong responses.

Rob Hall, founder and CEO at Playground xyz said, “Our new dataset is the best evidence we have, to date, that explicitly shows that different brand outcomes and creative executions ‘convert’ attention differently. Brands can be empowered to craft more impactful campaigns by understanding how exactly attention affects customers at different stages of the marketing funnel. This, along with greater investment in strong creative development, can powerfully influence specific consumer behaviors, and help amplify measurable results.”

Sydney, Australia – Contextual-first, global digital advertising platform GumGum has announced the integration of advertising platform Playground xyz’s media portfolio into its Asia-Pacific (APAC) business – creating a new suite of of AI-powered, contextual ad solutions to help advertisers tap into audience mindset and achieve standout attention rates.

Through this merge, the entirety of Playground xyz’s media arm of the APAC market will now be fully integrated into GumGum’s fleet of ad solutions.

Additionally, Playground xyz’s APAC media business will adopt the GumGum brand for unification and global alignment. Playground xyz’s Attention Intelligence Platform (AIP) will continue as a standalone data solution delivering global market-leading attention measurement for GumGum’s media business and the broader industry across display, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, OLV and more.

This integration of GumGum’s media businesses in APAC represents the final piece of the rollout of The Mindset Platform launched in North America and Europe in late 2023. 

The Mindset Platform combines AIP, GumGum’s media products, and GumGum’s advanced contextual intelligence platform, Verity, further bridging the gap between brands and consumers, allowing advertisers to meet audiences with the right mindset for an ad to drive increased attention, better business outcomes, and boost ROI.

Talking about this integration, Sorrel Osborne, head of media, APAC, at GumGum, said, “The rollout of The Mindset Platform in APAC offers our clients the essence and core DNA of Playground xyz with the increased scale of GumGum. Our combined media and data offering gives brands the tools they need to stand out and achieve better outcomes, with real-time attention insights, a combination of high impact ad products, and cutting-edge contextual intelligence.”

Singapore – Contextual-driven ads on YouTube have been observed to drive 28% more attention in contrast to other industry benchmarks, according to the latest data from Channel Factory and Playground xyz.

According to the data, these contextual-driven ads generate nearly 70% more attention for skippable ads. Both non-skippable and skippable ad formats consistently demonstrated ideal performance, exceeding benchmarks 97% and 95% of the time, respectively. 

Moreover, curated activity for these types of ads delivers above benchmark more than 80% of the time. The data also revealed that such tech delivers 28% more attention than the industry norm, on average more than one second of extra attention per placement.

Alex Littlejohn, managing director for APAC at Channel Factory, said, “Every second of attention on an ad has a huge impact for brands, which makes these results incredibly powerful. They prove beyond doubt the direct relationship between contextual relevance and increased user attention metrics.”

He added, “While it stands to reason people will engage more with advertising that’s relevant to their interests, too many advertisers are still ignoring this fact and blindly spraying ad placements in non-curated environments. Channel Factory technology helps brands deliver their campaigns more efficiently and in contextually relevant environments and now with the added benefit of attention measurement and reporting incorporated in their buys.” 

Meanwhile, Rob Hall, CEO of Playground XYZ, commented, “Attention metrics give brands the key to understanding how their campaigns are resonating with customers. Our partnership with Channel Factory gives advertisers the ability to understand their YouTube campaigns on a deeper level and drive ROI.”

London, United Kingdom – Global attention measurement and optimisation company Playground xyz has announced its actionable attention solution on YouTube as well as unveiling new insights on how advertisers can garner the most attention for their Youtube ad campaigns.

Through this new solution, Playground xyz ‘Attention Intelligence Solution’ (AIP) reviewed YouTube Impressions for Attention Time, AIP’s metric which evaluates ads for the length of time in seconds an ad is actually looked at.

Trained and verified by real eye-tracking data from an opt-in panel, it supercharges that data via advanced AI models to measure attention at scale. AIP’s YouTube attention measurement takes that capability and applies it to live YouTube campaigns, analysing each individual DV360/CM360 record to score attention time across the campaign.

Rob Hall, CEO at Playground xyz, said, “Optimisation is the key to driving attention and campaign effectiveness. With actionable attention insights, brands are able to pinpoint factors that are detracting from campaign success and quickly understand how to coarse-correct.”

He added, “Advertising is a huge opportunity on Youtube and we are excited to help brands learn more about their campaigns in order to drive attention and connection with audiences. There is a lot to learn about attention within social environments and that starts with technology that can adapt to the unique consumer behaviors within each platform and help advertisers easily optimize each campaign to be where attention is highest. Our attention offering on YouTube is just the beginning of more exciting social capabilities to come.”

Australia – Attention measurement and optimisation platform Playground xyz has announced a partnership with global adtech PubMatic. Said partnership aims to allow advertisers to create bespoke, high-attention marketplaces within the sell-side platform.

Playground xyz’s attention intelligence platform (AIP) technology fuses eye tracking panel data with an advanced AI to optimise ‘Attention Time’ which displays how long in seconds an ad is actually looked at across both creative and media in real time. 

“Advertisers are starting to harness the power of measuring and optimizing their campaigns on a quality metric like attention, rather than proxy metrics like viewability. Making this revolutionary metric accessible to customers is a key step to adoption and we are excited to partner with PubMatic, one of the world’s leading ad tech companies, to provide this scalable solution to their clients, ” said Rob Hall, CEO of Playground xyz

With the new features, PubMatic’s clients will now be able to bolster their campaigns and adjust ad spend towards the inventory that is securing the highest levels of attention.

 Peter Barry, Vice President of Addressability and Commerce Media for PubMatic says that they see the growing demand for attention-based solutions and are excited to offer Playground xyz’s marketplaces within Pubmatic.   

“Integrating AIP’s Attention Time capabilities is an exciting step forward in allowing the world’s biggest brands to take action on attention,” he added. 

Sydney, Australia – Advertising agency company Publicis Groupe in APAC has teamed up with martech company Playground xyz to implement attention measurement and optimisation solutions across Publicis Groupe APAC clients’ digital ad campaigns.

The project expands on an ongoing partnership that has seen Playground help Publicis Groupe APAC clients test attention-based solutions and build a clear understanding of the actual levels of consumer attention their digital display advertising receives.

Next stages of the partnership will look to test how Playground’s attention solutions can be applied to other advertising approaches and channels, including contextual targeting and YouTube video ads.

Playground xyz’s ‘Attention Intelligence Platform’ uses real eye-tracking data from an opt-in panel, fused with AI to deliver attention measurement and optimisation.

Sapna Nemani, chief product and solution officer for APAC at Publicis Groupe said, “Brands have always been in the business of capturing and converting attention. Yet, as an industry, we have found it hard to quantify this, until now. The ability to measure attention meaningfully gives us an accurate perspective on effectiveness, and this is a game changer.”

Meanwhile, Rob Hall, CEO of Playground xyz, commented, “We’re continuing to find that attention time is an incredibly reliable and effective predictor of brand outcomes. It’s capable of unearthing hugely beneficial insights that will undoubtedly help brands more effectively formulate their strategies. Attention data is the missing ingredient in advertisers’ quests to secure maximum ROI and we’re incredibly excited to be helping Publicis’ clients realise its potential.”

Singapore – Location technology platform Foursquare has appointed a new regional head for its Southeast Asia and Hong Kong operations, former head of sales of martech Playground XYZ Tim Castle.

His new role will revolve around working closely with brands, agencies, and advertisers in this region to further the expansion of Foursquare across Southeast Asia, following the company’s recent rebranding stage, and various strategic acquisitions for the past two years, the companies namely Placed and Factual.

Prior to his new role, Castle spanned multiple roles among regional hubs, including in the UK and Australia, where he led new business initiatives at GroupM, AOL, which is now Verizon Media, and most recently at Playground XYZ, where he was responsible for expanding the business’s mobile rich media and measurement solution into new markets across Asia.

“Location services are critical to any enterprise’s technology stack. Foursquare has continued to push the boundaries of what’s possible with location technology with their full range of capabilities to help businesses scale, and create better customer experiences and business outcomes,” Castle said, commenting on his recent appointment.

Castle will report directly to Aditi Kohli, managing director of Foursquare Asia-Pacific.

“Tim’s appointment marks an exciting new step for Foursquare in the region. As we continue to gain momentum with our innovative enterprise products and proprietary location technology and data, we will deeply benefit from Tim’s years of expertise in driving new business growth across multiple markets,” Kohli stated.