Professor Karen Nelson-Field and Amplified Intelligence have been working to capture Cinema attention data for the attention PLAN platform, the first measurement of its kind globally. After an Australian pilot study, the fieldwork is currently underway in both Australia and New Zealand.
Data collection is conducted in real-life cinema sessions, using equipment imperceptible to the audience, reflecting a natural cinema experience and without the need for personal devices to worn.
The initial results show Cinema sets a new benchmark for ‘active attention’, soaring above all other platforms.
Active attention was shown to be 80% and passive attention, which provides some nudge to sales, takes the remaining 20%. As a result, Amplified Intelligence have coined the phrase ‘zero wastage for Cinema’.
The pilot study also found that attention levels were sustained right throughout the advert, irrespective of length, and that attention was sustained throughout the entire pre-show.
Moving from a ‘chance to view’ towards a quality based ‘attentive view’ has deep and profound implications, not only in understanding relative value across channels – but to also get closer to campaign outcomes and shape the direction of effectiveness measurement. As advertising works by creating and refreshing memories, attention is significantly and positively linked to business outcomes. The more attention paid, the longer the brand stays in memory.
Paul Butler from Val Morgan Australia who is working alongside Amplified Intelligence on the project says, “The evolving debate about what quality really means in media, and in-turn how agencies and brands apply this thinking, marks an exciting step forward. It opens fascinating opportunities to explore channel selection for optimised active attention and how channels can be sequenced for the best outcomes. With this new knowledge the scene will then be set to go deeper still and explore how attention sits alongside other factors such as receptivity, format, ad loads and screen size to affect the processing of ad messaging which will get closer still to understanding true value across channels.”
Special thanks to Michael Cullen of marketing.ie for highlighting these findings.