The Ongoing Battle for Attention
Author: Matt Cote
Flashy presentations! Big name celebrities! Fancy food and signature drinks! These are the shiny objects the Newfront (and Upfront, for that matter) presenters typically dangle in front of brands and agencies to vie for attention—and push their message regarding the debate over currency: was it number of impressions that mattered most, or the value of the impressions? At this year’s Newfront, the debate seemed to shift. In fact, it doesn’t really seem to be up for debate anymore.
From the opening YouTube presentation touting the power of creators’ ability to drive an intense connection and attention from their followers to Roku promoting all the “unmissable” moments streamed through their devices (original content, sports, news, etc.,), it was clear the pivot from just raw impressions to impressions that are garnering attention was a hot button. Roku even introduced the use of AI to create stronger connections between brands and contextually relevant content. As you can imagine, they were not the only to introduce AI into the mix.
Snap leaned into the fact that their app is unique in the social space in that it is truly the only happy place on your phone, building connections and friendship during a time that is dominated by a “friendship recession” (look it up). In building this unique space in the social world they claim that users are more engaged and likely to view a brand positively when reached—an argument that countered the common opinion that ads in the social space are often over-looked.
Samsung and Vizio weren’t going to be left behind. They hyped the ability of their 1st party ACR data to not only get the best picture of household viewership but to help increase attention levels by inserting brands early in the search process and controlling content discovery. Peacock, Amazon and several others were also involved in the push for valuing attention, garnered by their best-in-class originals (oh yeah, they both also have a ton of data).
We at Eicoff have always had an eye on the quality of the impressions over just the quantity. Based on actual performance we can measure the true impact of an impression on network A vs network B. We can do that by daypart, by day of week and at an individual show level. All of this information allows us to manage our clients’ campaigns to ensure we are getting the most out of them.
Luckily for brands and agencies in attendance, the presenters did not forget to use flashy presentations, celebrities (Hey, look! Weird Al!) and great food to ensure their messages were heard. But you could tell that a pivot to the importance of the value of an impression, not just the number, is going to be a big focus in 2023.