Every second speaks. Make yours meaningful.
The average attention span of today’s digital consumer has receded to that of a goldfish, with just 8 seconds in 2025, creating an urgency for advanced branding solutions to match the pace. This has prompted advertisers to revisit how their campaigns operate, analyze, and monitor performance to adapt precisely to shifting consumer behaviors.
What Makes an Ad Memorable?
Notably, it’s no longer enough for ads to be viewed, but rather to be noticed and remembered, which cannot be determined through metrics like impressions and viewability that provide only a partial picture. This is where attention-driven insight, including time-in-view, scroll speed, screen orientation, and interaction, etc., play a more central role. Interestingly, an IAS study shows that even three seconds of active attention, where viewers are genuinely engaged, can outperform longer, passive views in driving outcomes like recall and intent.
CTV for That Instantaneous Attention
A TV-like premium experience, powered by CTV ads, gets advertisers just that, with the excellence of in-depth targeting fueled by context-aware placements, interactive ad experiences, and granular performance insights. It enables brands to capture attention instantaneously with prime screen placements, including channel line-ups, patchwall integration, and top-of-mind banner ads, where they get noticed. Additionally, features like competitor separation secure brand integrity by eliminating adjacent ad slots with competitors, and ad podding ensures the ad story feels natural, less intrusive, and worth remembering in a clustered string of ads.
Make Smarter Branding Decisions with OEM Insights
Contrary to CTV, mobile and in-app platforms capture scroll velocity, ad engagement, and motion sensors to measure attention in real-time. These insights help make necessary performance decisions in the campaign to ensure the ad garners maximum visibility. Moreover, In-app advertising is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.06% between 2025-30 and brands can utilize this opportunity by leveraging top OEM inventory to get the right ad to lock the right audience at just the right time with thorough a/b testing. Regardless, users tend to respond strongly when they encounter an ad that seamlessly transitions into their digital journey.
Advanced Contextual Cues to Lock Active Attention
Contextual advertising goes a step further, using eye-tracking and sentiment signals to determine not just what’s seen, but what resonates. They leverage contextual cues, including location, weather, behavior, or app category etc., to match brand messaging with users’ moments. Adding to it, they support innovation that demands engagement, and when users choose to watch, engage, or complete a video, it’s active attention, which correlates more strongly with outcomes like brand lift or purchase intent than impressions or clicks alone.
Map Consumer Behavior to Boost Re-engagement
Even more, in-app advertising allows brands to track users longitudinally, re-engaging based on how much attention they gave the last time. This continuous loop turns attention from a one-time metric to a long-term ROI driver, boosting lifetime value (LTV) and conversion predictability.
Conclusion
To conclude, understanding the nuances of the attention economy is increasingly important in a world where every second counts. Amidst a barrage of messages vying for attention, brands must focus on delivering memorable experiences that resonate within those fleeting 8 seconds. Brands that embrace and refine their strategies around attention are likely to see improved returns and cultivate stronger relationships with their customers. Ultimately, success lies in the ability to be remembered rather than just seen.
Written By Sanjeev Bankira, Country Head Applabs, India & MENA
