By Joe Nguyen, Senior Strategic Advisor, H+

Digital Advertising has always been a game of numbers. For years, we've lived and died by metrics that tell us how many people we're reaching and how often. Reach and frequency were the foundational pillars of any campaign plan. We needed to ensure our message was delivered to a wide audience and repeated enough to be remembered.

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The thinking was simple: if you reach enough people and you tell them your message enough times, it will stick.

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But let's be honest with ourselves—in a world saturated with content and noise, is that still enough ? Just because something is "reachable" or "frequent," does that guarantee it is actually being seen or remembered ? As a media professional, I've seen firsthand that a click can be an accident, and a "viewable impression" can be completely ignored. A banner ad can appear 10 times in a user's feed, but if they scroll past it every time, that frequency is worthless. This phenomenon of "banner blindness" proves that just because an ad is delivered, it doesn't mean it's consumed.

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This is the problem with traditional metrics. They tell us a story of potential, not of impact. They focus on the quantity of interactions rather than the quality of the interaction. They miss the depth of consumer engagement. They're an incomplete measurement tool for a complex and constantly evolving digital landscape.

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The new currency in the digital world isn't just reach, clicks, or impressions; it's attention. And that's where the game-changing shift to attention metrics comes in.

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This new approach redefines ad performance by asking the right questions: Did the ad actually resonate ? Did it connect with the audience ? Innity's Interactive Attention Score (IIAS) is a new kind of metric that answers these questions by quantifying user interactions and assigning a score based on the level of attention each ad secures.

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Think of IIAS as a powerful funnel with three stages that measure an ad’s true impact:

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1. Visual  Appeal: This is all about getting the first glance. IIAS evaluates the dimensional and positioning factors that make an ad visible and noticeable, assessing screen real     estate, viewability, and ad size to ensure it grabs the user’s eye and holds their attention. A larger, well-placed ad has a better chance of being seen, and Innity measures this precisely. This is where we learn which ad formats dominate the user's focus and which placements, like overlays that remain on the screen, drive higher attention scores compared to in-read ads that can be scrolled past. It helps us understand the fundamentals of a good "first impression" in the digital world.

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2. Content  Excellence: Once you have their attention, you have to hold it. This stage focuses on the relevance and quality of the ad itself. IIAS determines ad quality and ensures the messaging aligns with audience preferences while optimizing strategic ad placement. It looks at everything from contextual relevance to the creative elements within the ad to see if it truly connects with the user. This is where you can test different visuals, texts, and interactive features to see which ones evoke the strongest emotions and drive the most actions. This metric ensures your ads don't just appear next to relevant  content, but that they feel like a natural part of the user's experience.

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3. Engagement  Dynamics: This is where the magic happens when an ad moves from being seen to being interacted with. This metric tracks user actions like clicks, scrolling, and general ad interactions to evaluate the level of engagement. It measures not just if a user clicks, but if they hover, expand, or swipe providing a deeper understanding of their interest. This provides a window into user behavior that a simple click-through rate can never offer. For instance, a high time-in-view metric might signal that your ad's video content is compelling, even if it doesn't result in an immediate click.

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This is why attention metrics, and specifically Innity's IIAS, are far superior. They don't just tell you if an ad had the potential to be seen; they measure real engagement and interest. They provide actionable insights into user behavior, allowing you to fine-tune your messaging and creatives for better performance and a higher ROI.

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Putting Attention to Work for You

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So what do you do with this powerful new data? The beauty of a metric like IIAS is that it gives you a roadmap to optimization. Instead of guessing what works, you can:

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● Optimize Ad Formats: If your underlay ads are scoring low on attention, IIAS provides the data to show that you should switch to more effective formats like overlays.

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● Enhance Creative Assets: By analyzing which specific elements drive higher attention scores, you can A/B test different visuals and headlines to create more personalized ads that truly resonate with your target audience and meet your campaign goals.

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● Refine Targeting: The data from IIAS allows you to pinpoint exactly where your ad truly captures attention and with which audience segments it performs best. This helps you refine your targeting strategies to achieve higher engagement and awareness.

A New Measurement Standard

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The industry is rapidly evolving, with several players offering solutions to measure attention. These include Adelaide, which uses machine learning to predict ad quality; Amplified Intelligence, which relies on eye-tracking panels to study human behavior; and Integral Ad Science (IAS), which gauges consumer interest through its Quality Attention™ metric.

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While these are all powerful solutions, what sets Innity's IIAS apart is its comprehensive, three-part funnel. It's not just a single score or a raw data feed; it's a structured approach that breaks down attention into actionable components: Visual Appeal, Content Excellence, and Engagement Dynamics. This provides advertisers with a clear, step-by-step roadmap to diagnose and fix campaign weaknesses. It’s not just about getting a better number; it's about understanding the specific factors that are driving that number, giving you the power to optimize for real, lasting impact.

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As attention metrics mature with all these solutions from various companies, H+ is platform agnostic and works with our clients on any of the above solutions that caters to their specific requirements and KPIs. At the end of the day, in a world where every brand is competing for focus, it's no longer enough to just measure reach and frequency. You have to be meaningful. You have to resonate. It's time to go beyond traditional metrics and focus on what truly matters: a user’s valuable, and scarce, attention.