Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Optimizing the Viewer Attention Window
One of the things that drives me nuts about online advertising is when designers fail to understand the difference between traditional electronic media (TV and Radio) vs. interactive media. Specifically, the attention span of the viewer. I find this very simple to understand, yet I see the 'experts' at the best known advertising agencies making this mistake on a regular basis.
TV and Radio are time based media and therefore, viewers are presented with a single task attention span. There is only one option of content consumption - the ad. As such, time can be spent to develop a messaging scenario (the emotion) and a creative 'pay-off' can occur. Online advertising is not time based, its screen based. On a screen there are multiple viewing options and therefore, the viewers are presented with a multitasking environment.
When a viewer is multitasking, ie. looking at multiple areas within the page, there is no time to develop a messaging scenario. You can't know when the viewer's attention is focused on the ad. Someone could scan the ad during seconds 3-10 or seconds 15-17, etc. If the ad does not clearly present the call to action during that viewer attention window (VAW) the pay-off opportunity is lost. This means that one of the central goals of every banner is to optimize the VAW. VAW optimization is best done with rich media and specifically with video, because these elements can help expand the duration of the VAW.
A simple trick I use to determine if the VAW is optimized is to look for the advertiser's logo. If there is a second without the logo then their is no way the pay-off can be achieved.
As a closing note, this is exactly the reason why the pre-roll was adopted so successfully by agencies and rejected so forcefully by viewers. The online environment was adulterated to present video in a single task environment, a daughter window, which removed the viewer from their familiar and expected multitasking experience. I have not done the research, but I'd bet that the most successful pre-rolls are part of media players that reside within the original screen content.
TV and Radio are time based media and therefore, viewers are presented with a single task attention span. There is only one option of content consumption - the ad. As such, time can be spent to develop a messaging scenario (the emotion) and a creative 'pay-off' can occur. Online advertising is not time based, its screen based. On a screen there are multiple viewing options and therefore, the viewers are presented with a multitasking environment.
When a viewer is multitasking, ie. looking at multiple areas within the page, there is no time to develop a messaging scenario. You can't know when the viewer's attention is focused on the ad. Someone could scan the ad during seconds 3-10 or seconds 15-17, etc. If the ad does not clearly present the call to action during that viewer attention window (VAW) the pay-off opportunity is lost. This means that one of the central goals of every banner is to optimize the VAW. VAW optimization is best done with rich media and specifically with video, because these elements can help expand the duration of the VAW.
A simple trick I use to determine if the VAW is optimized is to look for the advertiser's logo. If there is a second without the logo then their is no way the pay-off can be achieved.
As a closing note, this is exactly the reason why the pre-roll was adopted so successfully by agencies and rejected so forcefully by viewers. The online environment was adulterated to present video in a single task environment, a daughter window, which removed the viewer from their familiar and expected multitasking experience. I have not done the research, but I'd bet that the most successful pre-rolls are part of media players that reside within the original screen content.
Labels: banners, online advertising, Online Marketing, video
