Attention Metrics and Viewability: Which One Will Win
In digital advertising, numbers have long driven decisions. For years, viewability has been the gold standard – a metric that tells us whether an ad had the chance to be seen. But as brands demand more precision and performance, a new challenger has entered the ring: attention metrics.
Because here’s the truth – just because an ad was viewable doesn’t mean it was actually noticed. In a world of endless scrolls and skipped content, marketers are beginning to ask a deeper question: Are we measuring presence, or impact?
As the advertising landscape shifts toward quality over quantity, the debate is heating up. So which metric truly reflects campaign effectiveness – and which one will lead the future of media measurement?
What Is Viewability?
Viewability is a media metric that tracks whether an ad had the opportunity to be seen by a user. According to industry standards set by the Media Rating Council (MRC) and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an ad is considered viewable if at least 50% of its pixels are in view for at least one continuous second for display ads, and two seconds for video ads.
The following are examples of creatives that are not viewable:
The concept of viewability emerged in the early 2010s as a response to growing concerns about ad fraud, wasted impressions, and the actual visibility of digital ads. Before that, advertisers paid for impressions regardless of whether the ad appeared in the user's visible browser area.
With the rise of programmatic advertising and real-time bidding, advertisers demanded more transparency and accountability – leading to the adoption of viewability as a baseline metric for digital ad performance. It quickly became a standard KPI in media buying, especially for display and video formats.
As a standardized metric, viewability helps ensure that ads are at least eligible to be seen, filtering out placements that are hidden below the fold, served in background tabs, or targeted to bots. It’s scalable, easy to track, and widely supported by verification tools – making it a useful baseline for media quality. However, its biggest limitation is that it only measures the opportunity to be seen – not actual attention or engagement. An ad may technically meet the viewability threshold without ever making a real impact on the user. As a result, brands are increasingly looking beyond viewability to metrics that reflect how people truly interact with content.
What Are Attention Metrics?
Attention metrics represent a more advanced approach to measuring digital advertising effectiveness. Unlike viewability, which simply tracks whether an ad had the opportunity to appear on a user’s screen, attention metrics aim to determine whether the user actually noticed, processed, or engaged with the ad.
Here are key attention signals
- Eye tracking;
- Scroll behavior;
- Active time on screen;
- Engagement signals.
There are two primary types of attention that these metrics help identify. Passive attention occurs when an ad is technically in view and may be seen peripherally but does not receive direct interaction – for instance, when a user scrolls past a video playing automatically.
Active attention, on the other hand, involves deliberate user focus or interaction, such as watching a video to completion, clicking on a call-to-action, or pausing to read the message. This distinction is critical, as active attention tends to correlate much more strongly with outcomes like brand recall, engagement, and conversion.
The technologies behind attention measurement are evolving rapidly. Artificial intelligence and machine learning models are now capable of analyzing user behavior at scale and predicting attention patterns. These models are often trained using biometric data such as webcam-based eye tracking, facial expression analysis, or mobile device sensors. In many cases, predictive models are used to estimate attention without tracking individuals directly, helping advertisers stay compliant with data privacy standards.
What makes attention metrics especially valuable is the depth of insight they provide. By measuring not just visibility but cognitive engagement, they offer a far more accurate picture of an ad’s performance. Studies have shown that attention metrics correlate more closely with brand lift, purchase intent, and conversion rates than traditional metrics do. They also help advertisers optimize creative and media placements by revealing which combinations are truly capturing audience focus.
In an era of content overload and fragmented user journeys, attention metrics offer a much-needed shift from measuring presence to measuring performance – and they’re quickly becoming essential for advertisers who want to prioritize quality over quantity.
Why the Shift Is Happening
For years, viewability was seen as a breakthrough – a way to ensure that digital ads weren’t being served in invisible spaces, or to bots rather than real users. But as the industry has matured, so have the expectations. Advertisers are no longer satisfied with just knowing whether an ad could have been seen; they want to know if it actually made an impact.
This shift is being driven by several key factors. First, the explosion of content across channels – especially on mobile, social, CTV, and streaming platforms – has created fierce competition for user attention. An ad might be technically viewable, but in a feed full of motion, noise, and distraction, that doesn’t mean it’s being noticed. Brands have realized that viewability doesn’t guarantee value.
Second, advertising budgets are under more scrutiny. In a performance-driven environment, marketers need metrics that go beyond surface-level impressions and speak to real outcomes like brand lift, engagement, and conversions. Attention metrics are proving to have a stronger correlation with these KPIs, making them more attractive for media planning and ROI measurement.
Third, there’s been a technological leap forward. Advances in AI, predictive modeling, and sensor-based tracking have made it possible to analyze attention at scale, across devices and environments. This allows advertisers to move from proxy metrics like “time in view” to more nuanced indicators of user engagement – without invading privacy.
Finally, we’re seeing a cultural and creative shift. With formats like CTV, digital out-of-home, and interactive mobile ads on the rise, brands are looking for ways to understand how people are actually experiencing their ads – not just whether those ads were technically served.
All of this signals a larger evolution in advertising measurement: from possibility to impact, from presence to persuasion. Attention metrics are not just a trend – they’re becoming a necessity for brands that want to stand out, be remembered, and drive results in today’s crowded media landscape.
Can They Coexist?
Yes – and in fact, they should. Viewability and attention metrics are not mutually exclusive. They serve different purposes within the same ecosystem. Think of viewability as the baseline quality check – it ensures that an ad was technically in a position to be seen. Without viewability, attention isn’t even possible. But once that baseline is met, attention metrics take it further by assessing how much focus and engagement the ad actually received.
Many advertisers are now treating viewability as the “gateway” metric and attention as the “performance” metric. Together, they create a more complete picture: was the ad placed in a valid, viewable environment, and did it succeed in capturing the audience’s interest?
In Screencore we have already embracing this dual-metric approach. By combining viewability filters with predictive attention models, Screencore helps brands maximize both reach and real engagement – ensuring that impressions are not only seen, but also noticed and remembered.
There are, of course, challenges. Attention metrics are still evolving, and unlike viewability, they lack unified standards across vendors. But as measurement technologies mature, the industry is moving toward a layered model of evaluation, where viewability ensures ads are seen, and attention confirms whether they resonate.
So, viewability tells you if the door was open – attention tells you if someone walked in and stayed. Used together, they offer a powerful lens through which to understand and optimize ad performance.
The Verdict: Which One Will Win?
In the debate between viewability and attention, there isn’t a clear winner – because the two serve different roles in the advertising funnel. Viewability ensures that your ad had the opportunity to be seen, while attention measures whether that opportunity translated into real impact. Together, they provide a much more comprehensive understanding of ad effectiveness.
In programmatic advertising, these metrics are often used to inform real-time decisions in media buying platforms. For example, Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) may use viewability scores provided by verification partners (like IAS or MOAT) as filters during bidding:
Example: Viewability Filter Rule in a DSP
Bid only on inventory with viewability ≥ 70% for at least 1 second.
This ensures baseline quality – but what about performance?
Enter attention scoring. Some platforms now integrate attention models that assign each ad impression a predicted attention value based on signals like ad format, page position, scroll behavior, and device type.
Example: Predicted Attention Score (PAS)
PAS = (Time in View × Ad Size Factor × Engagement Likelihood)
Bid Modifier = PAS ÷ Cost Per Mille (CPM)
Using this score, a DSP can increase bids on impressions likely to deliver higher cognitive impact – not just higher viewability.
Final Thoughts
Of course, viewability was a crucial step forward - bringing greater transparency and accountability to programmatic media. But in today’s fragmented, fast-scrolling, and attention-starved world, being viewable is no longer enough.
That’s where attention metrics come in. They don’t replace viewability – they build on it, offering a richer understanding of user engagement and brand impact. The most effective strategies will be those that combine both: using viewability to ensure quality environments, and attention to optimize for outcomes.
At the end of the day, the goal isn’t just to deliver impressions – it’s to deliver impact. And as technology advances and standards solidify, attention-based measurement will become an essential tool for every advertiser looking to drive performance, not just presence.
