What Do Engagement and Attention Metrics Mean in Advertising?

Let’s be honest: your ads might be “viewable” according to industry standards, but that doesn’t mean anyone’s actually looking at them.

Viewability tells you an ad appeared on screen. Attention and engagement metrics tell you whether users actually noticed it, interacted with it, or processed your message. For media buyers optimising programmatic campaigns, that distinction increasingly defines which buys deliver ROI and which waste budget on technically compliant but entirely ignored impressions.

Understanding the Three-Layer Hierarchy: Viewability, Attention and Engagement

Viewability is the baseline

The IAB and MRC define viewability as an ad with at least 50% of its pixels visible for one second (display) or two seconds (video). It’s a technical threshold – proof the ad had *opportunity* to be seen. But research from Lumen shows only 20% of “viewable” display ads are actually viewed by users, meaning 80% meet the standard whilst being functionally invisible.

Viewability answers: “Did the ad load in the viewport?”

Attention adds the quality layer

Attention metrics measure how long users actually looked at your ad, how deeply they engaged with the viewport, and whether they focused their gaze on your creative. According to eMarketer’s analysis of the new IAB/MRC standards, attention metrics are replacing viewability as the dominant advertising standard because they answer the question: “Was the viewer actually paying attention?”

Attention answers: “Did the user focus on the ad?”

Engagement confirms the action

Engagement metrics track intentional interactions – hovers, clicks, expansions, video completions, drag gestures, or form submissions. These prove users not only saw your ad but chose to interact with it. As discussed in why adtech should use engagement metrics to combat poor visibility, engagement is the only way to be absolutely certain your ad was viewed *and* valued.

Engagement answers: “Did the user take action?”

How Attention Is Measured

The IAB Attention Measurement Guidelines (released in draft in May 2025, with final standards expected in Q4 2025) outline four primary methodologies:

Time-in-view tracking

Measures how long an ad remains in the active viewport whilst meeting minimum visibility thresholds. More sophisticated than binary viewability, this captures duration of exposure. Research cited by Chartbeat shows 54% of pageviews receive less than 15 seconds of attention, and users with 15+ seconds of exposure show 25% higher brand recall.

Scroll velocity and hover behaviour

Tracks how quickly users scroll past ads and whether they pause. Slow scroll rates and cursor hovers near ad units correlate with higher attention. This methodology uses page behaviour signals as proxies for visual focus – when users slow down or stop scrolling, they’re more likely to be processing content in view.

Interaction depth signals

Measures micro-interactions: touch events, finger tracking, drag gestures, expansion triggers. These data signals indicate active engagement. Platforms like Nexd Campaign Manager provide per-asset interaction data, showing exactly which elements users engaged with and for how long.

Eye-tracking proxies

Advanced methodologies use on-device sensors (webcams, front-facing cameras) with user consent to detect eye gaze direction and fixation duration. Whilst direct eye-tracking remains niche due to privacy concerns and technical barriers, panel-based eye-tracking studies validate proxy metrics by confirming correlations between scroll behaviour, time-in-view, and actual gaze patterns.

UK Framework and Benchmarks

IAB UK guidance

IAB UK has emphasised that media metrics need a fundamental rethink, advocating for attention-based measurement to replace impression-focused KPIs. The organisation supports the global IAB/MRC standards whilst recognising UK market conditions (GDPR compliance, cookie deprecation, brand safety expectations).

What “good” looks like

Attention benchmarks vary by format, but research shows:

• Display ads: 1–2 seconds of active attention is average; 3+ seconds correlates with significant brand lift
• Video ads: Completion rates above 70% signal strong attention; autoplay with sound-off requires visible engagement cues
• Rich media: Interactive formats deliver measurably higher attention, with interactive ads boosting brand recall by over 50% compared to static formats

The new IAB/MRC Attention Measurement Guidelines—developed with input from over 200 industry leaders—will establish the foundation for MRC accreditation audits, creating consistent standards for attention measurement services.

Engagement Metrics That Matter

Standard engagement KPIs

• Interaction rate: Percentage of impressions that trigger an intentional user action (hover, click, drag, expand)
• Dwell time: Total time users spend actively engaging with an ad unit
• Video completion rate (VCR): Percentage of video ads watched to completion
• Expansion rate: For expandable ads, how often users trigger the full experience

Advanced interaction tracking

Rich media ads enable granular engagement measurement. Platforms like Nexd can track:

• Drag distance and direction (e.g., in drag-to-reveal layouts)
• Swipe velocity and frequency (carousel interactions)
• Tilt responsiveness (gyroscope-enabled formats for Android devices)
• Hotspot click-through patterns (which product features users explore)
• Gamification scores (quiz completion rates, mini-game performance)

The CO₂ consideration

Heavy ad files hurt both engagement and sustainability. Your ad load speed could be seriously hurting your engagement rate – research shows 53% of mobile users abandon pages that take longer than three seconds to load, and 37.4% of UK ad-blocker users cite slow page speed as their primary reason for blocking ads. Lightweight creatives deliver faster load times, higher viewability, and better attention metrics.

Applying These Metrics to Programmatic Buys

Pre-campaign: Buying smarter inventory

Use attention data to inform your programmatic strategy:

• Private marketplace (PMP) deals: Negotiate attention-based pricing rather than CPM alone. Premium publishers with proven attention metrics can justify higher floor prices.
• Contextual targeting: Research shows contextually relevant placements deliver higher attention scores than behavioural targeting alone.
• Format selection: Prioritise placements that support interactive formats. Standard display consistently underperforms rich media on attention and engagement metrics.
• Supply path optimisation: Work with SSPs that can provide attention data transparency. Avoid long supply chains where attention measurement becomes opaque.

In-flight: Optimising with attention signals

Modern DSPs increasingly support attention-based optimisation:

• Bid adjustments: Increase bids for inventory with proven high attention; suppress bids for low-attention placements even when viewability is acceptable
• Frequency capping: Attention data reveals when additional impressions stop generating incremental attention—cap frequency accordingly
• Dayparting: Attention varies by time and context; adjust scheduling based on when your audience demonstrates highest focus
• Creative rotation: Use attention metrics to identify top performers and suppress underperforming variants faster than CTR alone would indicate

Post-campaign: Attribution and learning

Attention and engagement metrics provide richer attribution signals:

• Brand lift studies: Correlate attention duration with aided/unaided recall, purchase intent, and brand perception shifts
• Path analysis: Map how attention in upper-funnel campaigns influences lower-funnel conversion behaviour
• Cross-device attribution: Attention metrics help identify which devices and formats drive genuine consideration versus passive exposure
• Competitive benchmarking: Compare your attention performance against category norms to identify creative or placement opportunities

Building for Attention and Engagement

Creative design principles

The role of interactive ads in increasing user engagement demonstrates concrete strategies:

• Immediate visual hooks: With consumer attention spans narrowing to approximately six seconds for millennials, your first frame must arrest scrolling
• Clear interaction cues: Users won’t engage with affordances they don’t recognise. Make interactive elements obvious.
• Progressive disclosure: Layer information so engaged users discover more; don’t overwhelm at first glance
• Mobile-first gestures: Leverage intuitive interactions—swipe, drag, pinch—that feel natural on touchscreens

Format selection for programmatic

Different rich media formats drive different engagement patterns:

• Infeed units with scroll-triggered animations capture attention as users browse content naturally
• Interstitial formats command full-screen focus at natural transition points
• Expandable ads reward engaged users with deeper experiences without disrupting less-interested viewers
• Interactive video transforms passive viewing into active participation—5 ways interactive video ads drive engagement include drag-to-reveal, swipe galleries, tilt-based immersion, tap actions, and gamification

Technical optimisation

Ad load speed directly impacts engagement. In campaign data from Nexd:

• A Telmore campaign built with WebGL was 62% lighter than the original HTML5 ad, producing a 560% higher CTR
• A Vector smartwatch ad that was 80% lighter achieved 9× longer dwell time and a 38% higher engagement rate

The technical infrastructure matters. Platforms using WebGL and GPU processing rather than CPU-bound HTML5 deliver faster load times, which directly correlate with higher attention and engagement.

Privacy, Consent, and the Cookieless Future

As third-party cookies deprecate, attention and engagement metrics become *more* valuable, not less:

First-party engagement data

When users interact with your ads—dragging, swiping, expanding, completing videos—they generate first-party behavioural signals that belong to you. This data doesn’t rely on cross-site tracking. It’s contextual, immediate, and privacy-compliant.

Attention as a privacy-safe signal

Time-in-view, scroll behaviour, and viewport analysis measure user behaviour without personal identifiers. These metrics work in cookieless environments and comply with GDPR requirements, making them increasingly central to UK programmatic strategies.

Contextual targeting validation

Attention metrics validate whether your contextual targeting actually delivers relevant audiences. If attention scores are low despite “relevant” content adjacency, your contextual strategy needs refinement.

What Comes Next

The IAB/MRC Attention Measurement Guidelines represent the industry’s first comprehensive framework for consistent attention reporting. Expected final release in Q4 2025 will establish audit standards, enabling advertisers to compare attention vendors with confidence.

In the near term:

• More DSPs will integrate attention-based bidding algorithms
• PMPs will increasingly price inventory on attention guarantees rather than viewability alone
• Creative optimisation will shift from CTR/VCR to attention-weighted engagement metrics
• Brand measurement will standardise attention thresholds for upper-funnel KPIs

For UK media buyers, this shift means rethinking success metrics now—before your competitors do. Start testing attention vendors, request attention data from publishers, and build creatives designed for interaction rather than passive viewing.

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Explore real campaign examples in the Nexd ad gallery, or start a free 14-day trial to test attention-optimised formats with your own audience.