Attention drives positive outcomes for brands

There's a lot of noise out there. With so much content readily available at consumers’ fingertips, it's easy for them to become immersed in what they’re consuming. But are they paying attention?

Marketers have grappled with this challenge for years, especially in the busy digital space. But while many feel hopeful that consumers will see their ads, the reality is that most are glanced at rather than pored over. With one of the busiest advertising seasons fast approaching, a recession looming and 2023 planning already underway, marketers will have their work cut out to cut through.

We partnered with Lumen, an attention technology company that uses eye tracking to optimise media buying and creative development, to find out what attention looks like on Pinterest and in the wider ads industry, including other social media platforms. Here's what we discovered.

It's time to pay closer attention to attention

Attention measures the quality of time that a user spends looking at an ad. The question is, though an ad may be viewable, was it actually viewed? And how can you make attention a tangible metric, translating something that’s happening in someone's mind and measure it at scale? 

Lumen helped us to find the answers to those questions. We conducted a study with 1800 people who use Pinterest¹ and Lumen's pioneering technology helped us to observe consumer trends, behaviours and the ad formats users engaged with most.

We used visual attention as our default measure, running six brand tests across several verticals and three formats: static, standard video and max-width video. From there, Lumen created a panel of people who use Pinterest to participate in these tests. They asked the users to install software on their mobile phones and used the camera on their phones to track eye movements. This enabled us to understand what people were looking at and engaging with. And in a mobile environment, users were able to choose whether they wanted to look at content or advertising.

The key insights

The Lumen study discovered that scroll time on other social platforms is 3x faster than Pinterest—and that the faster people scroll on their devices, the less attention they pay to the accompanying ads (no surprises there).² 

Additionally, the study found that Pinterest generates more attentive seconds than out-of-home (OOH) and other digital formats, with 62% higher average attentive seconds than a digital 6-sheet.² Plus: ads served on Pinterest viewed between 2-4 seconds also had a 1 in 2 chance of being recalled.²

We also learned that max-width videos proved to be more efficient at converting dwell time into attention. They're eye-catching and offer great real estate for brands. The Lumen research backed up their effectiveness too: the study showed that brand recall on max-width formats was nearly double compared to static.²

Why does Pinterest garner more attention? Our theory: it's a personal platform. People on Pinterest are dreaming about what could happen, not posting about what already did. They’re here to try new things, save new ideas and often, make their next purchase. That means your ad can inspire their future instead of interrupting their past. Because when people on Pinterest are inspired, they don’t zone out—they lean in. 

Download our report to learn more about today’s digital climate, Lumen’s research and how to cut through with your Pinterest video ads. Or if you have a Pinterest representative that you work with, talk to them about accessing the Lumen research in full.