Dentsu has launch a new research study measuring attention in Arabic digital advertising for the first time.
Conducted in partnership with Lumen Research, it will measure consumer’s attention spans across various leading platforms to establish the value of attention as a media effectiveness metric, including how best to measure it, value it and apply it in practice for Arabic audiences.
The media agency network will work with research partner Lumen to apply eye tracking methodology to measure the attention paid to and eye tracking patterns of Arabic ads.
The study will observe viewability, eye-tracked attention and communications outcomes for brands. The intention is to move beyond standard metrics such as impressions, to capture the human experience of media and to establish the value of attention as a media effectiveness metric.
Ramzy Abouchacra, CEO, Carat MENA, said: “Dentsu has been pioneering attention research via our Attention Economy studies for more than five years, codifying, longer than anyone else, the value of engagement in video and display channels in English. Now, we’re thrilled to unlock new insights on attention in Arabic—a meaningful first for the industry. The data will enable us to uniquely serve our clients across multiple verticals by proving the value of their Arabic language video and display ads based on real engagement measures that drive growth.”
The research will cover five media partner platforms and will feature five clients across key verticals including Auto, FMCG, Finance and E-Commerce.
Post research, digital media plans can be optimised to effective attention through a custom algorithm built by Lumen that will be exclusive to dentsu media brands and codified into the network’s Merkury Planning software.
This will allow clients to gain insight beyond conventional viewability metrics and enhance plans across platforms, formats and contexts.
Alex Jena, Head of Strategy and Product, dentsu MENA, said: “We will be able to determine the optimal channel and format mix by vertical and get a real understanding on how impactful attention can be on brand consideration. To ensure this is all actionable and lives beyond a report, the formula will be baked into our Planning and Optimisation tool suite for any dentsu client to use!”
Mike Follett, CEO at Lumen Research, said: “We’re excited and intrigued to be building new data on Arabic attention and to assess how it compares and contrasts to English and other languages, while offering advertisers in the Middle East a local dataset to identify specific media opportunities.”
