Are Media is the first global publishing partner to sign up for attentionTrace MediaPlanner - a new attention-based planning tool developed by Australian academic and researcher Prof. Karen Nelson-Field

Nelson-Field, founder and executive director of Amplified Intelligence, has built attentionTRACE upon empirically-led research design that tracks human gaze on a second-by-second level for mobile and TV.

Media is typically planned based on reach, but attentionTRACE adds an additional layer of attention paid to advertisements.

She says attention metrics can be used to expose wastage, drive commercial outcomes, predict brand choice better than viewability alone and plan for conditions that extend the length of time a brand stays in memory.

In addition, Are Media and Amplified Intelligence are working on a natural setting, scalable methodology to collect attention-based data for print magazines. 

"We know from our research that active attention – eyes on the screen is the best type of attention – as it drives the most sales uplift for advertisers," says Nelson-Field. "The more attention paid, the longer the brand stays in memory. And yet it is the missing layer in media planning. Now we have a universal measure of active attention so advertisers can make sure they are getting what they paid for."

Are Media director of sales, Andrew Cook said: "The amount of attention advertisements receive has been the missing piece when it comes to media planning, but now media agencies will be able to make buying decisions based on the measure of attention which is important for brands when it comes to memory and avoiding wastage. Data for the first stage will be collected early 2021."