Buying on viewability? This new attention study says your budget may be going unnoticed

New Delhi: A joint attention study by Lumen Research and mCanvas is asking marketers to confront a simple problem in digital planning. Many ads that are counted as “viewable” do not get noticed at all. 

The report says about 70 per cent of viewable impressions are still ignored, which means large parts of media spends never enter the consumer’s memory in the first place. 

Titled “Can attention turn awareness into action?”, the study positions attention as the missing layer between exposure and outcome. It argues that viewability is a device metric, while attention is a human metric, and the two should not be treated as the same thing. 

The analysis is based on 110 mCanvas campaigns across three continents and 11 categories, combining Lumen’s eye-tracking learnings with a predictive attention model. 

It essentially gives a working benchmark for what “noticed media” looks like at scale, not just what gets served.

The report introduces Attention Per Mille (APM), which measures attentive seconds per 1,000 impressions, and shows why it is a stronger planning signal than viewability alone. 

In the study, higher APM consistently predicts higher click-through rates, indicating that attention is directly linked to interaction and action. 

What drives attention in crowded feeds? The report’s answer is interactivity. It finds that interactive ad experiences hold attention longer than standard display and even high-impact placements, because they invite participation instead of passive scrolling. 

mCanvas formats using mobile and CTV capabilities such as motion, swipe, tilt, shake, scratch, polls, gamified layers and 360-degree views are highlighted as key attention earners.

Across markets, these interactive formats delivered multi-fold higher attention than standard banners, with the study noting an average uplift of around 3.6 times. 

India shows a similar pattern, with interactive ads drawing over two times the attention of standard display. 

Category trends add another layer for advertisers. FMCG emerges as the strongest attention vertical in the study, with telecom and e-commerce close behind, reinforcing that interaction works especially well in cluttered, high-frequency categories.

A brand case study included in the report further shows that when attention rises, brand metrics move with it, including awareness and purchase intent. 

The larger point is that attention is not a soft, nice-to-have number. It behaves like a leading indicator for both brand lift and lower-funnel response.

A clear planning takeaway is that the industry will keep paying for impressions that people never actually see if it keeps buying only on viewability. If it plans for attention, it can start paying for exposure that has a real chance of turning into recall and action.

The full report maps the attention funnel, lays out APM benchmarks by format and category, and details where interactive media is winning focus across markets. For B2B decision-makers, the report promised to be a useful reference for re-thinking how digital effectiveness should be defined and traded.