Ben Young
Ben Young
October 7, 2022

Edition #379

On the attention economy, short consideration and Chad Powers.


One big thing

Is the attention economy redundant? I say this gingerly, as someone with many horses in the race. But I pose the question of – is it really adding more to the conversation right now? Or has it done its job.

The Attention Economy really refers to, mind share, what is capturing and cutting through with consumers. It’s been a hot topic though, as we’ve been on a bull run of growth in internet usage. People spend more and more time on their screens. And when they’re online, engaging with brands, that time is quantifiable. So that’s why it’s been so exciting, 1) there was a way to measure it and 2) now there was a lot more of it. 3) we were empowered to do something about it.

But that growth has tapered off, with a peak of 417 minutes in Q2 of 2021. With that change, even before then, as growth slowed. That’s where competition ramped up.

So yes, attention is still valuable, the marketplace is even more competitive. But is the vernacular ‘Attention Economy’ any better now? With 417 minutes/day — digital isn’t niche, it is the thing. So should we revert to mindshare, cut through? Probably. But with a digitally-led market, I think attention will stay, but how we think about it will evolve. It has done its job, but will likely evolve, to something next. What this is, lets see.

Notable stories this week
  • VideoAmp launches second-by-second TV measurement.
  • YouTube Shorts is sharing ad revenue. Will that mean more money for creators?
  • Yahoo is on a string of high profile product hires.
  • Meta is shuttering its Bulletin newsletter subscription service.
  • How bots corrupted advertising.
  • Instagram to increase ad load as Meta fights revenue decline.
  • This person read 100 marketing papers and here are the top 10 they found most interesting.
  • Musk’s “super app” vision.
  • Could Eli Manning’s Chad Powers become next Ted Lasso?
  • [Long read] How YouTube created the attention economy.

Deals/M&A
  • Digiday partners and invests in Marketecture.
  • Fandom acquires a portfolio of brands from Red Ventures: Gamespot, TV guide & Metacritic.

Campaign of the week

  • My Helsinki, promoting, living/working/investing in Helsinki. Love the approach.

View all 2022 best campaigns.

Smartest commentary

  • “The reality is, people don’t have short attention spans—they have short consideration spans.”Category Pirates
  • ^ Loved this.

Datapoints of note

That’s it for this week.

 


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