Purpose-driven social media app WeAre8 has unveiled results of a new three-month study exploring the attention metrics behind social media advertising.
Eyes Wide Open also provides preliminary insights, powered by Scope3 data, into how much attention is generated relative to the carbon emissions each platform emits when delivering an advert.*
The study, conducted by leading insights agency Lumen and leveraging carbon emissions data from Scope3, looked at ads from seven brands across Australia and the UK, analysed against a panel of 800 respondents aged 18-64 years.
The research used eye-tracking quantitative analysis that replicated and benchmarked the delivery of WeAre8’s advertising experience against social media competitors, including TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
The assessment scored the ad delivery on WeAre8 against the average time spent watching and the average viewable time of each platform to calculate a time attentive score. The attention data was then overlaid against preliminary carbon emission estimates from Scope3 to achieve a ‘carbon cost of attention.’”
The study saw WeAre8’s opt-in video advertising not only achieve the longest time an ad is in view but also retain the highest share of attention 4.7x more than other social apps.
Based on preliminary data from Scope3, WeAre8’s advertising model, which invites people to watch an ad over being served multiple impressions within a content feed, allows clients to receive more than 200 seconds of attention per gram of CO2 emitted, 13x more attention per gram of carbon emitted than the nearest social platform. Early data suggests this is 20x more attention per gram of carbon emitted than the mobile app category overall.
Lumen’s lead attention consultant, Amelia Wallis:“It's not often you see such consistent results from a digital advertising model as we have seen with this study.
"The opt-in advertising experience on WeAre8 would always deliver a lot of time spent viewing, but what was so surprising was the engagement we found from long-form ad creative. The longer the ad creative played on WeAre8, the higher the attention outcome.
"It’s a great message for brands looking to revisit how they can replicate that long-form storytelling once found on TV and replicate that in a mobile-first world.”
The study also explored why people gravitated to watching ads on WeAre8, with 80% of people agreeing their main driver was being paid to watch an ad so they could pay it forward to a charity or cause. 72% agreed the opt-in experience made them feel valued as a consumer, and 68% agreed the advertising experience made them want to learn more about the brand.
“Social media has long been viewed as a contributor to a reduction in concentration among users, but this study demonstrates that if the advertising experience is a mutually beneficial exchange between the brand and the recipient, the reward for brands is twofold,” said Lizzie Young, CEO, WeAre8 Australia.
“The additional insights gained using Scope3’s data provide further consideration for brands looking to make a real impact on people and the planet and provide independent analysis to help guide their decision-making.
“Given our no wastage proposition where as a brand you only pay for an eyeball we deliver, we are the only platform globally that enables you to develop a responsible media investment strategy and return 60% of your investment to people and planet.”
Eyes Wide Open was conducted in partnership with advertisers spanning the entertainment, FMCG, finance and automotive sectors across Australia and the United Kingdom.
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