TVision's Yan Liu on what brands should do to grab and retain consumers' attention

Vision Insights Co-founder tells BuzzInContent.com that high-attention content can have a ‘hero effect' and if brands want more attention then they need to invest in high-quality, premium content

With an abundance of content, viewers’ attention has become the most expensive currency for brands and grabbing and retaining the attention is becoming increasingly difficult.

In such a scenario, brands will have to bet on content they can optimize for their media plan and try to make sure that when they invest in their media budget, they understand audience attention and use that to adjust their planning, says Yan Liu, CEO and Co-founder, TVision Insights, an agency that tracks how glued are viewers to shows and ads.

While studies state that the attention span of human beings is decreasing, Liu said attention is going to be harder to get, especially high-quality attention. “That is why the CPM for high-quality content, which gets high-quality attention, is continuing to go up because there is less and less content for brands to really be able to get high attention.”

Today, when consumers are latching onto platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to enjoy interruption-free content, Liu believes that the most effective way for brands to get their message across is to do product integrations.

Talking about the essentials that a brand's communication must strive to grab attention and retain it as well, Liu said, “The very first is context. The second key is targeting. You have to talk to the right audience. If you try to advertise shampoos meant for women to men, they will obviously not pay much attention to it. Another thing is that high-attention content can have a ‘hero effect’. If the content has high attention then the attention gap between the content and the brands’ communication gets smaller as some of that attention gets carried over to the brands’ messaging. It means if brands want more attention, then they need to invest in high-quality, premium content.”

According to Liu, the attention span has less to do with the medium and more to do with the content. “Attention depends on the quality of the content, if the quality is good then the medium doesn’t matter,” he said.