Attention Is the New Currency: Measuring ‘Time in View’ & ‘Engagement Depth’ in 2025

Introduction:

For years, digital advertising has revolved around surface-level metrics impressions, reach, CPMs. But in 2025, these aren’t enough. Advertisers are waking up to a new reality: not all views are equal, and not all views mean attention.

Welcome to the attention economy 2025, where the quality of a view matters more than the quantity of views. If you want campaigns that convert, you need to understand two critical metrics: time in view and engagement depth.

These are the building blocks of a more intelligent, performance-driven ad strategy—one that tracks real, active attention rather than passive exposure.

This blog breaks down why attention metrics matter, how to measure them, and which tools can help you track meaningful engagement.

Why Attention Metrics Are Replacing Traditional Impressions

The digital ad ecosystem has hit a tipping point. Today’s consumers scroll faster, switch tabs mid-roll, and avoid ads altogether if they sense irrelevance. In short: impressions don’t guarantee impact. This shift is redefining how brands evaluate performance across various types of digital marketing, from display ads to video and social campaigns.

Modern marketers are shifting from “Was my ad seen?” to “Was my ad actively engaged with?” That’s where attention metrics advertising comes in. Especially in the context of Display Ad Campaigns, where visibility doesn’t always translate to value.

According to DoubleVerify, attention metrics offer a more nuanced understanding of media performance by going deeper into duration, interaction, and screen activity.

Impressions only tell you if an ad was served. Attention metrics tell you if it was seen, for how long, and what happened next.

The Core Metrics: Time in View and Engagement Depth

In the world of attention-based measurement, two metrics are front and center:

1. Time in View: Measuring Duration of Actual Visibility

Definition: Time in view refers to the number of seconds an ad remains visible on the user’s screen, above the fold, in an active tab.

This goes far beyond ad viewability standards, which typically only require 50% of an ad to be visible for one second (for display) or two seconds (for video).

Key insights:

• An ad in view for 1 second rarely influences behavior.
• Ads in view for 5+ seconds show significantly higher brand recall and conversion lift.
• Platforms now track time by frame-level analysis, assessing not just presence but visual prominence.

This is a shift from measuring “Did the ad load?” to “Was the ad actually seen for a meaningful amount of time?”

Why it matters: Time in view is related to memory encoding and message recall—essential for brand campaigns and high-funnel goals.

2. Engagement Depth: Understanding User Interaction Intensity

Definition: Engagement depth captures how users interact with the ad or surrounding environment. It includes:

• Scroll velocity
• Hover rate
• Click-through behavior
• Cursor activity
• Interaction with video elements (pause, rewind, expand)

The goal is to move beyond binary clicks to a broader picture of how deeply a user is interacting with your content.

While time in view tells you how long, engagement depth tells you how intensely.

Why it matters: High engagement depth signals intent, especially for mid-to-lower funnel performance marketing campaigns.

How Attention Metrics Outperform Legacy KPIs

Let’s break down the differences between traditional ad metrics and attention-based metrics:

Metric Type	Traditional KPI	Attention-Based KPI
Impressions	Counted as soon as the ad loads	Only counted if ad is actually seen
Viewability	50% of pixels in view for 1 second	Measures total seconds + user activity
CTR	Click-based	Interaction-based (scroll, hover, replay)
Completion Rate	Video watched to end	Includes rewatches, skips, engagement during play

Impressions are cheap—but attention is valuable.

Attention metrics reflect what performance marketers really want to know: Did my content make someone stop, look, and act?

Why Time in View and Engagement Depth Are the New Power Pair

Together, time in view and engagement depth offer a dual-lens measurement approach:

• Time in view = visibility over time
• Engagement depth = intention and interaction

They allow advertisers to understand both passive exposure and active engagement, which is crucial for cross-platform campaigns, especially in environments where click-throughs aren’t the best success signal (like CTV, audio, or social video).

Additionally, compared to CPM or viewability alone, this combination is a more accurate predictor of ad recall, brand favorability, and purchase intent.

Key Differences: Ad Viewability vs. Attention

Ad viewability is still widely used, but it has major limitations:

Ad Viewability	Attention Metrics
Measures if an ad was viewable on screen	Measures if it was actively seen
Binary threshold (e.g., 50% pixels for 1 sec)	Continuous measure (e.g., 7.3 seconds in view)
Doesn’t track user behavior	Tracks scroll speed, clicks, eye movement
Can be manipulated (e.g., ad stacking)	Requires user-side activity to count

Conclusion: Viewability might check a box. Attention drives outcomes.

How to Calculate and Interpret These Metrics

Let’s get into how these metrics are calculated and what benchmarks to aim for.

How is Time in View Calculated?

Time in view is typically calculated by tracking the exact moments when an ad is fully (or mostly) visible within the user’s browser viewport and the user is active (tab in focus).

Calculation = End Timestamp – Start Timestamp

Benchmarks to aim for:

• 3–5 seconds: Minimum for brand lift
• 6–9 seconds: Effective for mid-funnel engagement
• 10+ seconds: Strong signal of high-value attention

Modern tools now also assess cumulative time in view, which tracks if users return to an ad multiple times during a session.

How is Engagement Depth Measured?

Engagement depth combines several micro-interactions to form a composite score or scale. Variables often include:

• Mouse movements or taps
• Video replays or expansions
• Scroll depth and scroll velocity
• Time spent on surrounding content (e.g., page dwell)

Some platforms apply a weight to each action, creating an engagement score per session or per impression.

Benchmarks vary by platform, but here’s a rough range:

• Low engagement: Few or no interactions
• Medium engagement: 1–2 behaviors (e.g., scroll + pause)
• High engagement: 3+ actions including intent (e.g., click-through, share, expand)

Related: https://liveyourbrand.in/10-google-analytics-reports-for-measuring-seo-performance/

Tools That Measure Active Attention

If you’re ready to go beyond vanity metrics, here are platforms and tools that specialize in active attention measurement:

1. Lumen – Tracks real-time eye movement using webcams and overlays attention heatmaps.
2. Amplified Intelligence – Measures active attention using custom panels and real-world testing.
3. DoubleVerify – Provides attention metrics across programmatic and direct buys; includes “Attention Index.”
4. MOAT by Oracle – Offers impression-level attention data for display and video.
5. Adelaide – Assigns “AU” (Attention Units) to quantify media quality based on contextual and behavioral signals.

Each platform has strengths depending on format (video, display, social) and environment (CTV, mobile, desktop).

Real-World Use Cases: Where Attention Metrics Deliver Results

Here’s how advertisers are using attention metrics right now to improve media performance:

Programmatic Buying

Bidders use time-in-view thresholds to avoid wasting spend on low-quality placements.

Video Campaign Optimization

Creative teams adjust intros and thumbnails based on attention curves, not just completion rates.

Brand Lift Studies

Advertisers correlate time in view and engagement depth with survey-based brand recall metrics.

Performance Attribution

Campaigns are scored not only on clicks or views but how long users engaged and how intensely.

Final Thought: Rethinking Performance in the Attention Economy

As we move further into 2025, advertisers who rely solely on legacy KPIs will be outpaced. In a world overflowing with content, attention is the scarcest and most valuable resource. Understanding this shift is essential to unlocking the true benefits of advertising in today’s attention-driven landscape.

Metrics like time in view and engagement depth don’t just tell you if your ad was seen. They tell you if it mattered. They turn passive impressions into active insight. And most importantly, they help brands create media experiences worth engaging with.

If your performance metrics aren’t tracking attention, you’re not measuring what matters.

Want to elevate your paid media strategy? Explore our performance marketing services to build campaigns that go beyond the click and capture true audience focus.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does ‘time in view’ mean?

Time in view is the total amount of time an ad remains visible in the user’s browser or screen while the user is actively viewing the page. It excludes hidden tabs or background activity.

How is engagement depth calculated?

Engagement depth is calculated by tracking user interactions such as scroll behavior, mouse movement, video plays, hovers, and click activity. These signals are often weighted to create a composite engagement score.

Why are attention metrics better than impressions?

Impressions only measure if an ad was delivered. Attention metrics assess whether the user actually looked at and interacted with the ad. They provide better insight into cognitive engagement and are more predictive of outcomes.

Which tools measure active attention?

Top tools include Lumen, Amplified Intelligence, Adelaide, DoubleVerify, and MOAT by Oracle. These platforms use behavioral and contextual signals to assess real attention, not just ad delivery.