Press Release - The Economist

Press Release
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On embargo until
4 November 2015
8am UK time
The Economist introduces multi-platform Attention Buy for its clients
(LONDON)– Today The Economist announced the launch of its Attention Buy, a new model that guarantees
and trades on reader attention. The Economist is the first publisher to offer marketers the opportunity to buy
slices of user attention cross-platform - in-app and online.
Marketers are increasingly seeking the opportunity to engage and interact with their target audience in
meaningful and measurable ways. As a consequence, the trend has been to move away from traditional
campaign metrics such as clicks and click-through rates and rather to focus on attention metrics such as
viewability and engagement with ads, which is considered a more effective way of measuring the return on
digital advertising spend.
Online, The Economist will offer marketers the ability to buy user attention on a cost per hour (CPH) basis.
Working with analytics partners Chartbeat and MOAT Analytics, The Economist will track active view time –
only accounting for time when an ad is in view and the reader is actively engaged with the page. Only
impressions that generate over 5 seconds of active view time will count towards the attention buy. Additionally
The Economist will also be capping attention on a per impression basis at 30 seconds, thereby protecting
marketers from both under-exposure and over-exposure of ad impressions.
In-app, The Economist already offers marketers a cumulative time spent guarantee of 250 hours – up to 750
hours in some cases – viewing a full-page ad on The Economist’s digital editions.
“Attention metrics and viewability are certainly a step in the right direction, but they are merely a first step in the
journey towards trading on user attention. Viewability is just a proxy for what marketers desire the most – their
target audience’s attention”, said Ashwin Sridhar, Global head of revenue for Economist digital products.
Nicolas Sennegon, Global MD, Chief Revenue Officer of The Economist Group’s Media Businesses said,
“Measuring views has been an important development in the advertising industry, but guaranteeing active user
attention goes a step further towards measuring the effectiveness of an ad. Knowing that an ad is viewable is
good, but knowing that users are paying attention to your ad is even better.” Sennegon continued, “The
Economist is proud to be the first to offer this valuable and unique option to our clients.”
The Economist is offering its clients two User Attention Guarantee package deals.
-ENDS-
For details on this press release or to arrange interview please contact Holly Donahue at +44 (0)20 7576 8379
or [email protected]
About The Economist (www.economist.com)
With a growing global circulation (now more than 1.55 million including both print* and digital) and a reputation for
insightful analysis and perspective on every aspect of world events, The Economist is one of the most widely recognised
and well-read current affairs publications. The paper covers politics, business, science and technology, and books and
arts, concluding each week with the obituary. In addition to the web-only content such as blogs, debates and
audio/video programmes available on the website, The Economist is now available to download for reading on
Android, Blackberry PlayBook, iPhone or iPad devices.
*Alliance for Audited Media, Jan-Jun 2015