Attention measurement has mostly worked backward: run the campaign, then report how much attention it captured. Paris-based xpln.ai just launched Ideal Attention Time (IAT), a metric meant to run before a single impression is bought, and it points at where attention data is headed next: from a scorecard into a planning input.
IAT is a predictive score quantifying the minimum attention a piece of creative needs to achieve its objective, whether brand recognition, product identification, or message comprehension, in a given media environment. The system analyzes roughly 50 visual, audio, and contextual signals per video frame, calibrated against two years of attention data from more than 20,000 panelists. Fabien Magalon, CEO and co-founder of xpln.ai, said the industry has “focused almost entirely on the media side” of attention. “What they haven’t known is how much attention their creative actually needs,” he said. Across campaigns evaluated through the framework, 75% of impressions failed to generate enough attention for audiences to associate the ad with the brand.
The launch matters because it moves attention from a media-buying metric into a creative-planning one. Insurer AXA piloted the tool and found its content needed roughly three seconds to draw attention and five to build recognition; moving its logo earlier in a 30-second video raised average attention time and lowered cost per attentive second. “Ideal Attention Time gave us a clear understanding of what our creatives actually require,” said Marine Gissy, AXA’s global media lead. That is the real signal: attention is becoming a design constraint on creative itself, not just a number in a post-campaign deck. As platform trust becomes a marketing metric and buyers push for simpler media math, a pre-flight score lets marketing leaders catch wasted creative spend before the media budget is committed.
Source: xpln.ai
