Attention stops paying its way after about twenty seconds
20s
attentive seconds threshold
StatPaid Media
More attention does produce greater brand-building effects, but the return flattens: after roughly 20 attentive seconds, additional attention delivers little extra impact. It contradicts the assumption that more attention is always better.
Source
The Brand Reset: Capturing Sales and Brand Equity from Attention - dentsu, in partnership with Kantar and Lumen (2026)
dentsu with Kantar, Lumen and TVision; methodology and analysis Dan White, advisor Les Binet; foreword Will Swayne
p20, The Brand Reset, dentsu with Kantar and Lumen, April 2026
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StatA single video exposure is projected to still be producing sales three years laterStatThe same exposure that builds the brand also moves sales in the next three monthsStatDigital video builds brands over years, and Linear TV still builds them harderPrincipleShort-form formats win on cost per point of long-term lift, not on the size of the liftStatConnected TV now delivers roughly three quarters of Linear TV's long-term brand effectWarningCTV closing the gap is not the same as Linear TV losing its jobStatHalf of marketing leaders cannot tell whether CTV works as well as Linear TVStatTwo in five CMOs cannot measure the efficiency of next-gen video at allPrincipleSkippable ads start weaker than non-skippable ones and then overtake themPrincipleAttention someone chose to give is worth more than attention you made them givePrinciplePlan video by skippable versus non-skippable, not by screen size or channelWarningBuying past thirty seconds buys length the attention curve no longer pays for
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