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  • 2014
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

The Rising Cost of Consumer Attention: Why You Should Care, and What You Can Do about It

By: Thales S. Teixeira
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:23
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Abstract

Attention is a necessary ingredient for effective advertising. The market for consumer attention (or "eyeballs") has become so competitive that attention can be regarded as a currency. The rising cost of this ingredient in the marketplace is causing marketers to waste money on costly attention sources or reduce their investment in promoting their brands. Instead, they should be thinking about how to "buy" cheaper attention and how to use it more effectively. Research in the emerging field of the Economics of Attention shows how this can be achieved. Here, I argue that, irrespective of the means to attain it, attention always comes at a price. I also show that the cost of attention has increased dramatically (seven- to nine-fold) in the last two decades. To counteract this trend I propose novel approaches to lower its cost or use attention more efficiently by adopting multitasker-tailored ads, Lean Advertising, and Viral Ad Symbiosis. To guide the choice of which approach to take, I propose the Attention-contingent Advertising Strategy, a framework to match the most effective approach to the quality of attention contingently available. As the value of attention rises, marketers need to become better managers of attention. This paper is intended to help them in this regard.

Keywords

Strategy; Advertising

Citation

Teixeira, Thales S. "The Rising Cost of Consumer Attention: Why You Should Care, and What You Can Do about It." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-055, January 2014.
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More from the Author

    • December 2019
    • Journal of Marketing Research (JMR)

    The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment

    By: Donald Ngwe, Kris J. Ferreira and Thales Teixeira
    • June 2019
    • Faculty Research

    Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Expanding from One to Many Millions of Customers

    By: Thales S. Teixeira
    • February 2019 (Revised June 2019)
    • Faculty Research

    Where to Grow Next at Online Marketplace OLX

    By: Thales Teixeira, Leandro A. Guissoni and Samy Dana
More from the Author
  • The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment By: Donald Ngwe, Kris J. Ferreira and Thales Teixeira
  • Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Expanding from One to Many Millions of Customers By: Thales S. Teixeira
  • Where to Grow Next at Online Marketplace OLX By: Thales Teixeira, Leandro A. Guissoni and Samy Dana
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