Advertising metrics started with impressions, which were bought through traditional media or digital. But then some advertisers moved to clicks in the far more measurable digital space. But neither can hold a candle to what may be THE mother of all metrics: time spent with an ad.
Today, a company called Sled, the maker of a mobile advertising format, is announcing a new platform called "Parsec," the first to charge for media on a cost per second (CPS) basis. And the benefits of this model extend not only to the advertiser, but to the consumer and to the publisher.
Money can't buy you love.
No, money can't buy you love in the Parsec model. Money only pays for the love your advertising ideas earn after the fact.
With Parsec, an impression is valueless unless it leads to real engagement, as measured by the time a consumer spends with the communication. If the ad is ignored, then the advertiser pays nothing. If the ad successfully provokes engagement, the meter starts to run.
It's an entirely new dimension in the media buying space. In fact, media buyers are no longer buying "impressions" at all, but attention. The only determining factor as to the amount of attention is the consumer.
As Sled CEO Marc Guldimann explained about the algorithm Parsec will deploy,
The more time readers spend with an ad, the more likely that ad is to be run, even at lower CPS bids. Parsec optimizes for revenue per impression, so we are looking to match ads to people who will be interested in spending time with them. The real power of CPS is the fact that it aligns the entire marketplace to serve ads that readers want to spend time with.
So relevance is calculated before an ad is even served. But that doesn't mean we can't further influence the odds.
Creativity is the new media weight.
In Parsec's model, creativity becomes the "weight" in the equation, not money. To be effective, an ad must rise to the task, be relevant, capture attention, and then hold it in order to count. No amount of money will increase the odds of a consumer engaging with your ad.
Isn't it beautiful?
Creative advertising agencies will be dancing on their ping-pong tables with this news because creativity in the traditional sense will finally matter in digital. "Creativity" won't mean loud, flashy, and interruptive. It will mean relevant, engaging, and maybe even polite.
Better yet, advertisers only pay for the time that consumers are engaging actively with their brands.
Advertisers are going to have to think their way to brand disruption, not spend their way.
Publishers no longer have to wince as they allow impolite advertising on their sites.
Publishers can do what they do because of the advertising dollars, but they all have a higher mission (share photos, sports news, professional networking, etc.). The more a publisher can maintain the integrity of its mission the more likely its consumers will become loyal.
As Guldimann put it to me,
If you're at a cocktail party, you may introduce yourself to someone and try to engage. But if it's not reciprocated, you walk away. That's how advertisers will behave with Parsec.
He calls it "polite interruptions" and it's great news for the publishers because their mission will not be overrun by annoying "impolite" interruptions in the form of pop-ups, roll-overs and take-overs.
And taken in the aggregate, this will mean a better web experience overall for consumers.
Consumers are liberated.
I remember last week I went to a site to read an article and an impolite take-over happened in support of the movie, "Minions." I couldn't find a little "X" to close the window. I was expected to wait for the stupid thing to finish.
But I didn't. I left the site without reading the article and with a horrible Minions taste in my mouth. That's not good for anyone.
Consumers just want to consume content when they want and where they want. The more hurdles between them and the content in the form of violently intruding advertising units, the less likely they are to stay on the page.
With Parsec advertisers will effectively reward themselves by earning the attention of consumers. That's the key here for consumers. They choose to participate in an ad or they don't. Then Parsec records the duration of any engagement and the consumer moves back to his or her originally intended content.
It's liberating to consumers, really: their content is readily available and the advertising is polite.
Will Parsec's "cost per second" platform slay the maddening monster of impolite advertising?
Only time will tell.
