Lumen Research

Lumen Research is the attention specialist that utilises eye-tracking and heat mapping technologies to measure and predict the reality of visual engagement.

Eye-tracking offers a simple, scientific and objective measure of the reality of attention.

Instead of asking people questions about what they think they saw, Lumen’s technology passively monitors what they actually look at.

Traditional ad measurement tools are being redefined and reimagined to catch up with in-game advertising.

Dropping tracking pixels into game engines is simply not effective, which is why Bidstack is at the forefront of defining new industry standards for in-game advertising with bodies and partners such as the IAB, Moat, Comscore, TAG and Nielsen.

Bidstack partnered exclusively with Lumen Research in 2019 to formulate a process to demonstrate campaign success to clients when it comes to marketing in the metaverse by measuring the reality of attention. The relationship continues to grow into new ad formats and genres of games which reflects the strength of Bidstack’s evolving portfolio.

Throughout 2021, Bidstack has run seven studies across two foundational genres, racing (DiRT Rally) and sports (Football Manager), with leading brands in key advertising categories such as luxury, retail, technology, banking and hospitality. The findings for advertisers reinforce post campaign analysis, drive organic growth through rebooking and prove the effectiveness of brand awareness.

Bidstack’s in-game ad formats are more viewable with greater dwell time

 

% viewed

The ad boards in each study successfully gained high levels of attention where Bidstack saw a significant uplift versus the Lumen desktop display norm. This is likely due to the ad boards being in view throughout the entire gameplay of Football Manager and in DiRT Rally. It appears that brand awareness campaigns through in-game advertising will likely result in high attention amongst gamers, especially when compared to standard display formats.

 

Average view time (s)

The average time spent viewing each ad board across all the studies was 1.8 seconds, which is higher than the Lumen norm of 1.3 seconds. The favourable in-view placement of ad boards, reflecting the real world within both Football Manager and DiRT Rally, may have helped to increase the time spent engaging with each ad. This provides tangible evidence that stadium and racing genres are a natural fit for in-game advertising.

Quality of engagement fuels sales impact for advertisers

 

Attention curve

The attention curve shows the distribution of total viewed time across each ad. On average, over half the sample engaged with various ad boards for up to 1 second, followed by around a third who engaged with ad boards for 2 seconds which is well above the desktop display norm.

Higher engagement is correlated to brand recall which translates into sales impact.

 

Attentive seconds per ‘000 impressions

Each advertisement tested within Bidstack’s platform in either Football Manager or DiRT Rally is predicted by Lumen Research to generate 2.4 times more seconds of “eyes-on” attention for every 1000 impressions served. The overall attention produced across the 2021 Lumen studies significantly outperformed the display norm. This is thought to be most likely due to the ad boards being viewed by nearly 100% of the sample and for a longer duration.

Bidstack’s in-game advertising format scores above average for brand recall and perception

 

Spontaneous and prompted brand recall

The ad boards displayed across Football Manager and DiRT Rally captured high levels of attention and viewed time, which Lumen considered likely resulted in participants’ ability to recall brands both on a spontaneous and prompted level. The level that participants were able to recall each brand across the studies (when prompted) fell in line with the desktop display norm.

 

Ad perceptions

Across the studies over 50% agreed the ads were of a trusted company and were well suited to their gaming experience.

 

Brand perceptions

Brand perceptions of trustworthiness, good quality and likeability saw a meaningful uplift compared to the control sample.