ADGEEK
What attention data can tell advertisers
Mike Follett on eye tracking, media decisions and the gap between exposure and attention.
The conversation
In Episode 33 of The Indian AdGeek , host Vishal Mehra sits down with Mike Follett , CEO of Lumen Research , to untangle the science of human attention in advertising.
From late-night client debates in Mumbai over how big a logo should be to building cutting-edge infrared and webcam eye-tracking technology, Mike reveals why traditional focus groups give us useless data and why humans everywhere are wired to ignore ads .
We dive deep into:
The Advertere Fallacy: Why forcing people to look at ads in focus groups invalidates market research. Media Realities: Why linear TV and cinema ads outperform glitzy digital platforms on raw attention, and why cricket remains the greatest ad vehicle ever invented . The Creative Multiplier: How great creative can effectively boost your media budget by 50% —and why relying solely on algorithms is a trap. The AI Slop Problem: What eye-tracking data says about AI-generated creatives and their 10–20% drop in effectiveness . Gaming Attention: Why proxy metrics fail and how programmatic attention layers are changing media planning across global agency stacks.
🎧 Listen to Lucy Jameson’s episode on The Indian AdGeek here .
The Indian AdGeek | Episode 33
Key Takeaways
- Mike challenges focus-group research that forces people to look at ads, rather than measuring attention in natural conditions.
- The media comparison includes linear TV, cinema and cricket as attention environments.
- Creative quality is discussed as a multiplier of media effectiveness, alongside the limitations of relying only on algorithms.
- Eye-tracking evidence and programmatic attention layers are used to question proxy metrics in media planning.