By Rajiv Gopinath
The interplay between attention allocation and clutter is founded on the principle that as visual and informational clutter increases in an environment, it becomes increasingly challenging for a single item to seize and maintain a viewer’s focus. Particularly, when a page or screen is saturated with numerous ads, the attention each one garners significantly diminishes. This is attributable to the human brain’s limited capacity to process information concurrently, where excessive clutter results in cognitive overload, leading viewers to overlook or bypass individual ads.
This topic has been explored by numerous industry experts and researchers. A study cited by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB UK) suggested that reduced clutter, specifically having no more than two ads visible on a single screen, leads to enhanced attention towards these ads. Moreover, Karen Nelson-Field, CEO of Amplified Intelligence, has emphasised the importance of quality targeting and minimal clutter for maximising ad attention.
We know all this and while much of the conversation on attention has been centred on digital advertising, the concept of attention in print media has received less attention. A common assumption among marketers is that newspapers are not read in their entirety but are merely glanced at, transforming them into essentially indoor OOH mediums. This belief leads to a scramble for prime advertising spots like the front and back pages, resulting in considerable clutter those specific pages. In India, Print is the #3 medium in terms of spend with close to INR 20,000 cr spent annually. So it’s an important medium in a lot of ad campaigns.
To look at this deeper, I examined the clutter in a leading newspaper’s two editions for a month, focusing on three areas: the front page, back page, and inside page. I also considered the variable of weekday versus weekend. The clutter formula was simple: [Ad cc space in the position/total cc space in the position].
Here are the data for the two editions:
Clutter (Weekday) Clutter (Weekend)
Front Page 71% 78%
Back Page 51% 63%
Inside Page 15% 17%
In light of these numbers and the earlier discussion on attention and clutter, the conclusion is apparent: there is excessive demand for front page placement resulting is high clutter on the front page and this can erode the quality of exposure. Readers spend less time on pages loaded with ads, jackets, making the percentage of ads on the front page, at times, a vanity metric.
Of course, there are instances where we need to be on the front page – Big News, Impact etc. In these cases, there could be two actions we can take –
– Disruptive print innovations could serve as a means to stand out amidst the clutter.
– However, innovation alone may not suffice. The innovation needs to be actionable. If we consider the example of an e-commerce player offering a large discount over a few days, the ad needs to be not just on the front page for instant reach but also disruptive. This can be achieved by making the ad interactive with a clear and compelling call-to-action. For instance, a QR code that leads directly to the discounted products.
In the instance, where we don’t need the front page specifically, we should look at more distinctive advertising on non-front page options. Given demand supply imbalances, the value we can realise from efficiency is also better.
In conclusion, clutter can significantly undermine the effectiveness of even highly sought-after placements such as the front page of a newspaper. Despite the prominence of the placement, an ad’s effectiveness is jeopardised if the page is excessively cluttered. I urge you to think more rather than blindly go for a vanity metric.
Rajiv Gopinath is the Chief Solutions Officer at Publicis Media Services. Views expressed are personal.