Advertising (In)Attention in the Digital Environment

New technologies and media are making access, interaction, and creation of media content increasingly under audience control. Similarly, advertising is trying to integrate into new formats with video pre-roll ads, native advertising, fan communities and consumer reviews, photo filters, emoji creation and app. This chapter discusses advertising exposure and attention in the new digital environment, particularly media multitasking and advertising avoidance. Attention forms the base of how advertising "works" and is often seen as occurring before any other effects of advertising can happen. Attention can be categorized as selective, divided, switching, or sustained. Selective attention is when a person focuses on one input while filtering out others; divided attention involves focusing on more than one input at the same time; attention switching involves multiple inputs but with a focus on only one input at a time while switching focus between inputs; and sustained attention, which involves simply monitoring an input for a sustained length of time.