Platform Updates: Viant Launches CTV Attention Targeting & Reporting

Platform Updates is a new Viant Blog series exploring how the products and capabilities within the Viant Advertising Platform help marketers navigate their media with greater intelligence, transparency, and control to achieve stronger outcomes.

Key Takeaways: Making Attention Signals Actionable Across CTV Campaigns

• Viant has launched attention targeting, powered by TVision, making it the first platform to offer attention-based targeting for CTV directly in its buying workflow.
• Advertisers can target or exclude high, medium, and/or low attention categories, which represent the top, middle, and bottom thirds of measured attention.
• To measure the impact of attention based optimization, Viant provides advertisers with a CTV Attention Report. Available to all CTV customers at no additional cost, this report shows attention rate, attention index, co-viewing, presence in room, and attention-adjusted CPM (aCPM).
• aCPM helps advertisers understand the value of their media investments in a new way by comparing the cost of an impression to the cost of reaching an attentive, co-viewing audience.

What is a 30-second spot worth if nobody’s around to see it, or if nobody’s paying attention to it?

Picture a Monday night NFL game streaming at a group of friends’ apartment. As the group ventures into the kitchen to retrieve the platefuls of buffalo wings that just finished in the oven, a beautifully crafted, 30-second CTV commercial simultaneously plays to the living room…with absolutely nobody in it. The advertiser’s reporting will say the impression was served, but an empty couch won’t remember that brand, and it certainly won’t be buying any products from it.

This happens more than anyone would like to admit. Research from TVision shows that in 30% of instances, the room is empty while an ad plays. And even when someone is there, they’re not paying attention 45% of the time. Advertisers can prove an ad was served, but two questions have gone long unanswered: can a campaign target viewers who are actually paying attention? And can it show that attention was earned? 

Viant is closing that gap through the launch of CTV Attention Targeting and the CTV Attention Report, making Viant the first platform to offer attention-based targeting natively in the buying process. 

Meet TVision, the Engine Behind the Attention

The data behind this launch is powered by TVision, which Viant acquired in the spring of 2026. TVision is the only attention measurement provider delivering second-by-second, eyes-on-screen attention, co-viewership, and in-room presence for TV. Its nationally representative panel of households is weighted to represent the US population and uses passive in-home hardware, advanced computer vision, and Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology to measure three things: whether someone’s in the room, whether multiple people are watching together, and whether they are actually paying attention. 

Importantly, TVision doesn’t only watch one corner of the television ecosystem. TV advertising now spans linear, YouTube, Prime Video, and streaming apps, and many of those platforms grade their own homework. TVision’s panel captures real viewer engagement across that entire ecosystem, giving advertisers a single, independent, and market-wide view of attention.

Shape the Buy Before the Impressions Run

Viant clients can now target attention as a top-level category in the DSP, directly within the CTV buying workflow. Here’s how it works:

• Three categories: Pick from High, Medium, and Low Attention, representing the top, middle, and bottom thirds of measured attention.
• Target or exclude: Use any category either way, depending on the goal.
• Dynamic, not fixed: Categories are recalculated dynamically, so advertisers are always buying against today’s attention landscape, not an outdated benchmark.
• Built into the buy: Attention is applied right on the CTV line, and delivery shows up in TVision measurement reporting, ensuring targeting and results stay connected.

Which setting fits best depends on individual campaign goals. A brand focused on maximizing active viewing can lean into High Attention, and an advertiser who wants to balance engagement and reach might test Medium Attention or mix levels. And for those who would rather stop paying for the moments no one is watching, they can exclude Low Attention.

Optimizing for attention in the targeting stage of the campaign is a worthwhile effort: a report from TVision and Upwave found that a 1% increase in attention is associated with a 1% increase in awareness and ad recall.

Measure What Your Attention Actually Earned

Targeting gets attention into the buy, and the CTV Attention Report shows what it delivers. This report is available to all CTV customers at no additional cost for the rest of 2026, and running attention targeting is not required to use it. To locate it in the Viant platform, go to Performance > CTV Attention (labeled as  “CTV Attention Powered by TVision”). This report is complimentary for all clients through the end of 2026. 

Inside, buyers will find:

• Core attention metrics: attention rate, attention index, co-viewing, and presence in room.
• Attention-adjusted CPM (aCPM): standard CPM next to the cost of reaching attentive, co-viewing audiences, trended over time.
• Top performers: breakdowns by streaming app, daypart, day of week, and ad duration, to help identify which apps earn the most attention and which creative lengths hold a viewer’s focus.
• Flexible granularity: advertiser, campaign, order, and line level, with a 90-day lookback and a two-day data lag.

aCPM is an incredibly valuable metric, because it changes how buyers value inventory and plan campaigns. For example, Publisher 1 may have a $25 CPM with a 50% attention rate and 1.3 co-viewing, while Publisher 2 has a $30 CPM with a 55% attention rate and 1.6 co-viewing. On sticker price, Publisher 1 wins, but aCPM (CPM ÷ [attention rate × co-viewing]) comes out to $38.50 for Publisher 1 and $34.10 for Publisher 2. The “pricier” pick is actually the better value per attentive viewer.

Served Was Never the Same as Seen

For a long time, “served” was as far as proof went. With attention targeting to aim the buy and the CTV Attention Report to check the result, advertisers can finally steer spend toward moments when people are present and watching.

Ready to try it? Talk to your Viant rep to start testing TVision Attention Targeting, and open the CTV Attention Report today.