The Future of Attention Spans
February 26th, 2008 by Alec McNayrPosted in Online, Producing, Strategy | No Comments »
[An excerpt from our article in the March/April 2008 issue of Script Magazine.]
Most blame MTV and its “newfangled jump-cuts†for the shortened attention spans of today’s media consumers. Yet almost thirty years after MTV appeared in mainstream American culture, 30-minute TV shows have not died out in favor of shorter fare. Rather, 60-minute dramas and reality shows dominate the TV landscape, and movies in excess of 3 hours still regularly top weekly box office rankings.
Consider, then, online media, where the average video viewing length is less than 3 minutes, whether amateur home videos, webcam confessionals, or nascent Web series. The attention span of a viewer of Web content is exceptionally shorter than TV, due to slower access (delays caused by download speeds), inconsistent quality, and the viewer’s “low-commitment†frame of mind.
Determining the “future of attention spans†does not simply mean measuring the length or speed of media, but delivering to a consumer’s expected level of engagement.
Read the rest of the article by buying the magazine on your local newsstand or at ScriptMag.com!
See our other work from the March/April 2008 issue of Script Magazine:
