Our industry currently faces a critical challenge: the valuation of marketing efforts based on misleading metrics. We have, for too long, accepted a product – branded content – whose value proposition is built on an illusion of ‘authenticity’.
This has led to a fixation on content that is ‘organic looking’, often at the expense of clear brand communication, out of fear of ‘interrupting the user experience’.
However, we must acknowledge the consumer’s sophistication. The audience is aware they are viewing an advertisement and is actively seeking control over their content consumption. When brand communication prioritises blending in over clear identification, it fails to build lasting brand equity – instead merely subsidising content creation without effectively leveraging the brand’s distinctive assets.
It is time to move beyond the chase for elusive ‘trust’ and ‘authenticity’ and focus on the only verifiable metric of engagement: Attention.
The three key elements are:
- Stop thinking of creators as walking, talking, eating billboards. Think of them as partners.
- Stop treating every platform the same way. Curate content by platform and audience.
- Stop trying to be authentic by pretending that your content isn’t an ad. Be open and transparent with the audience, it’ll build a better relationship with the consumer.
The delusion of impressions: From volume to velocity
As an industry, we have become reliant on metrics that provide a false sense of security, primarily Impressions. An impression is merely confirmation that a file was technically served on a screen. Given that many digital advertisements receive less than 2.5 seconds of viewership, an impression is an insufficient, passive metric for true campaign success.
The reliance on Cost Per Mille (CPM) as a success metric rather than a unit of purchase measurement, fundamentally misrepresents the commodity we are trying to acquire: Attention.
The shift required:Marketers must shift their focus from the Volume of media (impressions) to the Velocity of engagement (Attention). We must clearly distinguish between Served (ad delivery) and Seen (actual viewing) to understand how Served x Seen = Incremental Brand Equity.
Creator content as an attention asset: Creator content’s primary function is not to generate deep emotional affinity but to capture attention. A creator’s role is to halt the user’s scroll long enough, often just five seconds longer than a traditional corporate asset, to effectively transition the user’s attention, however briefly, onto the brand or product message.
Active vs passive attention: Valuing the second
Not all moments of attention hold equal value. There is a significant difference between active attention (a user consciously leaning into the content) and passive attention (peripheral, subconscious glancing).
The receptivity of choice: Industry data, including insights from Lumen Research and System1, challenge the long-held belief that non-skippable, forced views are superior. The reality is that non-skippable ads are viewed only a fraction of the time they are served. By contrast, choice increases favourability. Brands that respect a user’s option to skip are rewarded with increased brand affinity.
The high-value of active connection: Platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, where the user intent is to actively consume content, offer the highest ceiling for attention.
- The mechanism: When a user chooses to continue watching a skippable ad for five seconds, they grant the brand mental availability. This is a conscious, Active Attention decision that is crucial for processing the brand narrative and committing it to long-term memory.
- The value: A voluntary five-second view is a high-value engagement because it signifies high resonance. It is the core of active attention, and the primary driver of brand equity. A single second of Active Attention can be more valuable to a brand than an extended period of forced exposure, where the user is focused purely on the countdown timer, not the content.
The challenge of peripheral engagement
Environments like the Meta ecosystem are characterised by a relentless, dopamine-driven content flow, making attention fleeting and often unintended – the definition of Passive Attention.
- The mechanism: Brands compete with highly emotional, personal content. The advertising becomes a brief interruption in the user’s social life.
- The requirement: Given the peripheral nature of this attention, Distinctive Brand Assets (logo, colours, shape) must execute the vast majority of the communication. If a user cannot instantly recognise the brand within a fraction of a second, the view is functionally without value.
- The limitation: Passive attention is effective for brand refreshment and maintenance, but it is demonstrably ineffective for driving brand education or deep recall. Forcing a non-skippable view often results in a state of Passive Resentment, where the user actively filters out the message to preserve their experience.
Navigating platform ceilings: The elasticity of attention
The attention an advertisement receives is not solely a function of creative genius; it is significantly determined by the platform’s engineering, the algorithms that train user behaviour. This creates a “ceiling” for attention that creative cannot unilaterally break.
- TikTok: The platform is engineered for rapid engagement, training users for a 1.5-second “hook-or-die” cycle. This is a space for “hacking the moment,” not building complex brand narratives.
- Meta: Users are trained to scan, making this a “passive” environment where brand recognition must be instantaneous.
- YouTube: With an inherent intent “to watch,” YouTube offers a “High Ceiling” for sustained, active attention, but it must be utilised with creative that’s appropriate for the medium, not merely as a repository for short-form content.
The new authenticity: Embracing transparency in sponsorship
The most credible action a brand can take is to be transparent about its commercial intent. Data from System1’s 2025 “The Long and Short (form) of it” report confirms that users are more engaged and receptive to sponsored content when the nature of the partnership is clearly disclosed upfront.
- The strategy: Brands should leverage the creator for their Attention Mechanics, their unique ability to hook, pace, and speak the niche language of their audience, while maintaining full transparency regarding the sponsorship. The goal is to purchase the user’s time with engaging content, not to mislead them.
From niche to reach: A market leader’s approach to growth
As a market leader committed to the professionalisation and sustainability of the creator economy in South Africa, we must address a fundamental misunderstanding of brand growth as articulated by Byron Sharp’s foundational principles.
Creators are structured to go Deep into a niche, while brands must be designed to go Wide. A failure to balance these two objectives results in the brand’s interests being compromised.
- The niche trap: Optimising creative solely for a creator’s ‘superfans’ means speaking primarily to an audience already converted.
- The math of growth: True brand growth is driven not by heavy or long-term users, but by light buyers. This necessitates communicating with the vast majority of the population that is unfamiliar with the brand or its products.
- The reality for light buyers: The ‘authentic’ creator content, rich with niche language and in-jokes, is often confusing or indecipherable to the light buyer. It fails to clearly articulate the brand’s offering.
Conclusion: A commercial mandate for professionalism
The era of tentative, ‘shaky-cam’ branding must end. For brand managers, marketers and creatives, the role is to be a commercial disruptor, not a silent partner.
We must stop viewing creators as mystical entities that cast ‘trust’ spells, and instead see them as high-octane attention engines. They excel at the ‘hook’, but the responsibility for the ‘brand’ remains with us.
As a market leader, Humanz represents the interests of content creators, brands, their agents and the entire ecosystem. Our mandate is to build a more professional and sustainable creator economy for all.
This requires leveraging the distinct advantages of each platform: the high-voltage active attention of YouTube, the broad, distinctive reach of Meta, and the dynamic environment of TikTok.
By moving past the chase for ‘ghost impressions’ and embracing brutal honesty about commercial intent, we can focus on building actual brand memory.
The attention economy is a zero-sum game. Every second wasted in ambiguity is a second not spent in memory formation. We urge the industry to stop hiding and blending in. If you are investing in a seat at the table, you must be authoritative, present your brand assets clearly, and communicate your value proposition directly.
Pieter Geyser is commercial director at Humanz, a collaborative creator marketing platform representing the interests of content creators, brands, their agents and the entire ecosystem. Its mandate is to build a more professional and sustainable creator economy for all.
