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Heineken combines attention measurement with a brand lift survey for Birra Moretti. The British campaign with GumGum is meant to show which placements are not only viewed for a long time, but are also linked to higher brand awareness. The first published results are interesting – but not yet evidence of additional sales.
What the test actually measured
According to Digiday from the 8 October 2026, the Birra Moretti analysis showed, among respondents who viewed the ads for longer than 2,2 seconds, an increase in unaided brand awareness of eight percent and in brand familiarity of four percent. The ads ran as attention-grabbing display formats on desktop and mobile in environments around sport and gaming.
According to the report, desktop skin formats achieved an average of 4,5 seconds of attention. The provider compares this with an industry benchmark roughly three times lower. These are figures from this specific measurement setting; they do not allow a generally valid "optimal viewing time" for digital advertising to be derived.
For its "Attentive Lift" method, GumGum combines attention data with brand surveys from On Device. The results are first used to form a brand-specific threshold, which is meant to serve as a guide for further placements.
Why more attention does not automatically mean more impact
The important distinction is this: seconds measure the quality of contact, brand lift measures a change in brand metrics. Both values are related in the test, but they are not identical.
If you simply maximise the longest viewing time, you can create unwanted incentives – for example, particularly intrusive ad formats. Digiday also cites criticism from the attention-measurement industry on this point. Linking with brand surveys is meant to reduce this risk. However, it does not eliminate all methodological questions.
Without disclosed details on control groups, significance, the definition of the percentage values and the breakdown by advertising environment, neither causality can be reliably assessed nor a concrete ROI calculated. The stated eight and four percent must in particular not be interpreted uncritically as percentage points. Sales or profit data for the test have not been published.
Marketers know a similar delineation problem from other environments: for Panda Express on Roblox and Fortnite, brand lift results were reported without this already proving incremental revenue.
Why Heineken needs to make a stronger case for display again
Advertising budgets are shifting into dynamic channels. According to the IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark 2025, social video advertising in Europe grew 2025 by 25,7 percent; the overall social segment rose by 19,2 percent. Display outside the large social platforms therefore has to demonstrate its contribution to brand building particularly well.
For the first half-year, Heineken reported 2026 marketing and selling expenses of 10,1 percent of net revenue. This should not be equated with pure advertising budget. It does, however, explain why better allocation decisions carry high priority across the group.
Cooperation with GumGum is nothing new: back in the Christmas season 2024 and 2025, Birra Moretti already tested contextual placements and attention time. The current development links this measurement layer more closely to brand lift thresholds. According to Digiday, Heineken is now also applying the approach to its British cider brand Old Mout.
What German marketers can take away from the test
If you bring attention metrics into your media plan, you should evaluate them together with recall, awareness, brand lift and, where possible, controlled sales effects. For a fair comparison, creatives, the placement environment and the sample must be traceable. A single number of seconds does not replace an impact analysis.
This also applies to the debate about the trade-off between short-term performance and long-term brand building, as well as the question of how much real impact different premium environments have. The EDO comparison of NFL advertising effectiveness shows how cautiously differently defined effectiveness metrics must be read.
Heineken's test is therefore an approach to better budget decisions, not proof that 2,2 seconds of advertising automatically generate brand impact or revenue.