Using Attention Data To Align Creative and Media Quality

Creative production is accelerating, making it harder for marketers to determine which assets are worth running and where they will work best. The IAB's 2026 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report found that 62% of buyers now use generative AI for digital video creative, up from 51% in 2025. 

As production scales, evaluation becomes more important. Advertisers need to know whether a creative asset is strong, what kind of media environment will support it, and when it may be time for a refresh.

Creative and media quality are two separate campaign levers, but they work together to shape performance. Adelaide measures the media side of that equation with AU, a 0–100 media quality score that predicts a placement's likelihood of capturing attention and driving outcomes. 

Through the AU Ecosystem for Creative Partners (AECP), announced in July 2026, Adelaide connects AU with independent creative measurement. AECP partners evaluate creative quality, and their assessments inform a Creative AU Adjustment that recommends the level of media quality best suited to support a particular asset.

Evaluating Creative Performance Alongside Media Quality

Campaign performance can’t always be diagnosed by looking at the creative or media in isolation. Strong creative may not realize its full potential in lower-quality media, while high-quality media can’t fully compensate for weak creative.

A joint study by Adelaide, Teads, and Adverteyes, featured in WARC, demonstrates the relationship. Campaigns with both high Adelaide AU and high Adverteyes Attention Potential Scores (APS) delivered 5.3x stronger brand awareness lift than campaigns low on both measures.

Source: CINT, 2025 advertiser brand lift study

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The study also showed why optimizing only one lever can leave performance on the table. For one CPG advertiser, high-AU display placements were associated with a 23% average lift across five brand KPIs, while high-APS creative was associated with a comparable 22% lift. Video showed a similar pattern.

Media and creative each tell part of the performance story. Looking at both gives brands a clearer view of where there may be room to improve and where the same budget has greater potential to drive impact.

Matching Creative to the Right Media Quality

The Creative AU Adjustment connects the two signals. An AECP partner evaluates a creative’s strength, which informs whether the AU level best suited to that asset should move higher or lower.

From there, advertisers can use the Adjustment to guide where and how the creative runs. It can inform planning decisions, buying targets, and in-flight optimization toward inventory better suited to the asset. 

It isn’t a hard cutoff that determines whether a creative will succeed. It provides a practical way to account for creative strength when making media investment decisions.

Knowing What To Fix

The Creative AU Adjustment helps address where an asset should run. Determining what within the creative may need to change is a separate question. 

That’s where AECP partner insights come in. Each partner uses its own methodology, including predictive scoring models, neuroscience-based testing, and large-scale panel research. Depending on the partner and asset, creative measurement can help marketers examine elements such as branding, visual salience, pacing, sound, and other factors that influence how effectively an ad holds attention. 

Adelaide’s Attention Pathway illustrates how media quality and creative effectiveness contribute across a single ad exposure.

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Media creates the opportunity for an ad to be noticed, while creative influences whether that attention is sustained and leaves an impression. 

When a creative underperforms, more than one factor may be contributing. The considerations below draw on general creative best practices and learnings from Adelaide’s work with AECP partners. Think of them as starting points for investigation; creative measurement helps pinpoint what’s actually helping or limiting a specific asset’s performance.

Research can provide useful context for individual creative elements. For example, a System1 study with TikTok found that several branding techniques in short-form video, including early sonic branding, contextual logo use, and recurring brand characters, were associated with stronger brand awareness. Separately, Adverteyes research has found that heavier branding in the opening of a linear TV ad can be associated with lower attention potential. These findings reinforce why marketers should interpret creative best practices in context rather than apply them universally.

When To Refresh Creative

There’s no universal expiration date for a creative asset. The right time to refresh creative depends on factors such as audience, channel, campaign objective, frequency, and creative-level performance. 

AU measures media quality, not creative fatigue or effectiveness. While a campaign’s overall media quality can change as delivery shifts across placements, the AU score for a given placement remains stable. Changes in campaign-level AU therefore aren’t a signal that a creative has worn out. 

Instead, frequency and creative performance signals can help indicate when it may be worth testing something new. If those signals weaken while media quality remains consistent, the asset may warrant a closer look, particularly as frequency builds. If the quality of delivered media has also shifted or dropped below the recommended AU level, advertisers should account for both before deciding what to change. 

Bringing Creative and Media Optimization Together

Media and creative should be measured and optimized with purpose-built signals for each discipline. The value comes from putting those signals in context with one another. 

Advertisers can work with an AECP partner to evaluate the creative, apply the resulting Creative AU Adjustment to media decisions, and monitor other campaign variables like reach, frequency, and targeting alongside both. Together, these inputs present a clearer picture of what is driving performance and where optimization will have the greatest impact. 

The goal isn’t to optimize media and creative with the same metric. It’s to understand the role each plays in driving business outcomes and to make more informed decisions about what to run, where to run it, and when to make a change.

Visit the AU Ecosystem to explore Adelaide’s creative measurement partners, or get in touch to learn more.

Frequently Asked Questions

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