How attention economy is re-shaping marketing

The marketing landscape has changed with the rise of attention economy, as brands compete for mindshare of consumers.

By Professor D.K. Batra

Last Updated: Jan 07, 2026, 17:08 IST3 min

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Attention must be carefully earned in an over communicated society and simply should not only be captured. Illustration by Shutterstock

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Psychologist and economist Herbert A. Simon wrote about the concept of the attention economy in 1971. He noted the link between information overload and attention scarcity and wrote that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”

Attention Economy is fast catching up in Board room discussions as the marketing landscape has shifted from competing for market share to competing for mindshare now to competing for attention share. Digital adoption, proliferating content formats, and an “always-on” consumer have collectively created what scholars and practitioners alike refer to as the attention economy It is akin to a platform in which human attention becomes the most scarce and valuable resource. As McKinsey’s recent analysis highlights, “the real challenge today is not reach, but relevance at the moment of attention; not frequency, but focused engagement; not content volume, but cognitive resonance”.

The Dynamics of Attention

Every day the minute you wake up or at night when you move towards sleeping, allocating your attention to different products/ brands requires a series of serious decisions. It is germane and pertinent as to whether you want to do binge TV Screen watching or call a friend or scroll though website.

Attention is getting scarce in a market where customer attention is fragmented, and distribution of information is literally free. Data from eMarketer underlines this shift -- consumers have become “always online”, switching swiftly across devices, often consuming multiple content streams simultaneously. In such a dynamically changing business world, attention is becoming a scarce resource

Cognitive load is rising because millions of consumers swiping, companies vigorously sending push notifications and receiving reels and reels of videos. Attention must be carefully earned in an over communicated society and simply should not only be captured. McKinsey introduces a useful distinction; marketers must compete in two simultaneous battles — the battle for availability and the battle for intensity (evoking sufficient cognitive and emotional engagement to matter).

Also Read: 5 mindsets that drive consumer behaviour

Value Co-creation Loop

Management thinker Dr Prahalad came close to defining “value co-creation loop,” in his pathbreaking treatise on Reverse Innovation, where consumers not only participate in and produce user generated content; but also helps shape brand resonance and customer journey. The attention economy accelerates this value creation loop in a non-linear manner. This structural change demands a rethink of marketing models traditionally optimized for a funnel, not a loop. Customer advocacy is often an output which starts from the discovery of brand co-created on social platforms.

Strategic imperatives for brands in the attention economy

Gaining attention is not about maximising but about meaningful impact. According to McKinsey ‘attention is not equal for everyone’. No single size fits all. Digital marketers’ preoccupation with CTR (Click Through Rates), impressions, and engagement metrics is disastrous if the focus is on volume and not value it brings to a brand. Attention should be deep, relevant, and context aware. This is what actually drives business outcomes.

From an academic standpoint, meaningful attention maps more closely to the quality of cognitive processing than to simple exposure. In other words, effective attention reflects both mental availability and emotional availability. This dual availability increases the odds of choice when the buying moment arrives.

Content goes brand distinct: eMarketer’s findings show that “consumers use heuristics to triage content faster than ever; brands with recognizable assets — sonic cues, visual mnemonics, consistent narrative worlds — lower the cognitive cost of attention”. This creates familiarity without requiring fresh persuasion each time.

Choose quality instead of creating false gods: Superficial metrics have seduced brands into prioritizing spectacle, virality, and algorithm hacks

Attention without memory is wasted investment: Kotler’s STP framework remains relevant — content must reinforce positioning, not chase the lowest common denominator of virality.

Darkside and advent of "false gods" in the attention economy

Attention is often perceived as scale-free by brands, with the belief that more content unlocks more engagement. However, attention operates under strict cognitive limits. Overproducing content often leads to reducing return rates and consumer fatigue. McKinsey notes, attention must be linked to intensity -- the depth of processing, emotional involvement, and relevance. Without these, attention remains transient and commercially inconsequential.

Competing for attention, creating for meaning

The attention economy pushes marketers towards clarity, value creation, strategic discipline, and meaningful engagement. In many ways, it returns marketing to its intellectual roots understanding human behaviour, delivering differentiated value, and building enduring relationships.

Winning in the attention economy is not about capturing more minutes of a consumer’s day. It is about earning more significance in their mind. And that, ultimately, is the true battleground of modern marketing.

Professor D.K. Batra Professor of Marketing at IMI Delhi

This article was published with permission from International Management Institute.

First Published: Jan 07, 2026, 17:18

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