Future of TV Briefing: OpenX adds attention targeting for CTV ads backed by TVision

It’s easy to assume people watching on TV screens are paying attention. But advertisers wary of second screens stealing their spotlight may prefer to pay extra for assured attention. And now they can.

OpenX has started selling a targeting option for advertisers to aim their connected TV ads at audiences more likely to be looking at the TV screen. The targeting option is available as an add-on for advertisers buying through the supply-side platform’s OpenXSelect curation tool.

“Attention metrics have historically been very post-campaign-focused. You got a report after the campaign ran. That was great, but it didn’t really allow you for any in-flight optimizations or making sure the budgets were going to a high attention audience,” said Erika Loberg, global head of CTV at OpenX.

The attention targeting capability is being powered by TVision. The TV measurement firm operates a panel of 4,500-5,000 households that allow the company to track their TV watching, including monitoring whether someone’s eyes are looking at the screen, said TVision chief revenue officer Hassan Babajane.

“For a session to be defined as attentive, it’s got to be 2.5 seconds or greater [that a person is measured as looking at the screen]. That is the trigger,” said Babajane. “Now we don’t stop there. We do second-by-second attention, full duration. So we know in any given session if someone is eyes on screen.”

That panel-based measurement is then projected across the broader CTV audience and streaming service landscape for OpenX to cross-reference with the CTV inventory sold through its SSP. OpenX is curating that high-attention inventory by excluding any programming that falls below an attention score of 40%, said an OpenX spokesperson.

Advertisers will be able to toggle on the attention targeting option as an additional audience parameter for CTV ad campaigns purchased through OpenX. Eventually the SSP plans to add an estimated reach figure in its interface for ad buyers to be able to see how applying the attention targeting filter could affect the number of people an ad may be served to. 

That reach estimate will be important for ad buyers weighing a decision between pure quantitative reach and the qualitative reach that OpenX’s attention targeting aims to offer.

“I do see it as valuable. It’d be interesting to see how much scale we clear. And then, is it worth paying a little bit more of a premium? Is that premium worth the overall efficiencies of the buy?” said Hermelinda Fernandez, svp of digital investment at Canvas Worldwide.

The OpenX spokesperson declined to say what is the additional fee amount that the company will levy for attention targeting.

This article has been updated to reflect that OpenX will exclude programming that has an attention score below 40%. A previous version misstated that the company is excluding the bottom 40% of programming based on attention score.

What we’ve heard

“Now they are definitely wanting to make sure that they go after independent agencies and they are assigning reps to them based on their Meta-billings, rather than their TikTok billings.”

— Digiday’s Krystal Scanlon on the latest Digiday Podcast episode

Numbers to know

50%: Percentage slowdown in YouTube channel growth for some podcast shows that have struck exclusivity deals with Netflix.

-10%: Average year-over-year decline in Nielsen-measured TV ad impressions for the 25-54 year-old audience demo in the first half of 2025.

>20%: Percentage speed improvement from Amazon’s updated Fire TV CTV interface.

What we’ve covered

TikTok after the legal fight and why it’s coming for Meta’s ad dollars:

• The platform is aggressively pushing for ad dollars from independent agencies and seemingly aiming to close the gap between it and Meta.
• Digiday senior platforms reporter Krystal Scanlon joined the Digiday Podcast to break down TikTok’s ad sales efforts following the formation of TikTok U.S.

Listen to the latest Digiday Podcast episode here.

Long-form creators eye taking over TVs – and chasing bigger brand budgets:

• Audiences spent 52 billion minutes last year watching long-form, episodic creator shows across platforms, according to data Spotter released at its showcase event in NYC on March 4.
• According to Spotter, “creator TV” sits at an untapped center of the social video ecosystem, representing around 7,000 creators making long-form (defined as longer than 20 minutes) episodic content that pulls in more than 28 billion watch hours annually in the U.S.

Read more about long-form creator TV here.

How creator talent agencies are evolving into multi-platform operators:

• The legacy agency model, long overdue for a reckoning, is finally being rebuilt from the ground up — with creators at the center.
• In 2025, M&A deal volume in the creator economy grew 17.4 percent year over year to 81 deals, and that is expected to remain strong in 2026, with talent management firms and other creator-focused businesses continuing to attract acquisitions and funding.

Read more about creator agency evolution here.

What we’re reading

Netflix’s AI filmmaking acquisition:

The streamer has acquired Ben Affleck’s AI filmmaking startup InterPositive and plans to make the company’s AI tech — which specializes in post-production work like relighting and VFX — available to its programming producers, according to Variety.

Amazon’s audience targeting on Netflix:

Advertisers in the U.S. will be able to target their ads on Netflix using Amazon’s audience data starting in the second quarter of 2026, according to AdExchanger.

NBA’s local broadcast streaming hub:

The league has been talking with YouTube TV, DAZN and Amazon about creating a streaming hub for local broadcasts, according to Sports Business Journal.

Washington Post’s content licensing deal:

The news publisher will license its editorial videos through Veritone for other companies to use, according to The Desk.