The model is based on research that explored how children aged between eight and 12 engaged with interactive adverts, focusing on Hoopla’s playable reward advertising unit HooPLAY.

The research was carried out in two phases, with phase one featuring a quantitative study with 750 UK children and phase two featuring a qualitative study by Untangled Insight.

Phase one found that adverts captured children’s attention for an average of 46 seconds, which is three times longer than the standard advert aimed at adults.

Three-dimensional advertising outperformed 2D adverts by 53%, while girls demonstrated higher levels of brand recall ( 79%) and choice ( 64%) than boys ( 63% and 49%).

Brand recall averaged 73%, exceeding the adult benchmark of 58%, while 77% of children described the adverts as “cool” and 75% found them “exciting”.

Phase two identified five key factors driving attention: interactivity, personal connection, visual appeal, positive emotional feedback and novelty.

Children frequently replayed the adverts shown, while parents praised the skill-building potential of interactive adverts compared with traditional formats.

John Macbeth, chief commercial officer at Hoopla Digital, said: “Given how diverse and often unpredictable a child’s attention span can be, we knew an adult-trained model wouldn’t be a logical fit.

“By partnering with Lumen Research and Generation Media, we developed a solution fully compliant with child safety regulations – creating a powerful tool that kids’ brands can use to enhance campaign performance while catering to their diverse audience groups.”

Mike Follet, chief executive officer at Lumen Research, said: “We’re delighted to partner with Hoopla on this first attention measurement model for kids’ advertising.

“Understanding attention is key to effective advertising, and this study confirms that children engage with ads differently from adults. By applying eye-tracking and attention measurement techniques, we’ve demonstrated that interactive, playable formats like HooPLAY have the potential to drive very high levels of engagement, recall and deliver on key brand outcomes.”

Alex Taylor-Smith, director of business development at Generation Media, added: “This collaboration with Hoopla Digital and Lumen Research represents a breakthrough in understanding children’s attention in advertising.

“By leveraging data-driven insights, we are empowering brands to create more impactful, responsible and engaging campaigns that resonate with young audiences.”