Subtitle: How to Measure Creative Performance in the Post-Click Era

The Death of the Click

Here's the uncomfortable truth: in 2026, your CTR might look great while your creative is absolutely bombing. I know this sounds dramatic, but hear me out. The platforms have changed. Meta's running Andromeda. TikTok's algorithm is reading micro-expressions. YouTube knows if someone's actually watching or just left the tab open. And all of them have stopped caring about clicks.

What they care about now is whether people actually pay attention to your stuff.

“Creative is the new targeting. Attention is the new conversion.”

Think about your own behavior for a second. When was the last time you clicked an ad because you were genuinely interested versus clicking by accident while scrolling? Exactly. It also reflects a deeper truth: attention doesn’t equal just time spent, but valuable time - driven by focus + intent (McKinsey). That’s the new north star

This playbook introduces frameworks and tools that replace vanity metrics with real focus metrics - measurable, creative-linked attention signals that move the business needle.

1. The Attention Cliff

Problem:

Someone's scrolling through their feed. Thumb moving at roughly one swipe per second. Your ad appears. You have approximately three seconds before their brain decides whether you're worth the mental bandwidth. Three seconds. That's it.

And here's the brutal part: 70-90% of ads lose this battle. People scroll right past them like they're watching credits roll.

Your hook either stops the scroll or you vanish.

Key Signals (What You Need to Track)

• Hook rate (3s View Rate): This is the percentage of people who actually stopped to watch your ad for at least three seconds. If you're below 35%, your hook isn't working. Period.
• 10s Hold Rate: % of viewers who stayed for 10 seconds or more (Okay, they watched three seconds. But did they stick around? This metric tells you if your creative has legs or if people bounced the moment they gave you a chance.)
• Avg Watch Time: Aim for 5–8 seconds on short-form ads.