ARTICLE 01
What If Netflix Changed Its Currency?
Advertising has always relied on currencies. For decades, television traded in ratings. Digital platforms later introduced impressions and clicks. These metrics provided a shared language for buyers and sellers of media inventory. But as streaming platforms enter the advertising market, the question of currency is once again emerging. Netflix, for example, has positioned itself as a premium environment capable of delivering attentive audiences. Yet the industry continues to evaluate this inventory largely through traditional metrics such as CPM. What would happen if the currency changed?
If attention became the primary unit of value rather than impressions, the economics of media planning could shift significantly. Premium environments capable of sustaining attention might gain relative value, while environments characterized by fragmented or fleeting attention might see their impact reassessed.
Such a shift would not only transform media pricing. It would also reshape the strategic logic of media planning itself.