On screenDefinition
Dwell time
In digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising, dwell time is how long a person stays in a venue or in view of a screen, which sets how much time an ad has to be seen.
You may see dwell time in a media plan next to reach and frequency and take it for another audience count. It is not one. Reach and frequency describe people, and dwell time describes time. For the basics of the channel, start with what DOOH advertising is.
How is dwell time different from reach, frequency and impressions?
| Measure | What it counts | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | Different people who could see an ad | How many people is this for? |
| Frequency | How often the same person is exposed | How many times might one person see it? |
| Impressions | Times an ad is delivered or viewed; how a seller counts them varies | How much exposure was delivered? |
| Dwell time | How long people stay in the venue or in view of the screen | How long does an ad have to be seen? |
Keep them apart with one line each: reach is who, frequency is how often, impressions is how many, and dwell time is how long. They move independently. A busy entrance can reach many people with very short dwell, while a quiet waiting area can reach fewer people who each stay a while.
Dwell time also interacts with frequency. A longer visit can give an ad more chances to be seen again, but only if the schedule repeats it. That is a planning choice, not something dwell time decides on its own.
Why does dwell time matter more for video than for a static poster?
A static poster works in a glance. A reader can take in a headline and a logo while walking past, so a short look can be enough.
Video needs time to play out. A 30-second video, one of the creative formats CETV Now supports, takes 30 seconds to deliver its message, and a viewer who leaves partway through sees only part of it.
Full-screen video on CETV Now runs as an unskippable takeover of the venue's live TV, so a viewer in the room cannot skip it. What limits how much they see is how long they stay. If your creative is built around full-screen video, dwell time is one of the first things to check. If it is closer to static creative or animated overlays, shorter dwell is usually less of a problem. For more on the trade-offs, see video advertising on digital screens.
How do waiting rooms, checkout lines and gym floors compare?
Venue type shapes both how long people stay and how they look at a screen. The table describes general patterns for each kind of setting. These are not CETV Now measurements, and real dwell varies by venue, day and time of day.
| Setting | Typical dwell pattern | What it suggests for creative |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting room, such as a medical office or service lounge | Longer and fairly predictable; people are seated and waiting | Room for video with a clear story, or several short spots in a row |
| Checkout line | Short and variable; people are moving forward and focused on paying | One message or offer that reads in a glance |
| Gym floor | Long visit overall, but people move between machines, so time in front of any one screen is split | Large, simple visuals that read from a distance, with little small text |
The gym row shows why time in the venue is not the same as time in front of the screen. When a plan quotes a dwell number, ask which of the two it describes. The checkout row is a general example and does not say where any CETV Now screen is placed.
CETV Now runs in commercial venue categories where people tend to stay a while: auto dealerships, restaurants and bars, medical and dental offices, fitness and wellness facilities, retail, and professional services such as offices and salons. The CETV Now network overview covers how those categories fit together.
What average dwell time does CETV Now report?
CETV Now reports average dwell time of 15+ minutes across its network. Treat that as a network-wide average. Some visits will be shorter and some longer, and this page does not break the figure down by market, venue category or individual venue.
It is a reported figure, not a prediction for your campaign, and this page does not describe how it is calculated. Individual campaign results vary.
How do you use dwell time when planning a campaign?
Use dwell time to make three decisions: which format to run, which venue categories to start with, and how much to read into early results. A practical order of work:
- 01
Write down how long your message takes
A single offer reads fast. A service explanation or a demonstration takes longer. Count the seconds your message needs before you pick a format.
- 02
Match the format to the likely visit
Where people sit and wait, full-screen video has room to play. Where looks are brief, static designs or animated overlays are a safer fit. The ad formats page lists the options.
- 03
Choose venue categories by visit type
A dental practice, a restaurant and a gym each produce a different kind of visit. CETV Now targeting works by neighborhood, city, metro, zip code, sector or vertical, and individual venue, and it can be layered with audience type and time of day. Time of day is worth a look because a lunch visit and an evening visit can differ. See local DOOH targeting for how that works.
- 04
Start at a size you can read
Ad insertion has no minimums and no long-term commitment, so you set your own spend and schedule and scale at your own pace. Start small, then check the venue-level impression reporting and real-time statistics against what you expected. Results vary by campaign. See ad insertion for the details.
- 05
Ask for a quote with your plan
Pricing is quote-based and depends on market, venue category and schedule; there is no published rate card. To start, share your markets, venue categories, creative and budget, and CETV Now maps the plan to real-world audiences and sends a quote. How CETV Now works walks through the process.
Geography matters too. CETV Now is live in Phoenix, Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville and Salt Lake City, and Miami is coming soon. For any other city, availability is unconfirmed, so send an inquiry before you build a plan around it.
What does dwell time not tell you?
- It is not attention. Dwell time shows how long someone is present. A person in a waiting room may be looking at a phone, talking or stepping out. Dwell gives an ad a chance to be seen; it does not show that it was.
- It is an average. A network figure like 15+ minutes does not tell you the dwell at a specific venue, on a specific day or at a specific time of day.
- It is not a result. A long visit does not mean sales, calls or bookings, and no outcome is promised.
- Longer is not automatically better. A long visit by people who are not your customers is still the wrong audience. Fit and message come first.
The most useful way to use dwell time is as a filter for format and venue fit, next to the questions only you can answer: who you want to reach, what you want them to do next, and how you will tell whether it worked. A specific next step, such as a local offer or a phone number on screen, gives you something to count on your side. When you have a rough plan, contact CETV Now to plan a campaign.
Figures reflect CETV Now network data and are provided for informational purposes. Individual campaign results vary; no specific outcome is guaranteed.