More than two dozen publishers have teamed up to explore trading with time-based selling.

Around two dozen publishers, including giants such as The Telegraph, have teamed up to explore time-based selling.

Much like the name suggests, time-based selling involves selling ads based on time, rather than click-through rate.

Time-based selling is designed to combat the problems surrounding viewable ads; around half of online advertisements are never viewed.

Moat, an analytics company, as suggested that 56% of ads on desktop are classified as in view.

On mobile, this figure drops to 45%.

Time-based advertising allows publishers to charge only if the ad catches the readers attention; it dismisses the need for bigger, more interruptive online advertisements.

Aniq Rahman, president of Moat, said: “We’re seeing over 25 publishers explore selling on time and attention.That may be over cost per second or cost per hour, rather than clicks. Attention is the scarce resource marketers are trying to value; we’re figuring how to measure it.”

Publishers are regularly in contact to discuss time-based advertising, especially The Financial Times, which has used some of the earliest time-based advertisements.

The Economist has also recently adopted time-based advertisements. Global head of digital products and revenue, Ashwin Shridar, said: “Our research shows that the advertisers who buy exclusively on viewability end up getting less time with our audience. We share the research and insights that we have with our advertisers and ask them to make an informed choice between buying on viewability or trading on attention. More often than not, they opt for the latter.”