What Is the Attention Economy?

By Jeremy Bowman – Updated Feb 14, 2025 at 2:08 PM EST

Key Points

The attention economy generates more than $100 billion annually by monetizing user time online.
Meta and Alphabet heavily profit from ad revenues, with Meta earning $160.6 billion in ad revenue in 2024.
Critics argue the attention economy exploits users, who become products for advertisers.

We might be fortunate to live in an era of abundant and free entertainment like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, but there's a massive economy behind all that user-generated content that monetizes it for those companies and others.

This is often referred to as the attention economy -- the platforms hosting all that content are monetizing your attention. Keep reading to learn more about the attention economy.

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A person using social media on a smartphone and laptop. — Image source: Getty Images.

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About the Author

Jeremy Bowman has been a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst, covering technology, consumer goods, and macroeconomic trends since 2011. Before The Motley Fool, Jeremy was a newspaper reporter, restaurant manager, and English teacher abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Colorado College and a master’s degree in business administration from American University. One of his Motley Fool headlines was briefly featured on Late Night with Stephen Colbert.

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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Jeremy Bowman has positions in Meta Platforms, Netflix, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, Netflix, and The Trade Desk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.