Published 14th October 2026
Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
https://in.linkedin.com/in/prashantnayakanti
The Intro
I saw an Amazon advertisement appear when I opened my Paytm
app, with a clear option to skip it.
It made me wonder: if my attention has value to an advertiser, could some of
that value come back to me as cashback?
Could you also see the Advertisement?
The Trigger
The trigger for this observation was a full-screen Amazon
Great Indian Festival advertisement appearing inside the Paytm app.
The user can either skip the advertisement or continue
watching it.
That made me think about a different possibility.
What if Paytm offered an enhanced cashback reward to users who
voluntarily watched the advertisement without skipping?
The idea is not simply to make users watch an advertisement.
It is to create a measurable value exchange:
Advertiser gets attention.
Paytm gets measurable engagement.
User gets cashback.
And behind the screen, the system could potentially generate
useful MIS:
Ad shown → Skipped → Watched → Clicked →
Converted
That could tell us something interesting—not only about
advertising effectiveness, but also about whether rewarded attention can create
better engagement.
The Prospective Audience
This observation could speak to a surprisingly wide audience.
The Paytm user — who may ask, “If I give my attention, can
I earn something for it?”
The regular Paytm user — who may already be seeing such
advertisements as part of the app experience.
The user who has not opened Paytm for some time — who may be
encouraged to return if the word spreads that watching selected advertisements
can earn enhanced cashback.
The wider digital audience — who may begin to see attention
itself as something that can have measurable value.
And then there are two important professional audiences:
Advertising agencies — who could get a new model for measuring
genuine attention rather than merely measuring an impression.
Brands — who could potentially pay for verified attention and
engagement, while giving a part of that value back to the customer.
Perhaps the more interesting question is not:
“Can an advertisement earn Paytm money?”
but:
“Can an advertisement also earn something for the person who
chooses to watch it?”
That, I think, is where CO64 begins.
Absolutely. We have the title, Intro, Trigger and Prospective
Audience locked. Now let us build the remaining CO64 in the same established
storytelling rhythm, while keeping the Paytm screenshot as the visual trigger
and making the cashback proposition the central thought.
Act I — When My Attention Becomes
the Product
I opened the Paytm app and encountered an Amazon advertisement
occupying the screen.
There was a simple choice:
Watch or Skip.
That small choice made me think about something larger.
In digital advertising, an impression has value.
A completed view can have value.
A click can have value.
And a completed purchase can have even greater value.
But where does the value of the user's attention sit in this
chain?
Today, the user generally receives the advertisement.
What if the user could also receive something in return for
voluntarily giving the advertisement their attention?
Perhaps that is where cashback for verified attention could
begin.
Act II — What If Attention Became a
Measurable Reward?
Imagine a simple Paytm proposition.
The advertisement appears.
The user sees a clear choice:
SKIP
or
WATCH & EARN
If the user voluntarily watches the advertisement without
skipping, an enhanced cashback could be credited—subject to clearly stated
terms.
The interesting part is that this need not remain an
unmeasurable promise.
The system could potentially record the journey:
Advertisement served
→ Skipped
→ Watched
completely
→ Clicked
→
Converted
That creates a different kind of advertising measurement.
Not just:
How many people saw my advertisement?
But:
How many people willingly gave me their attention?
And perhaps an even more interesting question for the
advertiser:
Did rewarded attention lead to better engagement?
The cashback would then not simply be a promotional expense.
It could become part of an attention-value exchange.
Act III — Can Three Participants
Win?
This is where my observation becomes interesting.
Imagine three participants in the same digital ecosystem.
The Brand
Gets an opportunity to reach an already engaged audience and
measure what happens after the advertisement is shown.
Paytm
Gets advertising revenue and a richer MIS on user
engagement—skip rates, completion rates, clicks and potentially conversions.
The User
Gets something tangible in return:
Cashback for voluntarily giving attention.
Could this create a better equation?
Brand gets attention.
Platform gets measurable engagement.
User gets value.
And perhaps the real innovation would be giving the user a
choice.
No forced viewing.
No hidden condition.
Simply:
If you choose to give your attention, should your attention
have a value?
That is the question I would like to explore.
Closing Thought
A digital advertisement usually asks for one thing:
our attention.
Perhaps the next generation of digital advertising could ask a
little differently:
“Would you like to watch—and earn?”
The interesting part would not be the cashback alone.
It would be whether a simple reward can transform an
advertisement from an interruption into a voluntary value exchange.
Maybe attention deserves a seat at the value table too.
April 11 — Proposed Digital
Transactions Day
Digital transactions keep evolving beyond simply moving money.
Here, the interesting transaction is different:
Attention → Engagement → Value
Perhaps April 11 can also be a moment to reflect on how
digital experiences create value for the people participating in them.
The larger Digital Transactions Day advocacy continues
separately at Move the Barrier.
CO777 observes.
Move the Barrier advocates.
April 11, 2016 is the UPI Beta Launch Day.
Disclaimer: This Citizen Observation is an
independent personal observation based on the advertisement encountered in the
Paytm app and the accompanying screenshot. The proposed cashback model is a
citizen suggestion, not a claim that Paytm, Amazon or any advertiser currently
offers or intends to offer such a mechanism. Any implementation would depend on
the platform, advertiser, applicable terms, privacy considerations and relevant
regulations. The measurement journey described above is a proposed conceptual
model, not a statement about Paytm's current internal MIS or advertising
systems.
The Joy of Digital Transactions
Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
Advocating Digital Transactions Day (April 11)
Author’s Blogs
https://prashantrandomthoughts.blogspot.com
https://prashantnepayments.blogspot.com
https://innovationinbanking.blogspot.com
