# Return on Attention - Optimized

A primary objective of TallyUP is to generate and [redistribute the most financial value possible](https://up-protocol.gitbook.io/untitled/core-values/social-impact) to the players who fuel it with their time and attention. The intentionality of this goal and room for innovation are distinguishing features.

Traditional entertainment and attention-based platforms (film, TV, streaming, many games) don't or can't meaningfully share economic value with end users who supply their time, attention and data. In some but not all cases this is because such platforms must continually fund or produce new, expensive content, and it may be unfeasible or unnecessary to reward users beyond content.

Since web 1.0, a handful business models such as [AllAdvantage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AllAdvantage) (1999) and more recently [Brave Browser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_\(web_browser\)) (2015) have tested the thesis of sharing ad revenue directly with end users. However the model of directly paying users to watch ads has largely failed to reach scale. 

One constraining factor is that the economic value that can be earned by watching ads does not amount to much on a per-person basis (around a [few pennies](#user-content-fn-1)[^1] per day). Such a low bounty is not especially compelling when offered as a direct incentive to *suppliers* of attention. A related issue is that the end users who are attracted by such low incentives are often not in the income demographic sought by *buyers* of attention - advertisers.

What distinguishes TallyUP from such models is the combination of redistributed ad revenue (pennies and dollars) plus social, competitive game mechanics, which cause the rewards to grow exponentially in size and excitement.

Compared to the proposition of paying users directly for seeing ads, this approach changes the  economic calculus for users. Instead of providing all users with a high certainty of earning trivial sums, it offers a smaller but real opportunity to compete for larger, potentially life-changing sums. 

Such game mechanics  position the model to attract a wider range of consumers sought by advertisers, and not simply lower-income *yield farmers*. The programmatic ad revenue generated on the back of this attention can sustainably fund player rewards. As additional players join, additional revenue opportunities can be pursued, enabling further, potentially step-change reinvestment into player incentives. 

The introduction of $UP tokens is designed to further unlock significant gains in player economics.

[^1]: Should we link to some data about Brave browser earning? I saw an article saying they're giving away like