KPIs

Mental Demand

In short

Mental Demand estimates how much visual processing your creative asks of the viewer, meaning how visually complex it looks. The best value is around 50 (typical complexity); toward 0 the creative is too simple, toward 100 too complex, and 25–75 is the recommended zone. It is driven entirely by visual complexity. Story, dialogue, copy and audio have no influence, so a narrative video made of simple shots can score low.

What it measures

Mental Demand estimates how much visual processing your creative asks of the viewer. In practice, it measures how visually complex the creative looks: the number and density of elements, the amount of detail, the clutter. It is positioned against a reference set of real creatives.

What feeds it

Mental Demand is estimated from the visuals only, image by image or frame by frame. It is estimated on your creative as shown, inside the platform's screen if you picked one.

It does not use:

• the storyline or the order of scenes,
• dialogue or audio,
• the meaning of the copy: text counts only as visual detail on screen.

How it's built

For each image or video frame, Foresight predicts a visual complexity value. It then positions that value against reference creatives of the same media type, on a 0–100 scale:

• 50: typical visual complexity
• lower: visually simpler than typical
• higher: visually busier than typical

Narrative complexity has no weight. The KPI is driven entirely by visual complexity. A story-driven video built from clean, simple shots, such as talking heads, plain backgrounds and slow cuts, will read low even if the story is demanding to follow.

Scale and direction

Mental DemandImageVideo

How visually complex the creative looks compared with the reference set; best in the middle.

Scale

0–100

Reading

Best in the 25–75 band

Mental Demand is best in the middle, around 50. Toward 0 the creative is too simple; toward 100 it is too complex. In the app:

• Below 25: too low. The creative may be too bare to hold interest.
• 25–75: optimal. This is the recommended zone.
• Above 75: too high. The creative may be too busy to process quickly.

Because the ideal is around 50, AI insights may still suggest moving toward 50 when a value is inside the optimal zone but near its edges.

Too lowOptimalToo high

Mental Demand zones in Foresight: below 25, 25–75, above 75.

Instead of a difference badge, the app shows a verdict (too low / optimal / too high) and a scale that places This analysis next to the Industry average.

How it relates to Attention and the E-Score

Mental Demand is shown as a diagnostic. Its number is not added into the E-Score directly. Attention has its own complexity ingredient: Attention also reflects whether the creative's visual complexity sits in a comfortable range.

Image vs video

The same visual complexity estimate is used for images and videos. For videos, it is estimated on frames across the whole video. The overall value summarises the visual complexity of the whole video, and a curve on the timeline shows how it changes moment by moment. Images are compared with images, and videos with videos.

Platforms

With a platform selected, Mental Demand is computed on your creative inside the platform's screen, so interface elements add visual complexity. With a platform selected, no benchmark value is shown.

How to read it

• Too low: the creative is visually simple compared with typical creatives. If attention is also weak, consider adding a stronger visual element.
• Too high: the creative is visually busy. Consider removing elements or giving one element clear priority. Check Clarity to see whether attention is scattered as well.
• For videos, check the timeline curve. A low overall value can hide a few very busy moments, and the reverse.

Common pitfalls

• It does not measure how hard the story is to follow. A complex narrative told with simple visuals scores low. That is expected, not an error.
• "Too low" is about visual simplicity, not about your message. It says nothing about whether the idea is too simple.
• Averaging smooths peaks. A video's overall value can sit in the optimal zone while some scenes are far outside it.