Purpose: This paper analyzes how the distribution and structure of employees' attention influence idea survival in an organizational internal crowdsourcing session. Design/methodology/approach: Data from an online internal crowdsourcing session carried out within a multinational company with headquarters in Sweden were used to explore how idea attention influenced idea survival. Findings: Our findings indicate that the positive relationship between attention allocation and idea survival is mediated by idea appreciation, i.e. positive comments and suggestions that employees provide in response to ideas. In addition, we find that competition for attention negatively moderates the relationship between idea attention and positive comments. Finally, our results indicate that ideas are more likely to survive if they are submitted earlier in the crowdsourcing process and when the elapsed time since previously posted ideas in the session is longer. Practical implications: This study provides organizers of internal crowdsourcing sessions with new insights about factors influencing idea survival and about potential systematic biases in idea selection due to timing and competition between ideas. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature highlighting the relevance of attention-based theory in the context of crowd-based creativity and innovation management.