Measurement & tracking method: eyetracking shows contributing factors to an ad's visibility

From: Greg Edwards <gedwards_at_eyetools.com>
Date: Wed 29 Sep 2004 08:49:44 -0500

Have people seen this eyetracking advertising study of things you can do
that make advertising viewed more or less on websites?

http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/advertising.htm

(ClickZ covered the report and its implications for validation for
interactive advertising at:
http://www.clickz.com/experts/media/agency_strat/article.php/3409071 )

It's interesting - 46 people had their eye-movements tracked as they used
news sites that had, among other things, different treatments of
advertisements. Some findings:

- placements of advertising have a strong effect on the percentages of
people who will see them (the study results show the eyetracking data of the
increase/decrease in "visual traffic" for different locations),

- Visual breaks in design (white space, etc) serve as barriers to seeing ads
and reduce viewing,

- Small pop-ups are quickly viewed, then closed or hidden typically within 3
seconds,

- Ads inset within news article text are seen more than most other ads.


---

For the sake of clarity, I'm part of the company, Eyetools
(www.eyetools.com), that provided the analysis tools for the study, so I'm
biased as heck, but the study has some really interesting findings. Also,
I've been reading this list for years, so it's nice to finally have
something I can contribute!

-Greg

Greg Edwards
Chief Technical Officer
Eyetools, Inc.
gedwards1_at_eyetools.com






Received on Wed Sep 29 2004 - 08:49:44 CDT