You may be forgiven for thinking editorial content was not an exact science. Think again. The science of 'eye tracking' is being employed by leading publishing house Condé Nast to collect and analyse data.

    Cameras built into computer monitors track data like 'first gaze' and a person's vision path across a page or screen, enabling publishers to help design covers, monitor the effectiveness of advertisements and help plan website redesigns.

    Condé Nast recently partnered eye tracking service provider MediaAnalyzer to analyse the effectiveness of its clients' ads, especially for its long-term advertisers.

    In a Brandweek.com report, Scott McDonald, Condé Nast’s Senior Vice President of Marketing Research, said the partnership enables the company to offer "a unique value add to advertisers in our publications". Using MediaAnalyzer's methodology, he says, "helps our advertisers maximize their ROI and determine whether readers are engaged with their ads."

    MediaAnalyzer’s Web-based 'AttentionTracking' technology tracks the path of eye movement while a print or online ad is being viewed. This, combined with a questionnaire, allows MediaAnalyzer to quantify the ads that leave the most lasting impressions.

    "In an increasingly competitive magazine market—with publishers fighting declining circulation numbers and a shift in ad dollars to other media—it is important that publishers continue to differentiate their products and offerings from the competition," Charles Boyar, MediaAnalyzer’s Vice President of US operations told Brandweek.com. "Research can help publishers create better-looking and more compelling magazines [and websites] and can aid them in helping their customers to create ad campaigns that will best address readers."

    Despite some of the stated benefits, magazine publishers so far have been slow to buy into eye tracking technology, even online.

 
http://www.fipp.com/Default.aspx?PageIndex=2002&ItemId=14374