Internet users do not see the majority of ads on a Web page, particularly if they're below the fold - whether the site is a highly trafficked website or a niche blog. Using eye tracking enables advertisers to understand the true value of their ad impressions, which in turn, allows branding campaigns to become more efficient and improve ROI.
Recent research conducted by World Wide Worx in collaboration with the Online Publishers Association (OPA) found that online advertising in South Africa grew at the fastest rate of all countries in the English-language world in 2008 and is likely to repeat this performance in 2009. In the US online is one of the few media predicted to enjoy meaningful growth, up 2.3% this year to a total of $23.7 billion and by 5.7% to $25bn next year. Currently, online advertising is charged based on the number of page impressions. The fact that a site has a million impressions a day does not necessarily mean that your advert will be seen by a million people.

Research was conducted by Marketingsherpa in February 2008 with the objective of finding out how and whether on-page placement affected overall calculations of return on investment and return on ad spend (ROI and ROAS). The study found that while an ad placed above the fold is visible to 100% of site visitors, only about 60% of them actually see it. At best, below-the-fold units are visible to roughly 70% of viewers, but only about a quarter of them actually see the ads. The ratios continue to trend downward as the ad units move from center placements to columns and spots on the far left side of the page.

This is not surprising as most users' initial view of a page is above the fold and anything below it requires the user to take the action i.e scroll. And unless there is some visual indicator like unfinished text to indicate that there is more below the fold or the content is compelling enough for them to want to scroll down for more, they are unlikely to scroll. Even if an ad is above the fold, the study showed that it can be missed altogether. This can be attributed to banner blindness where users recognise an ad for what it is and ignore it altogether, or the treatment or amount of negative spacing around an ad can affect the noise level of an ad, or the positioning of an ad even above the fold can affect its viewership. For instance, users have been trained that anything in the right column is usually marketing fluff so they ignore it altogether.

Eye tracking studies have confirmed that placement on the page is an important and often missed metric for advertisers. In other words the placement of an ad on a web page determines the propensity of it being viewed by users. Eye tracking shows what is seen and what is ignored by a website visitor, indicates that for advertisers, the context in which an ad is served is just as important as the ad itself.

Eye tracking heatmaps showed conclusively that just being above the fold makes a huge difference, but more importantly that ads placed in high-traffic areas of the page are much less likely to be ignored.

Using eye tracking enables advertisers to understand the true value of their ad impressions, which in turn, allows branding campaigns to become more efficient and improve ROI. Eye tracking can save money by targeting the most effective marketing concepts and designs before incurring the expense of going to market. A unique benefit of eye tracking is that it makes it possible to objectively measure actual ad exposure rather than click-though rates, which is currently a standard success measure of most online campaigns. An increase in ability to attract visitors' attention doesn't lend itself to be measured by mouse clicks because people might look at the brand but not click on it for other reasons.

For the full year, online ad revenue totaled $23.4 billion — up $2.2 billion, or a bit less than 11 percent, from 2007.

The report said revenue from search advertisements rose 20 percent in 2008 to almost $10.6 billion. Display ad revenue rose 8 percent to $7.6 billion.

Though still a small segment within the category, digital video ads — such as those you might see when watching a TV show on Hulu — were a bright spot, more than doubling in 2008 to $734 million from $324 million in 2007.

About 10 percent of all money spent on advertising in 2008 went toward ads on the Internet, according to U.K.-based advertising company ZenithOptimedia. While that is still a small portion of the total, it rose from 8.6 percent in 2007, while the money spent on newspaper and magazine ads declined over the same period.

After the report from the IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers was released, digital media research company eMarketer lowered its 2009 estimate for U.S. online advertising revenue to $24.5 billion from a prior expectation of $25.7 billion. That would still represent an increase of about 4.5 percent — stronger than what the industry posted in 2008.

For non-transactional online campaigns, eye tracking provides much more relevant measures than click-through rates. Media buy decisions can be optimised, and having learned which design elements perform best with customers, upcoming campaigns can be designed to have an even greater impact.

Prompt Research Insights will be hosting Prof Michel Wedel, a world leader in the field of eye-tracking and other modern market research techniques, at a breakfast briefing in Johannesburg during his visit to South Africa in May 22, 2009. Wedel's presentation will specifically help advertisers and agencies improve their campaign performance and assess the effectiveness of their marketing activities. Developing an effective and measurable communications is not easy. But it can be done. And in these touch economic times it is more important than ever to eliminate risk and extract everything you can from the marketing budget. To learn more about the event and booking details visit .