Eye-Tracking Helps Optimize Digital Signs

Dynamic Content Tailored For Specific Audiences

Digital signage allows for the dynamic tailoring of content for particular audiences.  This type of focused advertising, often called ‘narrowcasting’, attempts to capture the eyes and attention of specific segments of the public.  Consider, for example, three segments or groups: ‘new parents’, the ‘teenager’, and the ‘young unmarried professional’.  Each of these groups has some unique product preferences.  One of the key differences between these groups, perhaps, is the time of day at which they are out of the house.  This can be used to the advantage of the advertiser.  During the day, a digital sign can provide content tailored for an audience of new parents, while in the evening the sign can provide customized content to appeal to teens or young unmarried professionals.  New parents might be open to learning about the latest laundry detergent, while teens might be interested in the latest movie release. 

Eye-tracking is useful for evaluation of market-focused advertising using digital signs. While narrow casting has been demonstrated as an effective means of focused advertising, it can be further optimized for each group by designing and evaluating visual aspects of the narrow casting content.  For example, a small study can be used to determine what visual aspects of the narrowcasting content each segment of the intended audience looks at.  Eye-tracking can help inform us of exactly what visual features of the sign draw the attention of new parents and what features appeal mostly to teens and to young unmarried professionals. 

Evaluation of Affiliate and Strategic Partner Advertising

Eye-tracking also provides a way to evaluate the effectiveness small affiliate advertisement placement on the main area of the sign.  Consider the following scenario.  Imagine viewing an advertisement where the largest, most salient image is of a Ford truck.  Near the bottom right corner of the advertising space is small Mazda logo.  While the advertisement is clearly about the Ford truck and the Ford brand, Mazda is also represented.  In my mind, this creates a scenario that is analogous to popular ‘pay-per-click’ campaigns that, for example, Starbuck’s Coffee might use to generate traffic on affiliate websites such as Bell Wireless Internet Services.  The main goal is to advertise the Ford truck and secondarily to pass on some of its esteem to Mazda.  This also has the effect of drawing together brand associations.  Here is where the evaluation of a digital sign using eye-tracking provides ample benefit.  Eye-tracking help demonstrate whether or not people spend time looking at the affiliate advertisement.  Moreover, eye-tracking will actually facilitate a measure of how much time (in seconds), or the percentage allocation of total viewing time, is allocated to the affiliate advertisement compared to the main advertising space. 

Eye-tracking can be used to answer the question: does the affiliate advertisement distract from the main advertisement? In the ideal case, we would like an observer to view the main advertisement, with an affiliate logo in the bottom right, exactly as long as they would in the case there is no affiliate advertisement.  Optimally, the observer should assign additional viewing time to the affiliate advertisement. Another question might be: does the observer look at the affiliate advertisement before or after the main advertisement?  It is reasonable to expect that if the affiliate advertisement is more visually salient than the main advertisement, some observers might actually look at the smaller, secondary, affiliate advertisement before looking first at the main content.  Of course, we have no way of answering these questions unless we track the eye-movement of the observer.