Eyetracking research captures and analyzes the eye’s gaze, its fixations and movements. It has been conducted for decades and applied to ATM design, cars and other engineering challenges.
The Poynter Institute has been pioneering EyeTrack research for journalists since 1990. EyeTrack07 is Poynter’s fourth eyetracking study and it is distinctive in several ways.
- The sample size of 582 readers was the largest so far.
- Participants viewed live, local newspapers and Web sites over five consecutive days, allowing readers to see timely, relevant content rather than prototypes, while minimizing the chance that a huge breaking news story would dominate.
- The same, precise eyetracking equipment was used for print and online testing, allowing us to compare readers viewing newspapers and Web sites.
‘Eyes on the News’: Poynter’s first EyeTrack study of newspapers (1990-1991)
Drs. Mario Garcia and Pegie Stark Adam conducted the first Poynter study using eyetracking equipment. They worked with the Gallup Organization to eyetrack 90 readers of broadsheet newspapers.
Three newspapers were chosen for the study, the St. Petersburg Times, Minneapolis Tribune and The Orange County Register. Using the same content at each location, full-size broadsheet newspaper prototypes were designed to mimic the look of the paper. The prototypes included evergreen news stories and photos from previous weeks and were printed on newsprint.
Findings:
- Photos attracted attention. Color photos were viewed as often as black and white. Color was a powerful tool that pulled the eye toward various parts of a page, especially when readers viewed two facing pages.
- Eyes followed a common pattern of navigation. The majority of readers entered all pages through the dominant photo or illustration, then traveled to the dominant headline, then to teasers and cutlines, and finally to text.
- Teasers accompanied by visuals received far more attention than text-only teasers.
- Two facing pages were viewed as one. When viewing two inside facing pages, readers entered the pages on the right hand side and traveled immediately left. Readers viewed a two-page spread as if it were one single unit.
- Readers love color. The majority of participants said they read more of the text on a colorful page, though, in fact, many had not. Color also gave readers the illusion that there was more information than appeared on the pages.
- Images (photos and graphics) were viewed more than text. Photos and artwork were looked at the most, followed by headlines and advertising, then briefs and cutlines. Text was read the least.
About 15 years later, EyeTrack07 revisited some of the questions explored in the first study, this time with live newspapers and Web sites viewed by a larger sample. Text fared much better.
The Stanford-Poynter Project: Poynter’s first online eyetracking study (1999-2000)
In 1999, The Poynter Institute partnered with Stanford University to look at online news viewing. Led by Poynter visiting faculty member Andrew DeVigal and Stanford University’s Dr. Marion Lewenstein, this study eyetracked 34 readers in Chicago, Ill., at the Chicago Sun-Times, and 33 readers at the St. Petersburg Times in St. Petersburg, Fla. Participants said they read online news at least three times a week. They were asked to bring digital bookmarks with their favorite news Web sites, which were then uploaded so they could browse those sites. Researchers wanted to observe how these frequent Internet news consumers read online.
By watching these participants, DeVigal and Lewenstein hoped to learn what kinds of stories readers viewed most often, how much they read, and how important headlines, graphics and photos were.
Findings:
- Online readers viewed text first –- headlines, briefs and cutlines. They then turned to photos and graphics, but sometimes not until they had left the first page and returned after clicking away to a full article.
- Photos attracted more attention than graphics. Sixty-four percent of photos were viewed for about one-and-a-quarter second, on average. Graphics (other than banner ads) were viewed 22 percent of the time, and received about a second’s attention.
- Reading was shallow but wide. Participants viewed about 75 percent of most articles they selected to read, a finding consistent with EyeTrack07’s reading depth observations.
Led by Steve Outing, then at The Poynter Institute, and Laura Ruel, now at the University of North Carolina, this study eyetracked 46 online readers in San Francisco. Each was observed for one hour as their eyes followed mock news Web sites and real multimedia content. The study observed overall patterns of behavior.
Findings:
- Readers’ eyes fixated first in the upper left of the page (generally around the site’s flag or logo), then hovered in that area before going left to right.
- Navigation elements at the top of a home page attracted a lot of attention.
- Dominant headlines drew the eye first upon entering the page -- especially when they were in the upper left. Larger headlines drew more attention than small.
- Underlined headlines and visual breaks -- like a line or rule -- discouraged people from looking at items beyond the break.
- Text, not photographs, was the entry point into home pages.
- Short paragraphs received twice as much attention as long.
- Lower parts of the screen -- especially areas one would have to scroll to see -- received modest viewing.
- The standard one-column story format performed better than multiple column formats.
- Summary descriptions (extended deck headlines, paragraph length) leading into articles were popular.
- Ads in the top and left portions of a home page received the most attention, and placement near popular editorial content helped attract eyes to ads. Big ads were viewed more than small.
Complete reports on these Poynter EyeTrack studies can be found at http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/history.htm.
Phila. Daily News
Rocky Mountain News
St. Petersburg Times
Star Tribune
A note fromDr. Mario Garcia
“We still have to be editors. I’ve read 80-inch stories that I could have read another 20 inches on. And I’ve read 10-inch stories that were too long. So it all depends on … how was it done? What’s the reporting? How’s the writing? Is it a topic that really engages and captivates?”
Michael Days, editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, an EyeTrack07 research partner.
“If you have a good story, they will read it, and they will go very deep into the story.”
John Temple, editor, president and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News, an EyeTrack07 research partner.
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