Is attention the new media currency?

At the end of last year SPARK Media and Caxton commissioned international attention technology company Lumen to utilise its eye tracking software in qualitative research to measure attention on its local newspapers and lifestyle magazines. The results will be out in early March. It’s everything that was expected and so much more!

“Just because you can see something doesn’t mean that you will see it,” explains Mike Follett, Managing Director at Lumen. “Lumen’s eye tracking technology helps us understand what people look at.” The methodology also measures what is remembered or able to be recalled as the crucial metric. What you can’t remember you can’t act on.

“With attention at a premium in our multi-device dominated world, it’s more important than ever to understand the reality of visual attention on memory and the ability to recall messages,” says SPARK Media’s Marketing Services and Research Director, Debbie McIntyre.

“We know that we’ve created an efficient media shopping mall for consumers with all the relevant ads and inserts in our newspapers every week and we know they’re well read,” she says. “But our recent research findings from Lumen have also confirmed that times are incredibly tough for our readers and getting tougher so it’s crucial that we understand exactly where their attention is when it comes to our platforms.”

Eye tracking according to Lumen allows the company to ‘see exactly what people do, not what they say they’re going to do’. By measuring automatic responses and questioning respondents afterwards, Lumen can utilise this information to gain incredible consumer insights.

Results will be shared at industry presentations in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Interested parties are invited to email bs@sparkmedia.co.za for more information.