Key Takeaways
Google serves billions of ad impressions daily across search and display networks. Brands spend $8,700 to $47,000 per month on display advertising alone. But here's the uncomfortable question nobody in the media-buying room asks: are users actually looking at those ads?
Impressions don't measure attention. Click-through rates don't measure visual engagement. The only way to know where human eyes actually land—and for how long—is eye tracking. Fairfax Media ran exactly that study with 100 regular website visitors, and the results reshape how smart teams should think about ad placement, creative design, and format selection.
The Study: How It Was Conducted
Fairfax Media partnered with eye tracking researchers to study real user behavior on content-heavy news websites. The methodology was straightforward but rigorous:
1100 Regular Website Visitors
Not students in a lab. Real users who visit content sites regularly—people who've developed natural browsing patterns and ad-avoidance behaviors.
2Desktop and Mobile Split
50 participants viewed the desktop version of Sydney Morning Herald; 50 viewed the mobile version. Same content, different ad format experiences.
3Multiple Ad Formats Tested
Researchers placed a range of advertisement types across page positions—MRECs, leaderboards, gutters, adhesion banners, and branded content.
4Eye Movement + Recall + Discussion
Three layers of data: where eyes actually moved (gaze tracking), which ads participants remembered (ad recall), and qualitative feedback about their experience.
The Six Critical Findings
The study produced six findings that directly impact how marketing teams should allocate ad budgets and design creatives.
Simple Layouts Win the Attention War
Ads with the highest watch time and recall rates shared three traits: simple layout, clear message, and strong brand identity. No cluttered creatives. No ambiguous CTAs. No logos buried in the corner.
Relevant Content + Strong Visuals = Maximum Attention
Relevance isn't just about targeting the right audience—it's about visual relevance too. Ads with compelling imagery and contextually appropriate content received significantly more gaze time than generic display banners.
Designing ad creatives that actually capture attention requires understanding both eye tracking patterns and conversion psychology. Our web development team builds landing pages optimized for the exact attention patterns these studies reveal.
Placement Beats Size—On Both Desktop and Mobile
This finding alone should restructure media-buying strategies. Ad position on the page matters more than ad size. Top-of-page ads received significantly more visual attention regardless of their pixel dimensions.
Strategic Implication: Stop chasing bigger ad formats at higher CPMs. A well-designed 300x250 MREC at position one will outperform a 970x250 billboard buried mid-page. Negotiate for placement, not dimensions.
Mobile Adhesion Banners Are 3x More Effective
On mobile, larger ad formats and persistent adhesion banners (the sticky bars that remain visible as users scroll) were three times more likely to capture attention than standard inline mobile ads.
Branded Content Delivers 20x Greater Cut-Through
The biggest gap in the entire study. Brand discovery articles (native/sponsored content) delivered 20x greater cut-through than standard display ads. Visitors spent up to 1.5 minutes on high-performing branded content—an average of 50 seconds across all branded articles tested.
Desktop: Gutters + Top MREC = 65% Visual Penetration
The winning desktop combination. Gutter ads (the vertical strips flanking the main content area) combined with a top-position MREC achieved 65% visual penetration—meaning nearly two-thirds of users' eyes landed on the ad at least once.
What This Means for Your Ad Strategy
Eye tracking data translates directly into budget decisions. Here's how to apply these findings:
Prioritize position over size—negotiate for above-the-fold placements. A premium CPM for position one is worth more than a discount on position five.
Simplify creatives ruthlessly—one message, one focal point, brand visible in under a second. Every additional element reduces recall.
Shift budget toward branded content—at 20x the cut-through, native articles are the most undervalued format in programmatic buying.
Use adhesion banners on mobile—sticky formats overcome scroll-past behavior and deliver 3x the attention of inline placements.
Book gutter + MREC combos on desktop—65% visual penetration makes this the highest-performing desktop ad pairing available.
Measure attention, not just impressions—viewability scores and attention metrics are better proxies for ad effectiveness than raw impression counts.
Desktop vs. Mobile: Ad Format Performance
The study reveals dramatically different attention patterns between desktop and mobile users:
Visual Penetration by Format
The Banner Blindness Problem (And How to Beat It)
Banner blindness is real—but it's not universal. The eye tracking data shows that certain formats and positions consistently break through users' learned avoidance patterns. The key isn't forcing attention (pop-ups, interstitials); it's earning it through placement and creative quality.
Formats Users Ignore:
Formats That Break Through:
Running digital ad campaigns that need to break through banner blindness? Our dedicated marketing teams apply eye tracking research principles to landing page design, ad creative optimization, and conversion funnel architecture.
Applying Eye Tracking Insights to Your Campaigns
Here's a practical framework for applying these findings to your next ad buy:
Audit Your Current Placements
Map every active ad placement to the eye tracking penetration data above. If more than 40% of your budget is in below-fold positions, you're paying for impressions that never get seen.
Redesign Creatives for Sub-Second Impact
Users decide in under a second whether to process an ad or skip it. Redesign every creative to pass the "glance test"—brand identity visible, message clear, and visual hierarchy directing the eye to one focal point.
Test Branded Content at 10-15% of Budget
With 20x cut-through and 50 seconds of average attention, branded articles are the highest-ROI format in the study. Start with 10-15% of display budget shifted to native content, then scale based on engagement data.
Split Mobile and Desktop Strategies
The data shows different winning formats for each device. Desktop: negotiate for gutter + top MREC packages. Mobile: prioritize adhesion banners and larger format ads. Running the same ad strategy across both devices wastes budget.
Budget Impact: Teams that reallocate ad spend based on eye tracking data typically see a 23-41% improvement in cost-per-engagement metrics. The money doesn't increase—the waste decreases. If you need help with marketing technology integration, we can set up attention-based measurement alongside your existing analytics.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an eye tracking study in advertising?
An eye tracking study uses specialized hardware (infrared cameras and sensors) to monitor exactly where a person's eyes move and fixate on a screen. In advertising, this reveals which ad formats, positions, and creative elements actually capture visual attention—as opposed to merely being served as impressions. It measures gaze duration, fixation points, and scan paths.
Which ad placement gets the most attention?
On desktop, the combination of gutter ads plus a top-position MREC achieved 65% visual penetration—the highest of any format tested. On mobile, persistent adhesion banners (sticky ads that remain visible during scrolling) were 3x more likely to capture attention than standard inline ads. In both cases, top-of-page placement outperformed larger ads in lower positions.
Is banner blindness real?
Yes, but it's not absolute. Eye tracking data confirms that users develop learned avoidance patterns for certain ad positions and formats—particularly standard inline banners below the fold. However, top-of-page placements, adhesion banners, gutter ads, and branded content consistently break through banner blindness. The key is earning attention through position and creative quality rather than forcing it through interruption.
How does branded content perform vs. display ads?
Branded content (native/sponsored articles) delivers 20x greater cut-through than standard display ads. Users spend an average of 50 seconds engaging with branded content compared to under 2 seconds for standard banners. The highest-performing branded articles held reader attention for over 90 seconds. Recall rates were also 4x higher for branded content than display formats.
Does ad size matter more than ad position?
No. The Fairfax Media eye tracking study found that ad position matters more than ad size on both desktop and mobile. A smaller ad in a top-of-page position consistently outperformed larger ads placed mid-page or below the fold. This means marketers should negotiate for premium placement rather than paying more for larger format dimensions in less visible positions.
What makes an ad creative more visually effective?
The study identified three traits of the most-watched and most-recalled ads: simple layout, clear message, and strong brand identity. Ads with a single focal point, brand logo visible within the first fraction of a second, and a message readable in under five words scored highest. Human faces increased gaze duration significantly, while cluttered multi-element designs and stock photography reduced attention.
The Bottom Line
Eye tracking data proves what media buyers have suspected: most ad impressions are wasted. The fix isn't spending more—it's spending smarter. Position beats size. Simplicity beats complexity. Branded content beats banners by a factor of 20. Teams that apply these findings see immediate improvements in engagement metrics without increasing budgets.
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