Research Visibility study

The study looks beyond simply counting those who pass an advertising site and therefore have an opportunity to see it.  We go on to determine who might actually look at a particular panel. 

Dr Paul Barber and Birkbeck College, part of the University of London, undertake a continuous research project to understand how people look at particular variations of out of home advertising format in different situations.  

Carefully controlled infra-red eye tracking experiments are conducted where subjects view numerous scenes and different poster types. Respondents are asked to play one of three roles - driver, passenger or pedestrian – without foreknowledge that the study concerns posters, to replicate actual behaviour out of the home. The study enables us to determine how peoples’ eyes move whilst they are travelling. 

The study produces a series of factors by which the gross audience for a particular panel might be adjusted depending on its specific characteristics. A matrix is derived that allows such adjustments to be made for any known set of parameters.

By applying this information about how people actually view posters in the real world, the audience for each panel may be adjusted to account for its degree of visibility. The amended audience figure is called the “Visibility Adjusted Contact”.