Visual Attention to Advertising: A Segment-Level Analysis

We propose a methodology to study the effects of physical ad properties on consumers' visual attention to advertising that accounts for heterogeneity in these effects across consumers. In an illustrative experiment, we monitor consumers' eye movements during naturalistic exposure to a consumer magazine, in which experimentally designed ads are inserted. A latent class regression model accounting for heterogeneity across consumers through unobserved segments is used to analyze the eye movement data in detail. Three consumer segments are identified that exhibit distinct patterns of visual attention as well as different profiles of product involvement, brand attitude, and advertising recall. Implications for visual attention theory and for advertising research are discussed. Copyright 1997 by the University of Chicago.