This is an article from Newsweek; it was published on the 26th November 2007 and written by Jenna Crombie. This document entitled “Eyeball-Tracking Signs Bring; Click-Counting Out of Doors”. It deals with the “Eyebox2”, a new process to measure the hearing of the outdoor advertising.

On the Internet, the advertisers have the opportunity to know the number of Internet users of their websites thanks to the number of “clic” of users.
However, when about billboards in the streets; how can we monitor the impact of commercials on passers-by?

The growth of the outdoor advertising (billboards, commercials in the stations, etc) is significant. Now, is the second fastest growing advertising sector after Internet.
Thereafter, a computer science professor called Roel Vertegaal has invented the “eyebox2”. This device allows you to know, not how many people pass in front of the commercials but how many people in passing pay attention to these commercials.
It consists on an invisible flash that will capture all the eyes that look in a certain direction. Then software will report all the data in the form of graphs.
Moreover, the data provided by the “Eyebox2” allow seeing if an eventual consumer demand exists or not.

The article also mentions the cost of this “Eyebox2” ($1500), which is much less expensive than the “eye-tracking boxes” ($25000) which had the same functionality but it required a user near of the device.

Finally, we can say that thanks to this invention, the advertisers might be more attracted to outdoor advertising. In fact with the “Eyebox2”, it’s now easier to know the impact of advertisings on the consumers.
As radio, television and Internet, outdoor advertising can also have the number of hearing.

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