This is Your Brain on Banner Ads

By Carla Rover • May 12, 2011 •

Neuromarketing, one of the digital industry’s most competitive realms, is nothing new for Google. The most common method of neuromarketing analysis is eye-tracking, a process which records eye-movements in response to online content.

Recently, Google used MRC International, an eye-tracking analytics company based in Stockholm, to examine the visual effectiveness of a YouTube display campaign in Sweden. The results, according to MRC, showed that 87 percent of users recalled the ad after 48 hours and reacted favorably to it. MRC did a similar study of an ad campaign by Pampers in Sweden, with similar results. Key components of the success of both campaigns were optimal name placement on the webpage and clarity of the overall marketing message.

Eye-tracking’s appeal as a tool for campaign optimization, according to MRC International CEO Mathias Plank, is that it offers “unique objectivity” to the insights it offers marketers on the response value of display ad spends and content appeal.

More in Media

AI Content Economy

As publishers await click data, Google’s AI visibility push complicates the opt-out decision

November 9, 2026

Google is moving on two fronts: working up the U.K’s Competition and Markets Authority-mandated search opt-out publishers have long sought, while enhancing AI Overviews in ways that could make opting out less appealing.

WTF Series

WTF is the AI training opt-out policy token?

November 9, 2026

Major AI companies are backing a new AI training opt-out standard proposal for publishers, but it exposes deeper tensions over AI scraping.

The Creator Economy

Creators see promise in Instagram’s long-form push, but question whether exposure is enough

November 6, 2026

Instagram wants to pull long-form creators away from YouTube, but is it offering enough? Experts weigh in on the platform’s pivot.