Eyeball-Tracking Signs Bring Click-Counting Out Of Doors

Eyebox2 is essentially a cheaper and longer-range version of eye-tracking boxes used by agencies that track ads, which cost about $25,000 and require the user to be sitting no more than 60 cm away. (Eyebox1, Vertegaal's prototype, could only pick-up eyeballs at close range.) Vertegaal expects the $1,500 cost of the eyebox2 to fall in the next few years. If prices dropped below $100, advertisers could install them in homes to monitor television viewing habits and collect data for ratings. The box would be able to tell if you are watching the screen and pause if you leave the room. A tad invasive? "People have to get used to technologies," says Vertegaal. "I think we'll look at this very differently in 10 years' time."

Smart monitoring devices like eyebox2 could further sharpen advertisers' interest in outdoor ads. In time, they could enable non-Web advertisers to charge not by an ad's size or location, but by the number of eyeballs it delivers. Smaller companies wouldn't necessarily have to pay huge rents for certain popular spots, but could instead pay for a certain amount of "screen" time. The feedback is rapid, unlike questionnaires—but very much like the Web.

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