Categories: Tech & Society

Facebook’s Mobile Strategy is Flawed, Eye-Tracking Study Indicates

Fresh off of a lackluster second-quarter earnings release and new lows in its share price, Facebook was dealt more bad news on Friday when EyeTrackShop, a firm that measures audience attention, released a study suggesting that Facebook’s business model may be broken. The culprit? The same mobile ads that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg lauded when they spoke with analysts Thursday afternoon.

EyeTrackShop analyzes webcam imagery to track the eye movements of individual audience members while they attend to onscreen content. The firm’s study examined audience attention to ads displayed by Facebook on its website as well as on its apps for iPhone and iPad. While adds displayed in iPad apps generally did better than those on the Website, ads displayed on the iPhone performed poorly.

Among the study’s findings:

  • Fewer people saw ads on Facebook’s iPhone app.
  • Users spent less time viewing Facebook’s mobile ads on the iPhone than the iPad.
  • Users had significantly lower recall of ads they saw on the iPhone.
  • Of the three platforms tested, iPhone ads were the least efficient for brand advertisers, in terms of awareness and recall.

We’ve asked Facebook for comment on the study and will update as soon as we hear back from them.

During yesterday’s call, Facebook executives revealed that more than half of its users regularly access Facebook through mobile sites. That raised concerns among analysts and investors, as nearly 85% of Facebook revenue comes from advertising, which the company has been struggling to implement on mobile platforms. The executives stressed that while their mobile strategy is in its early stages, early tests suggest that the limited number of mobile ads that have rolled out have performed well and delivered a return on investment to advertisers.

The EyeTrackShop study calls this strategy into question, where smartphones are concerned, at least.

Prateek Panda

Prateek is the Founder of TheTechPanda. He's passionate about technology startups and entrepreneurship and enjoys speaking to new founders every day. Prateek has also been consistently regarded as one of the top marketing experts in the region.

Recent Posts

Why everything is a subscription now & what it means for your wallet

In the last decade, purchasing and accessing products and services have undergone a radical transformation.…

3 hours ago

Mumbai students win big at robotics championship in Chicago, headed to world finals

In an exceptional achievement, Mumbai-based high school robotics team Sigma 9692 has won the prestigious…

5 hours ago

Indian gaming shifts from audience to creator “given India’s mobile-first gaming capabilities”

The Indian gaming industry is sitting on an industry explosion in the near future as…

1 day ago

Transforming modern business operations: How Microsoft 365’s AI Integration is automating HR workflows & enhancing employee experiences

In today's fast-paced business world, when employee fulfillment and efficiency are crucial, technology has become…

1 day ago

Outbound & inbound: India attracts businesses from UK, China & US while expanding to Middle East

The Tech Panda takes a look at how India has been attracting foreign businesses from…

2 days ago

UPI value & volume surpass records in March

India’s digital payments ecosystem achieved a record high in March, with UPI transactions reaching INR24.77…

2 days ago