Pupil Tracking Disproving Above the Fold Dogma

“Above the fold” is a term used in the newspaper industry. This advertising term basically means that any content showing on the upper half of the folded newspaper gets the most attention, therefore affecting the daily sales of the publication. In today’s internet publishing platform, “Above the fold” has been used to describe what is seen within the screen when a web site appears in the web browser. Any content that forces a user to scroll down to be seen is considered below the fold.

From an advertising point of view, you definitely want your ad to be above the fold. Each user who lands on a website and does not scroll down is still registering an additional ad impression that is costing an advertiser money, even if the ad is below the fold. But recent pupil tracking studies conducted by Cxpartners seems to contradict this notion in advertising. They discovered users tend to look for the web browser scroll bar in order to gauge how much content sits below the fold. When it’s apparent there is more content available, users tend to scroll down for more information.

Based on the eye tracking data, researchers advised that “above the fold” web content need not be crammed with information. Instead it may be better to offer teaser introductions that require the user to scroll down for the complete article.

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