Understanding how people truly engage with media has become increasingly complex. In a fragmented media landscape, the following questions arise: what really captures attention, and how does this translate into engagement and brand impact? To answer these questions, Sapience conducted an in-depth study measuring attention and engagement with real editorial content and advertising across Flemish print and digital media.
Methodology
For this study, we applied research methods designed to capture how audiences truly engage with media, going beyond what they report or claim. Eye-tracking glasses and wearable devices were used to measure attention and physiological arousal. Flemish participants were invited to consume media in realistic living-room environments in Leuven, Ghent, and Antwerp. They experienced real newspapers, magazines, and social media platforms through paper copies, laptops, and mobile phones. Brand-lift outcomes were measured via a follow-up survey, linking attention metrics to impact.
The study delivers:
✅ Clear benchmarks and comparable KPIs across media types, platforms, devices, and ad formats.
✅ Insights combining (objective) measures of attention and engagement with brand-lift outcomes.
✅ Actionable insights to help publishers and advertisers understand how audiences engage with editorial content and advertising.
✅ Valuable findings to shape and influence the Flemish advertising landscape.
Example of eye-tracking
The dots and lines capture the eye movements of participants reading through a newspaper. The advertisement is on the page on the right.