Studies have had mixed results on eye tracking and graphics. A recent study from the Stanford University and The Poynter Institute "observed a strong preference for text over graphics as entry points. " However, the study goes on to note that "in drawing conclusions from the research, it should be noted that eyetracking research has shown that some information absorption takes place beyond the area considered within an eye fixation-cluster. So it is possible that artwork is perceived even if there is no direct fixation on it" [95].

A study from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business backed up these findings and showed that people remembered found that "50 percent of banner ads are actually viewed by consumers searching the Internet. [82] "

Viewing and remembering banner ads seems to be a better measurement than click through rates [95]. The area of anchor research on what viewers see and remember--and what they activate--has been a question particularly for banner ads since the beginning of the web [95] . A Usability Company study found that "the eye tracking technology provides hard evidence that people do pay attention to interesting and well-placed online ads and that clickthrough figures are not necessarily an effective way to measure the success of ad campaigns. [97] "

Yet this question should be revisited in greater depth and expanded to include anchors of all types. Funding a non-bottom line study like this may be problematic, however.