A combined image, showing attention spots where a VR wearer might be looking in a virtual grocery store.
Virtual reality is just beginning to develop the kinds of analytical tools that help marketers determine what works.
This week, eye-tracking research firm Tobii added another tool — one that invisibly tracks users’ visual attention in virtual reality. It has integrated its infrared tech into HTC Vive VR headsets so they are invisible to a user, while its accompanying software development kit (SDK) exports eye-tracking data for analysis.
As CEO Tom Englund noted, this kind of research can determine not only where gamers are looking when they’re shooting aliens, but where shoppers are looking when they walk down a virtual grocery aisle. (See image at top.)
He said that, to his knowledge, this is the first “seamless” eye-tracking solution integrated with VR. Previous Tobii implementations, he said, were “clunky and obstructed your view.” The HTC/Tobii headsets can track anyone’s eyes, even users with glasses, and it refreshes data at 120 Hz.
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