The Eyetrack survey studied 600 newspaper readers from six different newspapers using electronic eyetracking equipment on readers while they read broadsheets, tabloids, and online editions of newspapers. Here’s what else they found:

-Two-thirds of online readers, once they chose a particular story to read, read all of the content.

-As for the notion of an audience who doesn’t read past a story’s jump, tabloid readers read an average of 68% of a story’s jumped content, while broadsheet readers read 59%.

- Readers could be categorized as either methodical (top to bottom; no scanning around, used drop-down menus and navigation bars online) or scanning (scanned headlines and display elements, read part of story then jumped without ever going back, jumped around screen when reading online).

-Seventy-five percent of print readers were methodical readers, who read a higher percentage of text than scanners. Online readers were divided - half scanning, half methodical- but read about the same amount of text.

-Alternative story formats (Q&As, timelines, sidebars, lists) both attracted visual attention and helped readers remember story details better than traditional narratives did.

- Color photos draw much attention in broadsheets, as do live documentary news photos.

This information bodes well for both print editions and newspapers trying to move longer content to the Internet.

Source: Poynter Online through Ifra Executive News Service