1. Left vs right – who wins?

2. Key Findings: left vs right
Lumen eye-tracking shows that readers’ viewing is biased towards right hand pages of a spread and adverts on the right are seen more: 94% see full page ads on right-hand page, 89% view when on left-hand page
However, RAMetrics data shows the impact of left or right position is marginal on ad performance – and far outweighed by the strength of creative
Ad recall is slightly higher for ads placed on right, but not when like by like sizes are compared
Brand and action measures slightly favour left-hand ads
It has been a long-held belief, partly derived from 1980’s reading and noting studies for magazines in the US, that right hand pages of newspapers are premium sites. JWT research challenged this belief as long ago as December 1996 – at least for tabloid newspapers – but still it persists.
A quick Google will find a considerable list of business books and media consultants who proclaim the superiority of the right-hand page. The theories are somewhat conflicting, with some arguing that, as we read from left to right, the right must be dominant, while others assert that the right is preferable because we read right hand pages first. Much of this theorising appears to be based on personal newspaper reading habits, however, rather than science.
Eye-tracking provides more objective evidence. As early as 1991, a Poynter US study ( indicated that people looked at a spread as a whole, but images drew attention – so if there is a particularly dominant image in either the editorial of the newspaper or in the ad, that could affect which element grabbed most attention.
Lumen in the UK have used eye-tracking to analyse almost 3,500 newspaper ads since Their analysis shows that the natural gaze path for readers is to start in the middle, then scan to the right and back across. This means that ads in the lower left position are seen somewhat less. Newspapers are shown on digital screens, however, so will not account for things that people do with their physical paper, such as folding so only one page is visible at a time, or reading from back to front.
The Lumen data for digitised newspapers shows a viewing bias towards the right-hand page of a spread of 58% vs 42% for the left page, partly due to the fact that there are more ads on left-hand pages – and readers are, after all, reading the newspaper primarily for its editorial content. Ads also achieve higher standout on the right- hand page, though the difference is relatively small:
Full page ads: 94% look when placed on the right page, 89% look at left page ads
There’s a 3-4 percentage point difference for standout of 17x7 (77% right, 73% left) and 25x4 ads (74% left, 77% right)
The biggest difference is for 10x7 ads – 60% standout on left, 68% on right
However, the dwell time for ads is not affected by whether they are placed on left or right pages, according to Lumen.
Analysis of the RAMetrics database shows that creative strength has a HUGE influence on ad recall and how people respond to advertising. Any impact of ad position is vastly outweighed by the effect of creative – and to a lesser extent, ad category. For example, the highest number of readers recalling a left-hand page ad is 82%, the lowest 54%. Both these are holiday/travel ads so any category impact is accounted for.
Indeed, the main finding from RAMetrics is that it really doesn’t seem to matter a jot whether an ad is on the right or left-hand page of a newspaper.
Ads on right-hand pages are slightly better recalled – but when ad size is taken into account there is no difference 64% of readers recall ads on the right compared with 61% for left-hand pages Full pages: 69% recall on left, 70% recall on right Half pages: 58% recall on left, 57% on right Quarter pages: 47% recall for both
There are marginal differences on all other measures There is no clear evidence that right hand pages are premium pages for advertising. If anything, ads on left-hand pages tend to outscore on most measures by a few points
So we know that more people might look at ads on right hand pages, and more might recall seeing them, but a great ad on a left-hand page will always out perform a lacklustre ad on the right.
Source: RAMetrics. Countries: England/Scotland. Left – 30 ads from 20/09/2016 to 03/04/2017, Right – 31 ads from 03/11/2016 to 03/04/2017. Score base: read the newspaper.

3. Left vs right - Ad recall
Ad recall: Do you recall seeing the ad? % saying yes
Source: RAMetrics. Countries: England/Scotland. Left – 30 ads from 20/09/2016 to 03/04/2017, Right – 31 ads from 03/11/2016 to 03/04/2017. Score base: read the newspaper.

4. Left vs right - Ad recall
Ad recall: Do you recall seeing the ad? % saying yes
Source: RAMetrics. Countries: England/Scotland. Most recent ads in each size, 47 full page, 49 half page, 48 quarter page. Score base: read the newspaper.

5. Left vs right ad comparison
brand measures
attention +
recognition
engagement
action
image
price
Attention: How closely did you read/look at the ad? % scoring above 7 on 10 pt scale
Branding: How difficult or easy was it to understand the source/sender of the ad? % scoring above 9 on 10 pt scale
Familiarity: How well did you previously know the advertiser? % scoring above 7 on 10 pt scale
Like ad: How did you like the ad? % scoring above 7 on 10 pt scale
Easy to understand: The ad is easy to understand. % scoring above 7 on 10 pt scale
New Information: The ad contains news or new information. % scoring above 7 on 10 pt scale
Positive: The ad makes me feel positive towards the advertiser. % scoring above 7 on 10 pt scale
Appeals to me: Ad appeals to you. % Yes
Benefit: Have you benefited or will you benefit from something in the ad? % Yes
Interesting: The ad is interesting. % scoring above 7 on 10 pt scale
Fresh approach: The ad has an original design. % scoring above 7 on 10 pt scale
Emotional Reaction: Did you react to the advertisement emotionally? % Yes
Look for more information: Have you looked for or will you look for more information as a result of seeing the ad? % Yes
Visit a website: Have you visited or will you visit the website as a result of the ad? % Yes
Visit advertiser: Have you visited or will you visit this advertiser as a result of seeing this ad? % Yes
Have bought/will buy: Have you bought or will you buy something as a result of seeing this ad? % Yes
Recommend: Have you recommended or will you recommend the company / product due to the advertising? % scoring above 7 on 10 pt scale (Added in April 2016)
Discuss: Have you been talking about / discussing the company, offer or product as a result of seeing the advertising? % Yes (Added in April 2016)
Source: RAMetrics. Countries: England/Scotland. Left – 30 ads from 20/09/2016 to 03/04/2017, Right – 31 ads from 03/11/2016 to 03/04/2017. Score base: read the newspaper.

6. Source: Lumen eye tracking. Base: 34,742 impressions
Eye tracking shows attention leans right
Right hand pages naturally get more attention
Share of dwell time on double page spread
, Metro, P14 & P15
Ads get higher standout on the right hand page
73%
1.4”
67%
1.4”
Lumen have a normative database of 3,492 print ads stemming from 2013
Attention is generally higher on right hand pages in newspapers
Partly this is because there are more ads on left hand pages
This means the standout of ads is better on the right, although engagement is similar
People are more likely to notice ads on the right
Source: Lumen eye tracking. Base: 34,742 impressions

7. Source: Lumen eye tracking. Base: 34,742 impressions
The natural gaze path means left hand ads seen last and less
The eye naturally tends to start in the middle of a page
It then scans to the right, and back across
This means ads in the lower left position are more likely to be missed
Source: Lumen eye tracking. Base: 34,742 impressions