78.3 seconds

The bailout time for the average article read on an iPad, according to ‘eye-tracking’ research by the Poynter Institute, and covered in this article by Rachel McAthy of journalism.co.uk (the leanest news operation in town – recently found out they have only two editorial staff to keep what is by any standards a busy news site.)

And why is 78.3 seconds important? Well, it suggests that this is about when readers need something else to pique their interest to keep them reading, whether a pullout quote or hyperlink or something.

I think it is extremely valuable research. For the full hour and a half presentation with useful slide and demos of exactly how people consumer news on the iPad (invaluable for anyone who dreams of making a good app – British newspapers I’m talking you), see this link to the Poynter-funded research.