Hamborg et al.'s (2012) summary demonstrated that banner
animation matters, especially when users are in surfer mode, which
is a more stimulus-driven browsing mode. In their recent study,
they conducted an experiment in search mode by using eyetracking
technology and found that the intensity of banner animation
affects visual attention: more participants looked at the
permanently animated banners than the non-animated banners,
and permanently animated banners attracted a greater number of
fixations than both once-animated and static ones. However, the
duration of fixations on banners did not show big differences
among the banners with various animation intensities. Moreover,
they also found that banners grab attention most during the first
few seconds when users are viewing the webpage and shortly
before users finish observing the webpage. In addition, they found
that animated banners generated better recall than non-animated
banners. The attractiveness of banners made no difference among
the three animation conditions.