A neuro-analytics startup, which is hired by Hollywood movie studios to conduct exotic audience research, bagged $13.5 million in venture-capital funding from an impressive list of investors. The company, Spark, received early Series A investments from former Disney chief Michael Eisner, actor Will Smith, and Silicon Valley financier Peter Thiel.
“The New York-based company uses electroencephalogram (EEG) devices to measure brain activity along with other biometric inputs to gauge people’s emotional responses and attention to different stimuli — like ads and movie trailers,” says a Variety article by Todd Spangler. “Founded in January 2017, SPARK Neuro’s initial focus has been in the entertainment and advertising industries, and it counts Netflix, Hulu, NBC, Universal and Paramount among its customers.”
Translation of the above. The method does not ask consumers to answer questions but monitors their involuntary bodily responses to stimulus.
Says the third edition of book “Marketing to Moviegoers”: “These include measuring eye movement, pupil dilation, brainwaves, and facial reactions. For these, moviegoers wear special headgear that measures response as moviegoers view content in small and private film screenings. The other measures can be skin conductance and heart rhythms. For these, respondents wear special medical belts around their waists and possibly other gear, again in private screenings.”
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