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Home » Products » Sticky by Tobii

Sticky by Tobii — Online eye tracking — attention research through the participant’s webcam

A browser-based platform for testing ads, packaging, websites and videos with real audiences. Participants take part from home, on their own computer or phone, while their webcam records where they look. You get attention maps and metrics for every element of your design.

Request a quote How it works

no hardwarethe participant’s own webcam

desktop and mobilestudies on computers and phones

37 languagesof participant instructions

ISO/IEC 27001information security certification

Online study participant at their own laptop — on screen, a virtual shelf with tea packages in the Sticky platform

Attention map
builds up over successive sessions · illustration

Online eye tracking

Attention research without a lab

Eye tracking measures where a person is looking. It usually requires a dedicated device and a visit to a lab. In Sticky, that role is played by an ordinary webcam in the participant’s laptop or phone: a Tobii algorithm reads the position of the eyes from the image of the face and estimates which point on the screen the person is looking at.

A woman at a laptop; facial landmarks marked on her face, read by the software from the webcam image

1Webcamimage of the participant’s face

2Eye position→ gaze point on the screen

3Facial expressionsemotion analysis — only with consent

The participant’s journey

This is what a study looks like from the participant’s side — from the invitation to the last question.

Receives a linkFrom a research panel or from you. Opens it in a browser — no software to install.
Gives consent and sits in front of the cameraA short setup with instructions in their language. Recording starts only after consent.
Views the materialAn ad, a website, a product shelf or a video — while the webcam records where they look. They can also click.
Answers questionsA survey within the same study: besides what people noticed, you also learn what they think about it.

Participants at homeOn their own computer or phone, in everyday conditions — the way they normally view ads and websites.

A group result, not one personA webcam is less accurate than an eye tracker, so Sticky combines many sessions into one picture of the whole group’s attention.

Results in the browserAttention maps, area metrics and survey answers in one dashboard — no software to install.

Sticky platform · three stages

From idea to results in one platform

You design, launch and analyze the study in the browser. Sticky handles every stage — including participant recruitment.

Sticky: a video ad embedded in a realistic web page layout, with tools for editing the element

Sticky: study sharing window — buying participants from the panel, a marketplace panel and survey integration

Sticky Analytics on a laptop: heat map of a shelf with packages and a table of area metrics

A study designed in minutes

A ready-made template or your own study layout — with your materials.

ads, product images, banners and videos — on their own or in a realistic web page context
virtual shelf: the platform arranges the packages and randomizes their positions so that order does not affect the result
survey and screening questions; integration with Alchemer, Qualtrics and other survey platforms
studies for computers or for phones

Participants from the panel or from your own list

You share the study with a single link — it runs in the participant’s browser.

a global research panel available from within the platform
your own participants — customers, students, employees — via a link
participant instructions in 37 languages
an API for embedding Sticky in your own system, or a study run entirely by Tobii experts

Results straight in the Analytics dashboard

Data from all sessions goes into one dashboard in the browser.

attention maps, area of interest (AOI) metrics, clicks, answers and emotions
a results snapshot for a client or your team — a link with no Sticky account required
export of visualizations and data in multiple formats
import of the study into Tobii Pro Lab for further analysis

Software · Sticky Analytics

What you will see in the results

The results dashboard shows the whole group’s attention on your material and calculates metrics for selected areas — e.g. a logo, a price or a button. The screenshots below are sample results from the platform.

Sticky Analytics: heat map on a photo of cosmetics with numbers showing the viewing order of areas and a menu of visualization types

Sticky Analytics: table of area metrics for a video ad — share of people who saw the area, viewing time and revisits

Sticky Analytics: click map on a virtual shelf with tea packages

Sticky Analytics: summary of survey answers with percentages and number of respondents

Sticky Analytics: chart of emotional reactions over the course of a video, with a frame showing a heat map

Sticky Analytics: results download window — visualizations, area statistics, survey results and emotions

Where the group looked

The same result in several views — you choose the one that best answers your research question.

heat map — red where attention was highest
opacity map — only what was looked at stays visible; the rest goes dark
“seen” map — how many people looked at a given spot at all
gaze paths of individual people and the order in which the group noticed the areas

Area of interest (AOI) metrics

An area of interest is a selected part of the material, e.g. a logo or a price. For each one, Sticky calculates:

Seen (%): what share of participants looked at the area
Time to notice (s): how many seconds on average it took to spot it
Viewing time (s): how long on average it was looked at
Seen first (%): for how many people it was the first area noticed
Revisits (%): how many viewers looked away and came back
In videos: also the time from the area’s appearance until it was noticed and how long it was present; areas can follow a moving object

What caught attention and what prompted action

The click map shows which element participants chose — e.g. a product on the shelf or a button on a website. Comparing clicks with gaze shows whether an element was noticed but ignored — and where best to place a call to action.

Behavior and opinion in one study

Answers to questions appear alongside the attention data: you know not only what people saw, but also what they remembered and what they would choose in a store. You build the questions in Sticky or connect the study to an external survey platform.

Emotional reactions to video

With the participant’s consent, the webcam also records facial expressions. The analysis shows which of six reactions occurred, at which moment of the video and how strongly — next to the attention map for the same frame.

Results for reports and further analysis

You download selected visualizations, aggregate and individual area statistics, and survey and emotion results. You can also share the result with a client as a snapshot via a link — no Sticky account required — or import the study into Tobii Pro Lab.

How to read “time to notice”

A rule of thumb from Tobii’s documentation: an element meant to catch the eye — a logo, a price, a call to action — should be noticed within 3 seconds.

under 3 s3–7 sover 7 s

Why Sticky with Interlab

Online research from an eye tracker manufacturer

Online attention research is also offered by subscription-based multimodal platforms. What sets Sticky apart is that recruitment, measurement and analysis come from an eye tracker manufacturer — and when an online study is not enough, you take the same Tobii ecosystem into the lab.

Sticky by Tobii with Interlab compared with a competing subscription platform
Feature	Sticky by Tobii with Interlab	Competing subscription platform
Participant recruitment	a global research panel within the platform; plus your own participants via a link	no panel of its own — participants are supplied by external providers
Who is behind the gaze measurement	Tobii — a manufacturer of research eye trackers, with more than 20 years of technology development	a hardware-agnostic platform integrating devices from other manufacturers
Path to the lab	study import into Tobii Pro Lab; Tobii eye trackers and BIOPAC physiology from a single supplier — Interlab	lab hardware from the platform’s partners

Data according to the manufacturers’ websites, as of 2026-10.

What you get from Interlab

Sticky with methodology, not just access

An online study is easy to launch, but also easy to design badly: areas too small, a sample too small. We help before you start and stay with your team after the purchase.

Book a Sticky presentation Request a quote

Methodological adviceArea size, number of sessions, survey questions and a pilot — before you pay for a sample.
Authorized Tobii partnerAn official sales channel for Sticky and Tobii Pro Lab licenses.
Presentation and trialWe will demonstrate the platform on your material and help you set up a trial.
TrainingStudy design, Analytics and — if needed — analysis in Tobii Pro Lab.
A lab when online is not enoughTobii eye trackers and BIOPAC systems for studies that require precision and physiology.
Grant supportTechnical descriptions and justifications for grant applications and tender specifications.
Local support in PolandTechnical and methodological support after the purchase — no intermediaries.
References in PolandInstallations at Polish universities and companies — contacts on request.

Webcam accuracy

One webcam sees little. Forty see enough

A webcam has neither the infrared illumination nor the fast sensor of an eye tracker, so a single gaze measurement is approximate. A reliable result only comes from the sum of many sessions — and sufficiently large areas. See how a picture of attention emerges from successive participants.

A virtual shelf with tea packages prepared in Sticky — background of the simulation

0sessions

40 sessions: the minimum recommended by Tobii. Areas of attention are already clear and stable.

An illustrative simulation in the browser — not data from a study. The spread of points matches the error reported by Tobii (6% of the screen on average).

6% of the screenaverage gaze position error in home conditions (4% horizontally, 7% vertically)

≥ 40 sessionsrecommended minimum; with 40 sessions the average error is 6% ± 0.9% (95%)

≥ 20% of widthrecommended smallest area of interest (AOI)

~15 Hzthe average number of measurements per second from a webcam; Sticky delivers raw gaze data with a median filter

Source: Tobii, white paper “Tobii Sticky webcam eye tracking accuracy” (2026). Study on participants’ computers in six countries; 63% of sessions met the quality criteria — plan recruitment with a margin.

When to choose an eye tracker in the lab

Sticky answers the question of what a group of viewers notices. When you study reading, small interface elements, fixations and saccades, or the pupil response, you need a screen-based eye tracker.

Tobii Pro Spark Tobii Pro Fusion Tobii Pro Spectrum

Applications

What you can test in Sticky

Pre-launch research: an ad, a package, a website or a video tested on an audience before it reaches people.

A virtual store shelf in Sticky with a click map on selected packages

Packaging and the store shelf

Does your package stand out among competitors? A virtual shelf with randomized product positions, an attention map and an “I choose this product” click.

A video ad placed in a web page layout in Sticky

Ads in context

A banner, a product image or a commercial — on its own or against a realistic web page, where it competes with content for attention.

Tracking a moving object in a video in Sticky — the area follows a person in the frame

Video and video ads

Attention over the course of a video; areas follow moving objects automatically. Key moments are visible on the timeline.

Choosing the study type in Sticky: computer, phone in landscape or portrait — next to it, a smartphone showing web page content

Websites and UX

Missed calls to action, navigation problems, places where users get lost — on computers and phones.

A woman browsing content on a smartphone

Mobile ads

Research where audiences actually watch ads — on their own phone, in portrait or landscape.

The Tobii family

Sticky, Tobii Pro Lab and Tobii Webcam Eye Tracking

All three use a webcam, but they serve different kinds of research. Sticky is a standalone online platform. You can transfer data from Sticky to Tobii Pro Lab. Tobii Webcam Eye Tracking is a webcam used as an eye tracker in a study run in Pro Lab.

Online platform

Sticky by Tobii

The whole study in the browser: design, recruitment, data collection and results.

ads, packaging, shelves, websites, videos
clicks, surveys and emotion analysis
participant panel, results snapshots for clients

For whom: marketing, consumer and UX research on large samples.

Scientific analysis

Tobii Pro Lab — Distributed Online Edition

You design and record the study in Sticky, then import the data into Pro Lab for further analysis and visualization.

areas (AOIs) from Sticky carry over to Pro Lab
answers to questions become participant variables
clicks, keyboard input and emotions stay in Sticky

Note: Tobii is still developing this project type and recommends a pilot study.

Webcam as an eye tracker

Tobii Webcam Eye Tracking

A webcam acting as an eye tracker in Tobii Pro Lab — you design, record and analyze the study in Pro Lab, e.g. at a workstation in your lab.

officially supported since Pro Lab 26.18
camera min. 1280 × 720, 30 fps, above the center of the screen

More about Tobii Webcam Eye Tracking

According to tobii.com (Tobii Pro Lab: editions and requirements) and connect.tobii.com (“Get started with distributed online studies in Pro Lab”), as of 2026-10.

Participant data

A webcam in the participant’s home — data under control

Webcam-based research means recording faces. That is why it is worth knowing what happens to the data — especially when applying to an ethics committee.

GDPR as the basisThe General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679) is the main framework under which Sticky processes personal data.
Consent firstThe participant accepts the terms before any data reaches Tobii. Emotion analysis is their own choice.
Results without personal dataTobii is responsible for processing personal data and does not pass it on to the client — you receive the study results.
Recordings for up to 90 daysWebcam video and screen recordings are stored for at most 90 days for quality control, then deleted.
Where the data isSticky’s data centers run on AWS on the US East Coast — regardless of the participants’ country.
ISO/IEC 27001Information security management system certification.

Source: Tobii, white paper “Sticky by Tobii — Data protection and privacy” and the product page, as of 2026-10.

Specifications

Platform specifications

According to the manufacturer’s documentation. We give accuracy the way Tobii measures it — as a percentage of the screen, in participants’ home conditions.

Sticky by Tobii — results dashboard on a laptop screen

Sticky by Tobii platform specifications
Parameter	Value
Platform
Type	web-based platform for webcam eye tracking research; accessed through a browser
Participant devices	computers and phones with a camera
Participant browsers	Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox — current and previous version
Instruction languages	37
Design and recruitment
Materials	product images, banners, ads and videos, websites, packaging, product shelves
Tools	study templates, embedding in a realistic layout, virtual shelf with position randomization, object tracking in videos, surveys and screening questions
External surveys	integration with Alchemer and Qualtrics, among others
Participants	a global research panel or your own participants via a link
Ways of working	self-service in the platform, integration via API, a study run entirely by Tobii experts
Measurement
Data source	the participant’s webcam; additionally mouse clicks and — with consent — facial expressions
Frequency	approx. 15 Hz on average (front-facing cameras)
Accuracy	average error 6% of the screen (4% horizontally, 7% vertically)home conditions, participants’ computers; Tobii white paper, 2026
Gaze data	raw gaze points with a median filter, no fixation filter
Manufacturer recommendations	at least 40 sessions; area of interest at least 20% of the screen width
Results
Visualizations	heat map, opacity map, “seen” map, gaze paths, click map, viewing order
AOI metrics	seen (%), time to notice, viewing time, seen first (%), revisits (%); in videos also the time from appearance to being noticed
Other	click map, survey answers, analysis of six emotional reactions
Sharing and export	results snapshot via a link; export of visualizations and data in multiple formats; import into Tobii Pro Lab (Distributed Online Edition)
Data and license
Data protection	GDPR; ISO/IEC 27001; recordings up to 90 days; AWS data centers (US East Coast)
License	flexible plans — from single tests to enterprise research; individual pricing

Source: tobii.com (Tobii Sticky product page) and connect.tobii.com (white papers, Analytics), as of 2026-10.

Frequently asked questions

Does the participant have to install anything?

No. The study runs in the browser — the current or previous version of Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox — on a computer or phone with a camera. The participant opens the link, gives consent and follows the instructions.

How many participants do I need?

Tobii recommends at least 40 sessions. In the manufacturer’s validation study, conducted in participants’ homes, 63% of sessions met the quality criteria — so it is worth planning recruitment with a margin. We will help you estimate the sample for your project.

Can I study participants from Poland?

Yes — you can invite your own participants via a link, and the platform also has a global research panel. We will confirm the availability and cost of a panel sample for a Polish target group in our quote.

How does Sticky differ from an eye tracker in the lab?

Sticky measures the attention of large groups in natural conditions: the average error is 6% of the screen, and the webcam delivers approx. 15 measurements per second. A screen-based eye tracker measures hundreds of times per second with an accuracy of fractions of a degree — it is needed for reading, small elements, and analysis of fixations, saccades and the pupil. The two approaches often complement each other.

How do I buy access and how much does it cost?

Tobii offers flexible plans — from single tests to large-scale research — as well as API integration and studies run entirely by Tobii experts. Pricing is individual; describe your study and we will prepare a quote.

Can I analyze Sticky results in Tobii Pro Lab?

Yes, in the Distributed Online Edition: you design and record the study in Sticky, then import the data into Pro Lab. Areas from Sticky and answers to questions carry over to Pro Lab; clicks, keyboard input and emotions stay in Sticky. Tobii recommends a pilot study before the main one.

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