Sensum Debuts Emotional Engagement Tool

Northern Irish start-up Sensum has launched a consumer testing tool which uses galvanic skin response (GSR) sensors to help researchers gauge an audience's engagement levels while watching TV programmes or other forms of entertainment.

Sensum's cloud-based platform is used for measuring audiences' emotional and cognitive responses to any media: this is combined with demographic data to help clients understand how consumers feel about ads, TV pilots and films.

The new platform measures audience members' sweat levels using GSR sensors worn on the fingers, paired with smartphones or tablets which have Sensum's app installed. The resulting data is uploaded to a cloud-based dashboard, where a visualisation shows the points at which the audience's attention peaked or dropped off.

Over the past few months, the Sensum team has used the new platform to test HBO show Game of Thrones, in order to uncover viewers' reactions to footage or their emotional attachment to characters, and scenes.

Gawain Morrison (pictured), co-creator of the Sensum platform, explains: 'We are entering a new age of natural human computer interfacing and this kind of technology can give entertainment industries a better understanding of audience habits at a time when we are all seeking deeper levels of engagement. Sensors for capturing a range of physiology responses are becoming more widespread; we've opted for GSR due to its portability and anonymity for users.'

Web site: www.sensum.co .