A review of publisher data of a million anonymous readers across 10 websites confirmed “that the place where readers are spending their time is not where we traditionally assumed,” according to Alex Carusillo, a product manager at the web analytics software firm Chartbeat.

They measured “engaged time,” as defined by how long visitors demonstrate signs of interest as indicated by actions such as scrolling or moving a cursor. The findings? 66% of engaged time within a 24-hour period happened “below the fold.” And, perhaps even more noteworthy, they found that web visitors were only engaged a few seconds at the top of pages.

While this may be surprising to some, it stands to reason when you consider that increasingly web viewing is happening on smart phones, tablets and computers enabled with simple and efficient “swiping” technologies. It’s becoming second-nature for users to quickly zero-in on the content that’s most interesting to them, wherever it is on the page. 

Well at least one web dictum still stands: content is king.