The LA Times has reported that Microsoft is planning to introduce interactive ads, called “NUads”, to its Xbox 360 streaming services. Already signed on are Toyota, Unilever and Samsung Mobile to deliver NUads over Xbox channels like ESPN, TMZ, UFC and NBC News.
NUads represent the first iteration of these interactive ads for Microsoft that will prompt users to vote or respond to certain questions by either hitting a button on their Xbox controller or by responding with gesture or voice commands via the Xbox Kinnect.
Of course interactive ads have existed on the internet for some time now, but this is move is designed to bring that traditionally strictly-online element away from the computer and in to the living-room via a TV.
This move by Microsoft represents some interesting connotations and gives us a potential idea of how marketers could be reaching us in the future. Not only does this kind of advertising rely heavily on feedback from its viewers, but it also gathers demographical information and can accurately reflect the number of viewers that it is reaching, rather than relying on the less comprehensive statistics offered by current television standards.
This kind of information response could be invaluable to advertisers, as it would remove a huge amount of the costly guesswork associated with television marketing. It is also not implausible that as further iterations of interactive ads over web-based TV services are made available these ads could be pushed out only to members of the demographics to which they most appeal. As long as every ad on such a network ran for a uniform time it would be incredibly easy to have members of different demographics watching a different set of ads for the same program.
We already see a precursor to this kind of thing from Google and Facebook. Both these companies are capable of accumulating information built from your online actions that is specific to you and target you with advertisements accordingly. In their current forms these ads are simple in nature and are usually nothing more than a picture, a line of text and a link. But the concept of NUads demonstrates that we have entered a stage where information regarding audience response can be directly gathered by the advertiser, information that could easily be used to focus only on viewers with the highest likelihood of displaying interest.
Of course for the meantime revenue earned by Microsoft through steaming-based advertising cannot even approach that of regular TV. Despite the ever-increasing popularity of web-based entertainment mediums television is still by far the most popular method of media consumption for the larger part of the population and therefore the most viable advertising solution for reaching mass audiences, with the possible exception of radio.
Right now we’re curious as to how these ads will run in terms of the level to which audience participation will be compulsory. Information is currently sketchy as to whether the audience will be given time during the ad’s run-time within which they can respond, or whether the ad will stop and wait indefinitely for a viewer to take action. The earlier option would definitely be preferable, as ad breaks are usually a time during which the viewer can get things done without paying attention to the screen, such as grab another drink or visit the bathroom. Returning from making a fresh cup of coffee only to discover that your ad break hasn’t progressed further than the first advertisement because you weren’t there to hit a button sounds nothing short of maddeningly frustrating.
It’s likely that this NUad campaign will see its debut in the US and see more global adoption relative to its early success. We’re sure that in the future this kind of thing will be commonplace, but it’s difficult to make any predictions about NUads specifically, as the Xbox 260 streaming network is hardly on the scale of a major TV channel just yet.
Still, it’s an interesting glimpse in to our potential future that we hope ends up being used in a way that provides viewers with more relevant product information that doesn’t require compulsory audience participation.
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