Xbox LIVE TV and NUads for Kinect could save TV advertising
Microsoft’s NUads system for Kinect – combining interactive content with adverts – failed to cause waves when the company announced it earlier this week, perhaps because (unless you’re Apple) it’s a tough sell to make advertising sexy. Intended to encourage Xbox 360 users to actually pay attention to promos rather than tuning out until the real content arrives, NUads reacts to spoken and physical commands tracked by the Kinect sensor bar, pulling up more information on products, setting scheduling reminders for upcoming shows, and tweeting out anything that has particularly caught your eye. With a little work, though, it could be the entertainment industry’s salvation.
Microsoft’s NUads system for Kinect – combining interactive content with adverts – failed to cause waves when the company announced it earlier this week, perhaps because (unless you’re Apple) it’s a tough sell to make advertising sexy. Intended to encourage Xbox 360 users to actually pay attention to promos rather than tuning out until the real content arrives, NUads reacts to spoken and physical commands tracked by the Kinect sensor bar, pulling up more information on products, setting scheduling reminders for upcoming shows, and tweeting out anything that has particularly caught your eye. With a little work, though, it could be the entertainment industry’s salvation.
The name of the game with NUads is audience engagement. Right now, there are plenty of things to distract us while adverts are on live TV, and little reason not to skip past them on recorded content. Microsoft’s ploy is to make ads social and “irresistibly interactive” by building in simple to use commands and gestures, while advertisers themselves get vital feedback on who is actually paying attention rather than playing Angry Birds on their phone while the promo is showing.
Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE TV service, announced at E3 2011 earlier this month, met with scratched heads as people wondered exactly why the console should be their smart TV STB of choice. With the addition of NUads, however, the reasons that users and content providers might want to get Xbox involved in the viewing experience becomes far clearer. Set to launch in the fall – though with no US partner(s) yet announced – Xbox LIVE TV will compete with the STBs provided by satellite/cable TV providers (many of which are rented to viewers for a monthly fee) and use voice commands to search for shows through Bing on Xbox. Meanwhile the same Xbox LIVE TV functionality will also be available on Windows 8 PCs.
Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE TV service, announced at E3 2011 earlier this month, met with scratched heads as people wondered exactly why the console should be their smart TV STB of choice. With the addition of NUads, however, the reasons that users and content providers might want to get Xbox involved in the viewing experience becomes far clearer. Set to launch in the fall – though with no US partner(s) yet announced – Xbox LIVE TV will compete with the STBs provided by satellite/cable TV providers (many of which are rented to viewers for a monthly fee) and use voice commands to search for shows through Bing on Xbox. Meanwhile the same Xbox LIVE TV functionality will also be available on Windows 8 PCs.