Breaking NUz: Microsoft Unveils New Interactive Vid Ad Format -- NUads

Microsoft Corp. is launching a new line of interactive TV ads that will be shown on Internet-connected Xbox 360 consoles starting this fall.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Toyota, Unilever and Samsung Mobile have signed on as launch advertisers for the new ad format, called NUads.

Anyone watching TV or video content through apps like ESPN or NBC News on Xbox Live will see NUads, which encourage users to interact with them.

For example, a spot from Toyota will ask users to vote using their controller or by speaking or gesturing on which devices they would like to see “reinvented,” just like how the company has “reinvented” several of its car models. Toyota will be able to retain any data collected.

Ross Honey, general manager of entertainment and advertising for Xbox Live, tells the LA Times that NUads will command a premium compared with typical TV spot rates. "There have been interactive ads on the Web before, but the beauty of it is that we're bringing that to the TV," he said. "It's a substantially more valuable ad product."

During its E3 presentation last week, Microsoft made it clear that positioning the Xbox 360 as an entertainment hub for TV and video content in addition to being a video game console would be a primary focus for the company going forward.

According to Honey, Microsoft’s ad revenue on the Xbox 360 has grown 140 percent from the same period in 2010, although he declined to mention the total. "It's small for us but in the context of most companies it's substantial," he said. "We're well ahead of just a few million dollars a year."

Xbox Live, the Xbox 360’s online service, has 40 million subscribers. Microsoft has not revealed how many of these subscribers use the video apps on which the NUads will be seen, but the company does say that subscribers spend more than half their time with the console consuming features other than playing games.

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