Microsoft launches interactive Xbox ads

Microsoft is planning to launch interactive ads on its Xbox 360 streaming services that will rival television networks. The software giant has signed on Toyota, Unilever and Samsung Mobile to offer its new “NUads,” The Los Angeles Times reported. The advertisements will debut this fall and will be found on Microsoft’s Xbox video apps, including those offered by ESPN, TMZ, NBC News and UFC. The first iteration of NUads will let users vote in response to different questions. For instance, Toyota will ask users what other devices they would like to see “reinvented” the way the company has “reinvented” some of its auto models. Users will be able to respond through the Xbox controller or voice and hand gestures with the Kinect. Toyota will then have access to the data and demographic information. Microsoft’s general manager of entertainment and advertising for the Xbox Live online service, Ross Honey, said the company plans to charge a “premium” compared with typical commercial 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.”