Xbox Offers a New Niche for Advertisers

I recently spoke with Sally Herships, for an article on the radio program Marketplace heard yesterday on public radio stations, about a new advertising platform for the Xbox.

Like me, it turned out that Sally has never purchased a television. As I've blogged previously, the age of viewers who watch a traditional TV broadcast has now passed 50 years old.

Instead, networked customers are consuming content over the Internet and other digital platforms like iPods or gaming consoles, and avoiding ads in the process. What's an advertiser, used to reaching customers on television, supposed to do?

Enter Microsoft with its Xbox console. In the new live multi-player game "1 vs. 100," advertisements can be inserted that users can't skip. They can also reach extremely targeted audiences, thanks to information that the Xbox collects on them, including gender, location and age. Advertising on games like "1 vs. 100" may not replace the huge reach of television ads, but it could offer a new model for reaching niche audiences in our changing media landscape.

Listen to the Marketplace article.
Or read the text.