HTC Introduces Eye-Tracking 'VR Ad Service' (pcgamer.com)

We all knew this day would come: HTC has introduced a "VR Ad Service" that knows when viewers are actively looking at ads. "Ads that appear in immersive VR environments can not only provide more effective impressions, they can also track whether the users have viewed them or have turned away their gaze. Accordingly, the multiplied effect of effective impressions and verified viewings will bring you higher advertising revenue!" HTC explains. PC Gamer reports: Advertisers will only pay for ads after they've been viewed, according to Business Insider. Some of the formats they will use include loading scenes, 2D and 3D in-app placements, app recommendation banners, and big screen video. This will be an opt-in ad service for developers. HTC notes that by opting in, "all of your free apps would be automatically put on the list which can be used to integrate VR Ads." News of in-game ads coming to VR isn't exactly the sort of thing that will excite gamers. If there's a silver lining here, it's that ads are more likely to be relevant to the viewer's interests over time, at least in theory. "Compared to ordinary ad impressions, ads that are seen by users in a immersive VR environment can not only meet the user's needs by means of precise re-targeting, but can also be detected if they are viewed effectively by users," HTC states. "Therefore, promotion of your applications would have much more effective impression, which not only arouses the attention of potential users and enhance brand image, but further attracts interested users directly to download your apps in the VR environment!"

Comments

Is this is still the obnoxious 1st april prank ?

[aepervius]

"If there's a silver lining here" no there isn't any. Advertiser knowing more about us is not a silver lining it is an invasion of our privacy. But then again I am actively trying to block all ads and actively trying to make my browser less track-able, so my opinion on that probably does not count. But boy, if this is not a 1st april news prank, this is not a good new and this came to be faaaaar quicker than I estimated. I thought they would have waited that VR has a stronger hold before making it toxic.

Anyone seen Black Mirror's Fifteen Million Merits?

[Anonymous Coward]

S01E02.

One of the things they had were these weird cubes people lived in where all the walls and ceiling were basically LCD panels. Occasionally they'd get blasted by advertisements, and when the protagonist closed his eyes or averted his gaze, all the screens would lock down with this red warning that said "RESUME VIEWING" while a high pitched alternating tone filled the room.

Here's one of the scenes in question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5eGo1vE41w

I was wondering how long it'd take before some company implemented something exactly like that. Looks like we're already there...

I HATE advertisements!

[Anonymous Coward]

I really think advertisements are a curse upon humanity. Surely HTC and app developers can survive without VR ads -- and, yet, HTC wants to tap in to the same revenue stream which made Google huge. I know companies with shareholders are driven to seek profit almost anywhere within legal limits, but I wish we lived in a world where consideration of the experiences of fellow humans had a higher priority than profit.

This isn't going to go over well.

[Gravis Zero]

While cheapy smartphone games may be so plentiful and cheap that they can be used for cannon fodder, VR games are still relatively few in number and costly. Nobody is going to pay for $60 game to get blasted by ads. If the games were free, people would put up with it but VR games are costly to develop and ads easily spoil any type of emotional environment they work at constructing. I don't foresee this getting any traction.

April Fools!

[drinkypoo]

Not eye-tracking ads, that's totally plausible. The idea that you're not going to have to pay for ad impressions unless someone looks at your ad is the joke. They might give you some eye-tracking information if someone looks at your ad, though, and maybe you'll pay more.

Re: The "engaging ad" lie

[Zero__Kelvin]

Fun fact: "Everyone thinks they are immune to the effects of advertising, but studies show everyone is mistaken."