Interestingly, what Skype politely referred to as ‘Conversation Ads’ that will start to appear within the Skype-to-Skype calling windows during voice calls between Windows users who do not pay for subscriptions or have credits in accounts at the service while they use the globally popular Internet telephone service, essentially sticking freeloaders with unavoidable ads.
More so, Skype said that call quality will remain the same for all users. However, there is currently no word as to when/if these adds will expand to Mac or mobile users.
On the other hand, the change will swell Microsoft’s coffers, which has bought Skype and its massive database of users, to rake in millions of dollars of advertising revenue from showing ads to video callers.
From a June 13 post on the official Skype blog:
“We are thrilled to introduce ‘Conversation Ads’ as an opportunity for marketers to reach our hundreds of millions of connected users,” Sandhya Venkatachalam, vice president of Skype Advertising and Monetization, wrote on the company’s blog.
“While on a 1:1 audio call, users will see content that could spark additional topics of conversation that are relevant to Skype users and highlight unique and local brand experiences. Think of the new ad campaign as a way for Skype to generate “fun interactivity” between circle of friends, family, and the brands you care about, Venkatachalam added.
Above all, the soundless conversation ads are delivered to marketers where ever Skype is available and will be shown during free Skype-to-Skype calls on computer’s running on Microsoft’s Windows software, according to Venkatachalam.
Here is what the ads, which are targeted by location, gender and age, will look like (note that Magnum appears to be a launch partner):
Besides, the warning notes that Skype is using “non-personally identifiable demographic information” like location, gender and age, to deliver targeted ads. In other words, the Skype team apparently is not listening to your conversation about where to go for dinner and sending you ads for a vegan burger joint near you.
“The Skype experience is our top priority,” Venkatachalam said, “which is why we have taken our time testing what kind of advertising works best in the Skype environment.”
In fact, with this latest introduction, Microsoft’s Skype Internet telephone service hopes to quadruple the number of users to get to one billion, division president Tony Bates said two weeks ago at a prestigious All Things Digital conference in California.
Bates, who manages the section that was acquired by Microsoft last year but operates autonomously, said growth will come from mobile users and from partnerships like the one Skype has with Facebook. He metioned Facebook as a key to growth for Skype, which now has 250 million users.
He further stated that Skype can use the reach of Microsoft, the world’s biggest software firm, to expand its presence, but without limiting itself to the Windows platform.
Furthermore, Skype first began rolling out ads in March 2011 via the Home tabs within the U.S., U.K, and German versions of Skype with ads from Groupon, Universal Pictures, and Visa, among others.
Among other things, one of Skype’s cool features is its price, but now that the company is actually attempting to monetize its free users, the odds are that there will be a bit of user backlash. This is likely why the company is testing the waters by only targeting audio calls on Windows.