News: From now on, all Microsoft entertainment and gaming experiences will carry the Xbox branding even on Windows, says senior director Leonardo Metelli, who has also been talking about how entertainment rather than gaming is now the major growth area on Xbox Live, and how Kinect will drive whole new types of advertising on their home console – including the slightly creepy “Two-Way TV”.
Leonardo Metelli, Microsoft‘s senior director of Xbox Live Entertainment and Advertising, has been talking at the ad:tech conference in London about how the Xbox brand has grown beyond just the home console bearing its name, and how the company intend to leverage the massively growing market for consuming entertainment on Xbox Live and their Kinect peripheral to create new styles of advertising experience.
Metelli set out the new non-hardware focus for the Xbox name by stating: “Xbox is becoming THE Microsoft brand for entertainment”, and highlighted just why entertainment is now as important to Xbox Live as gaming.
In 2012 “there are more hours being spent on entertainment than gaming,” Metelli said, and, while gaming figures have not dropped, usage of entertainment apps has doubled on Xbox Live year on year. There has also been a 30% increase in overall Xbox Live use year on year as well.
Metelli also revealed that Microsoft are keen to promote new advertising opportunities that make use of the distinctive features of Xbox Live and the Kinect sensor peripheral. “Branded Destination Experiences” – Kinect-enabled “microsite” advertisements on Xbox Live – are one, while Nuads, featuring gesture, voice and controller ad interactivity, will allow brands to get real-time feedback from viewers.
Perhaps the most potent – and mildly Orwellian – use for Kinect will be something Microsoft are calling “Two-Way TV”, television programming that reflects the viewer’s input, taking into account what the user is expressing and whether they are actively engaged to alter the way a programme plays out. Sesame Street and National Geographic TV are already signed up to Two-Way TV, which launches on Xbox Live this week.