ITWire

Google may well be the great advertising factory in the sky, but equally massive technology giant, Microsoft, has a thriving ad business of its own, too.

Now, Microsoft’s latest acquisition, Skype, which the company purchased for a whopping US $8.5b, although still around $30b+ less than it wanted to pay for Yahoo (at the time), has decided to join the advertising bandwagon (beyond those pesky Facebook integration “ads”) in an “excited” posting over at Skype’s Advertising blogs.

Here, the General Manager and the Vice President of Advertising and Monetization at Skype, Sandhya Venkatachalam, said in a “Skype advertising update” that Skype was announcing “the launch of Conversation Ads in Skype”.

Now, thankfully, those Skype users who have Skype Credit or a subscription of some kind won’t be bombarded by these ads, but anyone who doesn’t have credit or a subscription, will see “these new display ad units will appear within the calling window… when they're making 1:1 Skype-to-Skype audio calls using Skype for Windows.”

So, it’s not as “bad” as it sounds – plenty of people do have Skype credit, after all, and plenty of people have some kind of Skype subscription, too.

I have both credit and a subscription, and it is pretty fair to ask those who have neither to put up with an ad to help pay for the service – that’s business, after all.

In any case, Ms Venkatachalam notes that: “We're excited to introduce Conversations Ads as an opportunity for marketers to reach our hundreds of millions of connected users in a place where they can have meaningful conversations about brands in a highly engaging environment. Skype is already at the center of meaningful conversations, where families, friends, and colleagues spend time together.

“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.

“So, you should think of Conversation Ads as a way for Skype to generate fun interactivity between your circle of friends and family and the brands you care about. Ultimately, we believe this will help make Skype a more engaging and useful place to have your conversations each and every day.”

To learn more about Skype's new advertising initative, and what it means for Skype users and marketers, please read on to page two!