On Wednesday, June 16th, Facebook announced that it’s rolling out what it described as a “small test” of in-headset ads for its Oculus mobile app.
This initiative which is aimed to bring more people into VR, will enable advertisers to leverage virtual reality applications.
In turn, it will enable games developers to generate new ad revenues from features built on the Oculus platform, and will also help brand marketers test and develop new ways of communicating with consumers.
“For now, this is a test with a few apps,” the company said in a news report. “Once we see how this test goes and incorporate feedback from developers and the community, we’ll provide more details on when ads may become more broadly available across the Oculus platform and in the Oculus mobile app.”
As seen in the GIF above, you can hover your controller over an in-game ad to interact with it and save to view later. When you open the ad it launches a landing page in the Oculus Quest’s web browser. The save option puts the ad in the Quest in-VR experience and Oculus mobile app’s Explore sections. Also, when you tap the three dots icon it gives you the option to hide an ad.
A Facebook spokesperson says the system will use information from your Facebook profile, as well as “whether you’ve viewed content, installed, activated, or subscribed to an Oculus app, added an app to your cart or wishlist, if you’ve initiated checkout or purchased an app on the Oculus platform, and lastly, whether you’ve viewed, hovered, saved, or clicked on an ad within a third-party app.”
According to the Social Media giant, “Oculus ads will follow Facebook’s advertising principles, the first of which is “build for people first.” It means that the introduction of in-headset ads won’t change the company’s current privacy or policy policies.
Finally, The Verge noted in its report that Facebook is leaving its future roadmap open-ended.
Quoting Facebook’s spokesperson, “Facebook hasn’t determined, for instance, whether ads could eventually appear inside your Oculus Home experience. Facebook also isn’t yet identifying the other apps using advertisements, although it will list additional names in the coming weeks. The first ads look like standard boxes inside game interfaces, but Facebook’s blog post says it’s exploring other options as well.” “We’re currently investing in unobtrusive ads as a new way for developers to build businesses — and though we’re not quite ready to test them yet, we’re also exploring new ad formats that are unique to VR,” it says.
