Skype Launches Ads Service On Skype

[engine]

Skype Launches Ads Service On Skype [blogs.skype.com]

We’re working with some great advertisers, including Groupon, Universal Pictures, and Visa.

Ads will appear in the US, UK and Germany and advertising sales for Skype are initially focused in those markets.

You may only see ads occasionally. Our initial plan is to show an ad from one brand per day in each of the markets where advertising is being sold.

The ads will appear in the Home tab in Skype for Windows, and we may experiment with ads in other areas as well.

The ads won’t interrupt your Skype experience. You won’t suddenly see annoying pop-up ads or flashy banner ads in middle of conversations.

We may use non-personally identifiable demographic data (e.g. location, gender and age) to target ads, which helps ensure that you see relevant ads. For example, if you’re in the US, we don’t want to show you ads for a product that is only available in the UK.

You can opt out of allowing Skype to share this non-personally identifiable demographic data with advertisers from the Privacy tab in Tools ▸ Options.

[Go60Guy]

If there's one thing I've been yearning to see in this lifetime, it's advertising on Skype. Uh Huh...

Can an IPO be far behind?

[J_RaD]

oh ok.... i'll be uninstalling and using another IM client now.

[trillianjedi]

oh ok.... i'll be uninstalling and using another IM client now.

Actually you probably won't be, unless you can persuade all of your buddy list to do the same, and then all move to the same one.

With a bit of luck a paid option will come out shortly, without advertising.

[maximillianos]

It has been ad free for so long. I'm happy to support their ad efforts.

How else could it remain free?

[werty]

I am also hoping for an ad free/premium version.

[J_RaD]

Actually you probably won't be, unless you can persuade all of your buddy list to do the same, and then all move to the same one.

its fractured, i can always use a multi protocol IM client again. I stopped using trillian cause I felt it went down the hole. Maybe back to boring old pidgin

[J_RaD]

It has been ad free for so long. I'm happy to support their ad efforts.

and how many years have we been applying AIM ad hacks?

[OddDog]

wow, its really a problem to allow ads on a great product?

[hughie]

Fair play to them, it's a fantastic service, and i'm just going to ignore them anyway..

[Go60Guy]

I see no problem with ads on Skype. I make liberal use of the service. No doubt it languished too long in relative neglect during it's sojourn at eBay. That was a poor fit.

IMO, Skype has legs for the long haul, and monetizing it beyond phone charges makes a lot of sense. And, I wouldn't rule out an IPO.

[weeks]

Ads everywhere. This is where we're going.
[smbc-comics.com...]