Google wants to show you ads in VR
Google is an ad company, folks, and everything they do is about figuring out how to best serve you those ads. Whether it’s making them relevant or finding a way to actually make them pleasant, they’re just in the business of advertising, but not so much that it’ll drive you away.
That’s why we aren’t surprised to learn the company is experimenting ways to show you ads in VR. There’s no shame or apologetic meandering going on with their blog post on the topic.
Our work focuses on a few key principles – VR ad formats should be easy for developers to implement, native to VR, flexible enough to customize, and useful and non-intrusive for users.
Basically, if developers are going to insist on showing ads, Google wants to make sure the results are pleasant for both sides. Google’s current working idea involves a simple system for launching and closing video ads. Here’s the rundown:
Developers and users have told us they want to avoid disruptive, hard-to-implement ad experiences in VR. So our first idea for a potential format presents a cube to users, with the option to engage with it and then see a video ad. By tapping on the cube or gazing at it for a few seconds, the cube opens a video player where the user can watch, and then easily close, the video.
And here it is in GIF form if you’re curious to see how that works out in practice:
Not… pretty, but, again, these are early days for this effort. As such, Google is calling on developers to help them test the new format, where you’ll presumably be able to help shape its development with regular feedback.