Microsoft demonstrates future of advertising

There was plenty to see at Microsoft’s latest Demo-Fest where cutting-edge technologies being developed at the company’s adCenter Labs were showcased.

by Helen Leggatt

Microsoft’s adCenter Labs has been busy researching and developing next-generation online advertising tools that will enable advertisers to create more efficient and relevant user experiences.

Along with advanced contextual advertising and touch-screen technology, algorithms that anticipate and understand consumer behavior “faster than the speed of thought” were among seven new technologies on show.

Air Wave – enables advertisers to reach consumers outside of the home via multi-touch, interactive screen displays in malls and airports.

Contextual Ads for Video – speech recognition technology is used to serve ads based on the spoken content of a video.

Visual Product Browsing – enables consumers to visually browse and refine searches using computer vision algorithms. This takes product browsing to new levels including virtually trying on accessories and searching using physical and visual characteristics such as size and color.

Intelligent Bug Ads – allows ads to be placed in videos by locating a non-intrusive frame using computer vision algorithms, thus placing the video where it will least interfere with the viewing experience.

Content Detection in Sub-documents – allows advertisers to identify unsuitable content and blocks contextual ads related to that content.

Content Analysis Engine – enables search marketers to find valuable keywords.

Ad Research Dashboard – a data analysis system to maximize the effectiveness of search marketing campaigns, built on the success of their Keyword Services Platform.

"We believe the technical advances and intelligence we are creating at adCenter Labs can change the game of online advertising," said Microsoft’s Tarek Najm. "Solutions to today's challenges must be capable of handling and understanding the complexity of vast amounts of data. To address that challenge, we are developing advertising algorithms that can anticipate and understand consumer behavior faster than the speed of thought, so that we can help advertisers create more efficient and relevant user experiences."

Tags: contextual advertising, Microsoft, online advertising, online video, search marketing