Microsoft wants the Xbox One to become the most prominent device that users interact with when searching for content. Whether that content is games, movies, internet or televisions shows, Microsoft wants the Xbox One to be everyone’s first choice. With the Kinect camera however, advertisers may have the ability to track user-engagement, viewership and customer’s interaction like never before.
One of the more interesting Xbox One patents that Microsoft is trying to secure, is a patent that would allow Xbox One owners to gain achievements by watching television, something that the famous ‘Getglue’ application already does with social-networking systems. The difference is the amount of data that Microsoft can obtain while these shows are running.
One of the driving points that Microsoft Xbox One executives and developers made during the Xbox One reveal this past month, was Xbox One’s integration with entertainment and television. Now a new patent has been revealed that points to Microsoft Xbox One users gaining the ability to obtain achievements through watching television on the Xbox One. The patent describes the service stating, “Television viewing tends to be a passive experience for a viewer, without many opportunities for the viewer to engage or have interactive experiences with the presented content,” it continues, “To increase interactive viewing and encourage a user to watch one or more particular items of video content, awards and achievements may be tied to those items of video content.”
There are a ton of uses for this and not all just for the customer. To integrate an achievement, Microsoft could charge advertisers or networks the right to use the system, knowing that it is a factor in how people may interact with the show. If a network would like the Super Bowl achievement, or the Democratic National Convention achievement to be available for users (which could be shared through social-media,) then Microsoft could ask for a fee, increasing its revenue for the year.
“Additionally, by tying the awards and achievements to particular items of video or advertising content, viewers may be encouraged to increase their viewership of the content, thus increasing advertising opportunities,” states the application. Then things cold get a little bit more specific. What if the Kinect camera monitored how many people were in the room for each commercial? What if Microsoft sold it’s data, knowing the age, demographic, regional location and ages of the people in the room, with its advertisers, in an effort for those companies to better understand their KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)? It’s all possible with Kinect. The Kinect camera could become an even more accurate Neilson rating system, telling us not just how many families watched a show, but how many people watched the show. It could count keywords that were spoken during the commercial, using the microphone system, and even monitor basic activities during the programs.
GetGlue already exists, it is a social networking website that television fans can use to “check into” a particular show that they love, and earn stickers to share on social-media. Microsoft’s patent is basically the same thing, but instead of stickers, users get achievements. The largest difference is the Kinect camera, the advertisement possibilities and the data that can be sold and monitored. Xbox could monitor how many people were talking about the ad while it ran, how often words were spoken during the advertisement or how many people viewed, interacted or changed the channel during a show, it could even monitor their heartbeat with the Kinect camera. That’s not saying Microsoft will do these things, but it’s very clear that they could with the technology. This would offer networks and advertisers the greatest system for monitoring viewership that the world has even seen.
