The full version of this article, along with thousands like it, can be found here: Microsoft looking to bring advertising into more of its software?
It seems Microsoft is getting ready to integrate advertising into more of its products. Some Microsoft power users have noticed an advert in the latest iteration of Windows 11 File Explorer, available last week.
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The advert is said to promote other in-house products, notably Microsoft Editor.
Still, the bigger story here is the fact that ads are being injected into the File Explorer in the first place. The Washington state-based tech titan has had various advertising platforms over the last two decades, with varying degrees of success, but its latest platform seems to be gaining traction over the past few years, as the ROI for clients has been good. Better than many other programmatic advertising networks, where the CPC (cost per click), or CPM (cost per mille) is unacceptably high.
Along with its platform, Microsoft has often used cross-promotions and in-software advertising to increase take-up of synergistic software offerings by the vendor and its partners, such as PowerPoint templates within Microsoft Office. This has historically included the likes of free trials and beta releases, as well as the offers.
As with the other GUI tests carried out by Microsoft we reported late last week, not much has been said about these ads by insiders at the company; and the release has yet to be seen by many users, which could mean it is a small scale evaluation of usage.
It does bring into question the 'elegance' of software products when the customer has already purchased access to the product, only to see advertising messages.
The team at Platform Executive hope you have enjoyed this article. Automatic translation from English to a growing list of languages via Google AI Cloud Translation. Reporting by Rob Phillips.
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