Skype, whose service is now available on Samsung, LG and Panasonic TVs plans to start rolling out ads to consumer users this week, however Australia could miss out on the service.Skype, whose service is now available on Samsung, LG and Panasonic TVs plans to start rolling out ads to consumer users this week.
The free service has more than 145 million users around the world and has been growing in popularity due to the integration of their technology into mass market TVs.
The European based company is also planning a public float which is tipped to be one of the biggest in the technology sector since Google raised $1.67 billion in 2004. Skype said the ads would not interrupt users with pop-up ads or banner ads in the middle of their conversations. Users will be able to close ads. Skype said it may experiment with other formats as well.
Last year, Skype generated $860 million of net revenues and had a net loss of about $7 million.
In a recent blog the company said that the new display ads, which will initially feature advertisers such as Groupon, Universal Pictures and Visa, will appear at the top of the service’s main page in its Windows client.
Skype said the ads will include audio or video. Advertisers can add a ‘click to call’ button in the ad and users will be able to share ads to their Facebook or Twitter accounts.
Skype said the ads would not interrupt users with pop-up ads or banner ads in the middle their conversations. Users will be able to close ads. Skype said it may experiment with other formats as well.
