AIM Users Streamed Political Video Ads

By David Worthington | Published October 27, 2004, 7:10 PM

In the finals days before voters go to the polls in US Presidential election, partisans are doing nearly everything possible to reach out to voters in so-called "swing states." No one is immune to their unrelenting efforts to sway public sentiment -- not even users of America Online.

For the past several ad cycles, AOL Instant Messenger users who volunteered their zip code are now receiving geo-targeted streaming video political ads as they chat.

An AOL spokesperson told BetaNews that the ads were spread across the political spectrum and represent both Democrats, Republicans and their aligned interest groups. "The Internet is obviously merging as a platform that politicians are using more effectively and more actively than they have in the past," said the spokesperson.

As first reported by BetaNews, AOL has debuted new 30-second live action video advertising units called AIM Buddy List Super Video. AOL has integrated controls that enable users to silence videos in an attempt to strike a balance between revenue generating promotions and the quality of the AIM user experience.

Comments

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Only idiots would be using the offical AIM client anyway... Unless you have a desprate need for Adware installed from Weatherbug... and there ad's...

There are better alternitives to most of the programs that most people use (MSIE, AIM... etc) :-)

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The technology that AIM is using for the video ads within the IM is a company called EyeWonder, Inc. They have build video advertising technologies for AOL, Yahoo! and other publishers.

It is good stuff

www.eyewonder.com

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That I need to tell them I live in area code 66666

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"For the past several ad cycles, AOL Instant Messenger users who volunteered their zip code are now receiving geo-targeted streaming video political ads as they chat."

I love that. AIM users who "volunteered" their zip code. Last I checked, you couldn't get past the install without "volunteering."

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If a politician felt it was ok to waste my screen space and personal time with an advertisement, they would lose my vote. Simple as that.

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aimadhack :)

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or trillian

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Aim ad hack google it. Haven't seen an aim ad in about year. :)

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