The pre-show is giving interactive gamers a new way to earn in-game currency instead of watching ads – an idea that has become popular in mobile games but has not really made much progress on PCs or consoles. The startup is led by Stacey Spice, CEO of MoviePass.
When I talked to Spikes about PreShow two years ago, he was testing an app that offered users free movie tickets in exchange for watching ads. But obviously, the drama movie has been a big hit in the last one year. Spice told me yesterday that he always hoped to bring the pre-show concept to four categories – drama movies, gaming, subscription streaming and video based on demand – but the epidemic forced startups to change focus faster than expected and what a gaming experience might look like. .
The current plan is to launch a new pre-interactive app this summer, where visitors can connect to their in-game accounts and identify what virtual currency they want to earn. They then see a package of ads and PreShow will automatically transfer the currency to their account – in other words, it is buying the currency for them. Users need to download a separate app to view and benefit from ads, but Spikes said it’s actually better than trying to integrate ads or branded content into the game, which can be a slow process for developers and advertisers, while confusing players.
And that means PreShow Interactive will be able to support 20,000 games across PCs, consoles and virtual reality. He added, “We didn’t see the point in spending time consolidating when the need arose.” Our contract is only with the customer for their time. One of the key elements of the pressure approach is technology that can detect when viewers are actually looking at their phone screen – ads will stop playing if you turn your face away.
It has been criticized as a “creepy surveillance technology”, but Spikes has claimed that users of the previous show have adopted it. He argued that it was more transparent than targeting data collection and currently running online advertising. “We used to think data is the new oil, but now our feeling is permission and engagement and attention is the new oil,” he said.
