Entertainment Weekly to include video ads in their magazines

[6souls]

The first-ever video advertisement will be published in a traditional paper magazine in September.

The video-in-print ads will appear in select copies of the US show business title Entertainment Weekly.

The slim-line screens - around the size of a mobile phone display - also have rechargeable batteries.

The chip technology used to store the video - described as similar to that used in singing greeting cards - is activated when the page is turned.

Each chip can hold up to 40 minutes of video.

The first clips will preview programmes from US TV network CBS and show adverts by the drinks company Pepsi.

They will appear in 18 September editions of the magazine distributed in Los Angeles and New York.

It's believed the new technology will cost much more than normal print ads.

However, BBC correspondent Rajesh Mirchandani said that in an increasingly competitive market, advertisers have realised that it is more important than ever to create attention for their product.

He likened the technology to the Daily Prophet - a newspaper with moving pictures described in the Harry Potter books.

It is not the first time that publishers have experimented with digital technology in magazines.

Last year, for example, men's lifestyle magazine Esquire published the first using e-ink technology, with a cover that flashed in alternating patterns.

E-ink is the technology used in the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle electronic books.

Americhip, the developer of video-in-print, has also created magazine technology that appeals to various senses, including smell.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Video appears in paper magazines

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/200...eo_270x359.jpg

Here are some more details about the Americhip technology: the screen, which is 2.7 millimeters thick, has a 320x240 resolution. The battery lasts for about 65 to 70 minutes, and can be recharged, believe it or not, with a mini USB cord--there's a jack on the back of it. The screen, which uses thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technology, is enforced by protective polycarbonate. It's a product that has been in development at Americhip for about two years, spokesman Tim Clegg told CNET News via e-mail.

CBS to run video ad in magazine this fall | Digital Media - CNET News

[Khamsin]

I would be disgusted, but maybe it will make the technology cheaper or promote growth in the development of technology like it. That's less clumsy than this, or singing greeting cards.

[Kajii]

Pretty cool idea, although it seems pretty pointless.

Videos in Hustler magazines soon!

[Yuri-G]

awesome technology, pointless use.

[MisterBob]

Hardly pointless. Tons of people are going to buy the magazine just to see it.

[Kilhart]

It's believed the new technology will cost much more than normal print ads.

No shit.

[Lbelle]

magazines are a dying medium, they had to do SOMETHING for people to be intersted again. This is pretty spectacular honestly, I'd absolutely get one just to check out this will work.

[Khamsin]

Hardly pointless. Tons of people are going to buy the magazine just to see it.

But it will only appear in 18 September issues, the rest of them won't have it. Only 18 people will ever see the ad, until they toss it in the recycle bin and some hobo finds it.

[Yuri-G]

Hardly pointless. Tons of people are going to buy the magazine just to see it.

which I find to be pointless. maybe I should have been more specific, "pointless in regards to the advancement of society and the human race as a whole."

[ZarakiKujata]

which I find to be pointless. maybe I should have been more specific, "pointless in regards to the advancement of society and the human race as a whole."

That's true of EW and of most things. Also, people will buy to try and be one of the lucky 18.. duh

[Azkarin2]

But it will only appear in 18 September issues, the rest of them won't have it. Only 18 people will ever see the ad, until they toss it in the recycle bin and some hobo finds it.

Well played sir. Well played.