Microsoft Advertising, who I believe are based in the UK, have posted a series of video interviews with Ashley Highfield, MD & VP Consumer & Online Microsoft. In the first video they discuss Bing in the UK and its current advertising campaign, the second video is about the MSN Video Player in the UK and the final video looks at whether Microsoft’s mojo is returning. I have highlighted some of the key facts and figures from the interviews below.
From the first video it sounds as if there will soon be another part to the Bing advertising campaign which will see Microsoft asking people to demo Bing for some time period, I have yet to see or hear anything about this on the internet in the UK. Microsoft reckon they can reach a double digit market share of search relatively quickly in the UK, the currently only have about 3% of the market share whereas Google has about 90%.
In the second advert it transpires that Ashley Highfield worked at the BBC and was key to bringing us the iPlayer, this bodes well for Microsoft’s entertainment distribution in the UK. MSN Video Player had 1 million users a month before its official launch a few months back and Microsoft expect this to increase quite rapidly. It sounds like Microsoft will only expand the MSN Video Player service to other platforms such as Windows Phones and the Xbox once the online service has reached a significant number of people.
The highlights of the MSN Video Player are pointed out on the page as being
HD with Silverlight Smooth Streaming – users will be able to watch video at the highest quality their broadband capability will allow – this can be right up to 720p HD. Smooth Streaming leads to less buffering and enhances the viewing experience
- Personalised Playlist - users can be created and queued to automatically play
- Social media integration – users can point friends and followers to MSN Video Player videos via Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live, MySpace, Digg and other social media tools
I the third and final video of the series the key points seem to be that updates coming to MSN in the way of a “new MSN” I can only assume that this means that the UK will get the same MSN look and functionality of the recently updates US version. Another interesting point is that the UK “in terms of sales has had the fastest take up in the world” of Windows 7. Ashley Highfield also goes on to compare the excitement and anticipation that surrounds Windows Phone 7 to Apple’s iPad and Google’s Nexus One; he goes on to say that the competitors’ products are both underwhelming. Whether it is because Ashley Highfield is being interviewed by Microsoft Advertising, I am not sure, but at the end he seems to suggest Microsoft wants to be more of a player in the advertising market and can appeal to companies through its platforms and media to distribute massive adverting campaigns
I think it is good to see some good information in terms of what Microsoft has already achieved in the UK, with its high number of sales of Windows 7, and where it hopes Bing will be over the coming Months. Its also interesting to see that Microsoft want to make a name for itself in media and advertising distribution, tackling both Apple and Google. My only concern, and I’ve said it before, is what will happen when the Zune service properly comes to the UK later this year, will Microsoft have both that and the MSN Video Player service; I hope not. Finally, its good to hear that MSN UK will be receiving some updates, perhaps like the US; I am attempting to find out more about that after hearing that there will be no such update for the UK.
I am keen to see what other interviews Microsoft Advertising has carried out, if they are all this interesting they will be great.
