Magazine to get full-motion video adverts
Entertainment Weekly sets the precedent for magazine tech
Magazine readers in the US are set to witness a little bit of magazine history this September, as Entertainment Weekly has announced it is to include full-motion video adverts within its pages.
The adverts are 2-inches by 1.5-inches (320x240) and are said to be only as thin as a piece of cardboard.
When the video is switched on, it will be capable of running for forty minutes before the battery dies. Don't fret, though, as the battery can be recharged via mini-USB. The 'electronic paper' technology has been developed by LA-firm Americhip.
Screen time
The adverts that are to be shown on the diminutive screen include promos for US sitcoms Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.
Speaking about the advert, George Schweitzer, President of CBS' marketing group, said: "As a rule, 90 per cent of people will say they heard about new programming on television.
"This is the first way we can get video samples into the hands of entertainment enthusiasts off the television screen."
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While the technology does sound impressive and may well perk up the downtrodden US advertising market – experts reckon advertisers will pay six times more to be on the video – the new innovation has been given the unfortunate label of a 'maga-screen'.
Geddit? It's like a magazine but with a… never mind.
Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.