Facebook says it will begin testing ads on Oculus headsets, starting with the shooter game Blaston, and won't use data stored on devices to target ads

- Facebook on Wednesday announced that it will begin testing advertisements that will appear within the company's Oculus virtual reality headsets.

CNBC 2021-06-17 Salvador Rodriguez

Context & Ripple Effects

Facebook had already tested augmented-reality ads in the News Feed and was building Oculus through prospective studio purchases and exclusive VR game deals. The headset initiative therefore extends an advertising model into an ecosystem Facebook was also trying to strengthen with content.

The initial launch partner became the constraint: Resolution Games subsequently withdrew Blaston from the test, showing that developer acceptance—not merely Facebook’s ad technology—determines whether in-headset ads can scale.

First-order effects

Facebook gains a live Oculus advertising test, while pledging that data stored on headsets will not be used for ad targeting.
Resolution Games and Blaston become the immediate test case for how ads fit inside a paid VR game; its later withdrawal removes the planned first venue.

Second-order effects

Other Oculus developers now have a concrete reason to weigh ad revenue against player reaction and the risk of changing the experience in paid games.
Facebook’s ability to turn Oculus into an ad-supported platform depends on persuading game partners after the first partner rejected the rollout.

Third-order effects

If developers continue to resist ads in paid VR titles, Oculus monetization will be shaped by negotiated developer participation rather than a uniform Facebook-controlled ad layer.
The pattern points to immersive-ad formats facing the same adoption test as Facebook’s earlier AR experiments, with content partners setting practical limits on deployment.

The trend: Facebook is extending its advertising infrastructure into immersive computing, but developer control over VR content is emerging as the gatekeeper for adoption.

Discussion

@martyswant Marty Swant on x
Facebook has finally begun testing VR ads in Oculus headsets. For years, marketers have talked about the potential for high engagement rates & accurate measurement that could come from VR ads. But will people put up with messages if they can't look away? https://about.fb.com/...
@t3hero_ Geoffrey on x
Oh look, the reason people jumped ship on Oculus years ago. https://twitter.com/...
@giygaimpact Giygo on x
imagine paying 500 bucks for a vr headset and getting a grubhub ad implanted in to your brain 10 seconds after using it https://twitter.com/...
@humancell Scott C. Lemon on x
Advertising in your VR headset that you already paid for? And can you opt-out? This is why I would never buy one from Facebook or any other ad-based company. | Facebook to begin testing ads inside Oculus virtual reality headsets https://ow.ly/...
@sub8u Subrahmanyam Kvj on x
You can escape reality. But you can't escape ads. That's the reality. https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@levie Aaron Levie on x
This is definitely what VR was missing for mass adoption. https://twitter.com/...
@boztank Boz on x
You can manage what ads you want to see and we're including controls to hide specific ads or hide ads from an advertiser completely. Ads in VR will be different from ads elsewhere and this is a space that will take time and people's feedback to get right https://www.oculus.com/..…
@cixliv Cix on x
I told everyone @FBRealityLabs would put ads in the headset, they were already planning it Meanwhile @thedextriarchy reported in January @boztank lying “we're not really focused on business model” We are all getting slowly boiled in a pot by Facebook https://www.theverge.com/...
@gamoid Matt Weinberger on x
Hell yes ads in my eyeballs grim meathook future let's go. https://twitter.com/...
@joabyjojo Joe Ab on x
Ahh cool Oculus is inserting ads into games you've already paid for. https://www.oculus.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@kavyapearlman Kavya Pearlman on x
They also “have no plans to build a facial recognition database” These statements are as hollow as their so called “responsible innovation principles” that deliberately ignore to “protect identity of minorities(humans)” Blabber blabber blabber... #ActionsSpeakLouderThanWords http…
@justinhendrix Justin Hendrix on x
@ceciliakang This is why @rushkoff says VR is... boring.
@starfire2258 Sean Hollister on x
It was inevitable, and you all called it years ago https://www.theverge.com/...
@thelinuxexp @thelinuxexp on x
Gross. Seriously, super gross. https://twitter.com/...
@bcarr Brad Carr on x
Well, I guess I can't recommend the Oculus Quest 2 anymore. https://twitter.com/...
@yoda Drew Olanoff on x
this is why facebook bought oculus https://techcrunch.com/...
@glytchtech Glytch on x
Aaaand that's why I sold my Quest when they got acquired. Yay delayed gratification https://twitter.com/...
@kentbye Kent Bye VoicesOfVR on x
New post on Facebook VR ads. Notice & consent model is broken for tracking appropriate flows of data. Oculus says in a blog post they “have no plans to use movement data to target ads”, but yet nothing in their privacy policy prevents them from doing so. https://www.oculus.com/..…
@ericpresidentvr Eric For President on x
Concerning. It needs to be in writing. Going backwards is near impossible, we have to get this right early on https://twitter.com/...
@lanceulanoff Lance Ulanoff on x
Virtual reality ads—360 commerce. Yay. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@psythor James O'Malley on x
What The Matrix didn't show us is the enforced 2 minutes spent trapped inside the Gazprom branded content pre-roll zone before we're allowed to play the Kung-Fu program. https://twitter.com/...
@uncooldana @uncooldana on x
Facebook is allowing in-app ads on Oculus devices, changing their previous policy because when they do it it's different. Also, they're going to use your Facebook data to target you. https://arstechnica.com/...
@leojtravis10 Joe Ortiz on x
Glad I'm not even interested in getting into VR. You all get what you expected from FB. https://twitter.com/...
@danieltg85 Daniel on x
Welp, there goes my hopes of getting a Quest 2... https://twitter.com/...
@qtpop @qtpop on x
This is what I imagined ads to look like. This is ok with me. My only worry is them being clickable while interacting with the game world and in something like blaston. Accidental clicks and browsers opening are no go. https://twitter.com/...
@yoda Drew Olanoff on x
surprised it took this long. not gonna be pretty. https://about.fb.com/...
@ceciliakang @ceciliakang on x
Facebook is first and foremost a wildly successful Advertising Company. So yeah, expect a lot more of this on every FB product: https://about.fb.com/...
@shortformernie Ernie Smith on x
TFW pop-up ads consume your whole sense of self https://twitter.com/...
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
Everything Facebook does, including making hardware, is just an avenue to open up more advertising inventory. https://twitter.com/...
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
Facebook is going to start showing you ads literally centimeters from your eyeballs in VR https://www.cnbc.com/...
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on x
Just casually mentioning that 97% of Facebook's revenue comes from advertising and it really doesn't know how to generate money any other way. (See also: WhatsApp is still not a real business with money and stuff.) https://about.fb.com/...
@danielbower Daniel Bower on x
More on FBs VR acquisitions. The point about talent being locked away in the FB campus waiting for options to vest is a good one. https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@platformer @platformer on x
For all followers today: - Is Facebook cornering the VR market? - A recent shopping spree is giving some folks Instagram-in-2012 vibes - Good tweet about cargo shorts https://www.platformer.news/ ...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
This month, Facebook bought the Fortnite of VR and the Roblox of VR. Will we look back on these as Instagram-in-2012 purchases? Inspired by an @alexeheath observation, I dug in 👉 https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...

Chronicles