Skype Finally Jumps On The Ad Bandwagon

With around 145 million monthly users and over 8 million subscribers who pay for an enhanced version of the software to make calls to mobiles or landlines, Skype is one of the big success stories of the web from the last few years. The service is free to use, and until now, has been largely free of adverts, a rarity for a largely free online service.

However, as of today, that is set to change. Large display ads will be appearing on the home tab of the Skype interface in the US, UK and Germany, and could have both video and interactive rollovers.

Of course, Skype's large and relatively early-adopter audience is very attractive to internet marketing managers, which is evident in the fact that big brands (with correspondingly big marketing budgets) such as BT, Visa, Disney and Volkswagen are already signed up. Users spend on average 90 minutes a month making Skype calls, meaning that ads will have significant audience exposure, although users will only see one ad per day.

Why should Skype be taking this step now? Well, it's looking to raise funds on the open market in the near future, rumored to be something in the region of $1 billion in an IPO. However they aren't going to get that if investors can't see significant revenue streams; and quite frankly, the income from the 8 million users who choose to pay for the premium service is far from significant.

Skype does need to raise more sustainable revenue, and realistically ads are the only way to do that. However, it remains to be seen how Skype users react to a blatantly revenue-motivated (and possibly distracting and annoying) move.