Video Ads Come To Magazines

Next month some copies of Entertainment Weekly will carry the first-ever video ads on the page.

It sounds like something out of the Harry Potter books. Okay, it is something out of the Harry Potter books. But next month will see the first-ever video ads appearing on the pages of a magazine, as some copies of the September 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly in LA and New York will have video-in-print ads, the BBC reports.

The screens are slim line, about the size of a cell phone battery, and will have rechargeable batteries, with the chip activated when the page is turned. Each chip can hold around 40 minutes of video. The first ads will be from Pepsi and CBS.

Unsurprisingly, the video ads are expected to cost more than normal ads. But digital ads have appeared in Esquire before, using e-ink technology.