Microsoft Brings Ads and Fashion To Silverlight

Microsoft is hard at work trying to encourage adoption of its new Silverlight player. The software giant's video player saw a huge boost after working as the exclusive player for NBC's Beijing Olympic Games. Now Microsoft is offering up its player free of cost to publishers and advertisers to help it compete in the battle against Adobe's Flash.

The first attempt is a video on New York Magazine's website that began running last week. Titled "Where's Rogan?," the eight episode series chronicles the fictional disappearance of real designer Rogan Gregory and will feature ad integration from brands like Continental Airlines, Olay and Tresemme.

According to Ad Age:

What does New York magazine get out of it? The opportunity to do a web series with Microsoft footing a big chunk of the bill. Microsoft pays the tech and production costs for the video, and provided a direct line to Redmond (in Washington state, where Microsoft is based) for any technical problems.

"To develop the market, we're removing the friction cost to adoption," said Silverlight product manager Jon Rooney.

Microsoft is hoping that advertisers and video publishers will be excited about the product integration but Silverlight still has only a fraction of viewers compared to Adobe's player. Most potential viewers of "Where's Rogan?" will have to download the player, which remains an obstacle in the way of Microsoft's Silverlight bid.