Patents For Metaverse Advertising Suggest The Use Of Eye-tracking Technology
Patents for metaverse advertising suggest the use of eye-tracking technology
The company Meta recently received a series of patents, according to Protocol, that provide insight into how the company may one day monetize the metaverse.
Some of the technology does sound intriguing, and it has the potential to improve the immersion in the metaverse: a magnetic sensor system worn around the torso to track movements, and a photo analyzer capable of recreating skin textures in order to create a virtual avatar identical to your physical form—if that's what you're after—are just a couple examples.
Even though that may sound like the kind of futuristic visions about which sci-fi authors have been writing for years, it's important to remember that this is Meta, and advertising is a high priority here. Several companies have expressed interest in "sponsoring the appearance" of physical objects, which is almost certain to become a reality in the near future.
This biometric data appears to be of interest to Meta, who appears to be interested in using it for advertising purposes, similar to how Facebook uses personal information for ad targeting. "It is clear that you could do something similar [to existing ad targeting systems] in the metaverse — where you are not selling eye-tracking data to advertisers — but in order to understand whether or not people engage with an advertisement, you need to be able use data to determine," says Nick Clegg, Meta's Head of Global Affairs and Communications.
None of the patents listed by Meta are guaranteed to become a reality, as is the case with all patents. Moreover, even if eye-tracking advertisements do become a reality in the metaverse, they are unlikely to employ the retinal scanning technology featured in the Black Mirror episode Fifteen Million Merits, in which advertisers force us to keep our eyes on their advertisements or face consequences—at the very least, they are unlikely to do so.
