Startup idea #41: Ad market for virtual item

As virtual worlds proliferate like blogs, I see a need for an advertising market where brands can sponsor virtual items. The benefits to the advertisers is that through these virtual items, they can collect preferences of their users, which can then be translated to real world items.

For such a market to work, we need markets where publishers or developers of virtual worlds are willing to open up their virtual item inventory spaces. Currently, all such worlds are closed and it is difficult for any third party to supply services into them. The arrival of 'open source' world making, given tools like what Metaplace is providing, can help to alleviate this problem.

We also need data metrics on interaction or prosumption to tell advertisers about how their virtual goods are being used. What colour is most preferred? What designs are favoured by girls? How many blue colour tshirts are paired with camouflage Bermudas? All these data gives advertisers valuable information on consumer preferences and fully exploits the cheap interaction that is now possible on the net.

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