Research on advertising in the metaverse: a call to action

The year 2022 has seen the word ‘metaverse’ become commonly used in many households across the world. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2022) entry pertaining to the word metaverse: ‘In its current meaning, metaverse generally refers to the concept of a highly immersive virtual world in where people gather to socialize, play, and work. Awareness of this term surged on October, 29, 2021 when Facebook rebranded itself “Meta” and released a video in which CEO Mark Zuckerburg says, ‘I believe the metaverse is the next chapter for the internet.’ In the U.S., the inclusion of ads from Meta (Facebook) and Salesforce making reference to the metaverse helped reinforce the notion that a more advanced version of the metaverse is inevitable.

While it is unlikely that anyone can predict with any real certainty exactly what the metaverse will look like and how it will evolve over the next few decade, it is clear that augmented and virtual reality, along with innovations such as NFTs, cryptocurrency, and digital advances will be producing a more advanced ‘virtual world’ in which some consumers spend time. Moreover, there appears to be little doubt that advertising will be a part of this virtual world. As a result, there is a clear need for more research on the metaverse.

The main point of this editorial is to encourage more research on advertising in the metaverse and to be clear that submissions on this topic are welcomed at the International Journal of Advertising. While conducting research on an unfolding area may not be easy, it represents a very promising area and one which will be very likely to grow in the future. The current situation of research surrounding advertising in the metaverse is somewhat reminiscent of the situation surrounding research on digital advertising in the 1990s. Because of some uncertainty regarding actual consumer behavior around the end product and somewhat slow diffusion of internet penetration (and shopping), digital did not become a major advertising medium until 2005. Yet, the academic research that was done in the late 1990s and early 2000s was very valuable in getting some early ideas as to what might work and, importantly, why it might work (see e.g., Rodgers and Thorson 2000). Some studies also focused on what ad techniques already were not working in the digital environment and focused on why with eye toward figuring what did work.

While I would direct readers to a recent article by Jooyoung Kim (2021), editor of Journal of Interactive Advertising and an Associate Editor of this journal, for a specific research agenda on advertising in the metaverse, I would like to be clear that such research can be rooted in related work on virtual reality, augmented reality, and 3-D advertising that has been in progress a decade or more (e.g., Li, Daugherty and Biocca 2013; Krishen, Harding and LaTour 2013; Choi and Taylor 2014). Such studies provide a base that can be built upon and built on in the context of the metaverse. In addition, findings from more recent articles exploring virtual reality and topics such as the use of virtual mirrors, various media devices and various virtual representations can provide valuable background information in terms of both theory bases and empirical findings that can be built on (see Baek 2018; Han and Lee 2021; Song et al. 2021; Uribe, Labra and Manzur 2021).

It should also be remembered that theories of digital advertising have advanced considerably over the past several years. Rodgers and Thorson’s (2017) book provides an excellent primer that can be drawn on by researchers interested in the metaverse.