The following has been cross-posted from the Global Microsoft Advertising Blog.

The timing of the Consumer Electronics Show in early January always makes it a perfect place to reflect on the past year and consider what’s to come. As I read and listen to all the news from this year’s show, it reminds me just how much the Xbox platform and audience have grown. When we launched Xbox LIVE in 2001, it was about making history in the world of gaming, now Xbox is an entertainment platform. We began reporting our membership within the first month of launch with just 150,000 subscribers. Now we tout an audience of nearly 40 million active members, making the Xbox LIVE community largest social network connected to the TV.

In many ways, 2011 was a game changing year for Xbox. In 2011, we made history, delivering TV the way it was meant to be enjoyed -- uninhibited by the remote control. Last January at this time, only months after launching Kinect for Xbox 360, Guinness World Records officially named Kinect the fastest selling consumer electronics device, selling an average of 133,333 units per day for a total of 8 million Kinects in its first 60 days. Today, we announced our new global sales numbers -- 18 million Kinect sensors sold worldwide. There’s only one word to describe this type of momentum – phenomenal!

Xbox 360 also maintained its lead in the U.S. as the top selling console in 2011 now its sales have reached more than 66 million consoles worldwide. In fact, 2011 was the biggest year ever for Xbox 360 based on consoles sold and overall revenue generated, breaking its own 2010 record and all in the midst of a major economic downturn.

For Xbox LIVE, this growth has meant even more eyeballs coming to the service. Not surprisingly, all this growth has been good news for the Xbox LIVE advertising business. We’ve attracted 80 of the top 100 advertising spenders including global, female-oriented brands like Garnier , thanks in part to the magic of Kinect and all the new entertainment content coming to the platform.

But our success in not just about eyeballs. It’s also about engaging experiences. Advertisers get all the creative and visual impact of HD TV with the interactivity and accountability of the Web. In December, with the partnership of new TV providers like The Today Show, we introduced in-content standard TV spots to Xbox LIVE. And with the launch of the new dashboard late this year, now every branded destination site is enabled with Kinect gesture controls. This makes Xbox the only place on TV where you can interact with a brand with the simple wave of a hand.

Looking ahead is always exciting. Of course, we never want to reveal too much. But, at Cannes Lions in June 2011, we unveiled the future with NUads, our vision for interactive TV advertising that will transform the standard 30 second TV spot into engaging and actionable experiences. NUads does this by using the voice- and gesture-control of Kinect so consumers can actually interact with the TV commercial all from the comfort of their couch. This has some very compelling applications, some of which we demoed in a video back in June . Our ability to offer standard 30 second spots within traditional TV content is moving us one step closer to the NUads vision and we expect to begin rolling out the first NUads formats for advertisers starting this spring.

With all of these developments, I think it’s fair to say 2011 was truly a game changer. And if it goes down in history as the year Xbox reinvented entertainment, perhaps 2012 will be the year Xbox reinvents advertising. We’re off to an exciting start and I look forward to looking back on it around this time next year. Until then, thanks to all our advertising customers (new and old) and here’s to a record-breaking 2012 for all!

Shawn McMichael -