Advertisers want to go mobile

(c) Reuters

Privately held MobiTV, which streams live television to about 2 million cell phones, is launching an interactive ad platform in coming weeks, with options for consumers to call the advertiser or send a text message to receive information.

As well as approaching ad clients itself, MobiTV hopes to use a service Yahoo Inc. is launching. MobiTV plans to give carriers a percentage of ad revenue as well.

"We expect that we can get an incremental 20 percent of revenue by selling advertising," MobiTV President and co-founder Paul Scanlan told Reuters.

Media companies also view the mobile space as a crucial way of bringing their programs and movies to a wider audience.

"We believe advertising can work on the wireless platform ... we view it as a critical medium," Viacom Inc. Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said in a speech. The owner of MTV and Comedy Central networks has signed Intel Corp. and Pepsi-Cola North America as its first mobile advertisers.

Another factor adding momentum is that advertisers are seeing the benefits of mobile advertising as a research tool.

For example, ad campaigns inviting mobile users to send a text, answer a question or vote for a contestant on a show have helped marketers figure out the sort of words or displays that make people want to respond to their messages.

"Mobile becomes an effectiveness measurer for all types of media," said Forrester marketing analyst Christine Overby.

Forrester analyst Charles Golvin said carriers were moving forward with mobile advertising now that the prospects are clearer and the supporting technology is more advanced.

"It's about moving from promise to reality," he said. "(Carriers) are moving fairly aggressively behind the scenes."

Experts had recommendations for making the most out of mobile ads, for example, providers can collect consumer data like Web search engines that show ads based on keywords.

"We're basically going to see things that are very similar to what we see on the Internet without the spam." said Entner.

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