Advertising on your mobile

20. Jun, 2006 Comments Off

Thanks for coming back ... what about posting a comment today on something you're reading. Or maybe follow me on Twitter twitter.com/damiensaunders

Summary: We still have a long way to go to accept adverts on your mobile. While Europeans have said yes to Mobile TV and no to paid for advertising, the US is talking up one-second adverts called 'Blinks'.

Clear Communications is talking to media buyers and agenices about blinks - one-second adverts that allow just enought time to recognise the brand by its gingle. You can imagine that two syllable Danone or perhaps the McDonalds 'I'm Loving it' … or maybe you'll hear someone shout out 'Drink Pepsi' in a sudden and startling manner.

"You can't use a one-second campaign for something that generally has not been advertised before." says Jim Gaither, director-broadcast at Richards Group. But if 3-4 second ads work on Radio – could a one second image/jingle work on your mobile?

European mobile customers are interested in mobile TV and video calling, but are not interested in receiving advertisements on their mobiles, says a study released by Portio Research. Advertising was considered particularly unacceptable if it intruded on paid-for time while watching mobile TV.

This has big implications for all the operators and broadcasters who want to get a slice of the annual global advertising spend. Right now including ads while someone is watching live streaming TV is both questionable and difficult to control – with operators sometimes stuck with a choice of blank screens or showing the ads to their customers. Impressions are high right now, and a customer will turn off TV if its showing nothing.

Some standard has to be set for signalling breaks in adverts to the streaming servers so that they can push a 4, 30, or 60 second advert during a channel break. Operators may need to offer two styles of advertising depending on the markets – uninteruppted shows with 5min ad breaks or 2mins of ads every 15 mins.