Ads on mobile phones the next gold rush?

The WSJ has published a detailed article about what they're saying may be the
next big frontier in web advertising--competing for that little link space on
our cell phone faces! Here's a link to the article, "Companies Vie for Ad
Dollars on Mobile Web." The article is subscriber only, however (which
means that in order to read more than the first paragraph you have to sign up),
so I thought I'd outline a couple of the major points here:

It's the next Internet gold rush: With two billion cellphones around the world,
upstarts and technology giants alike are scrambling to find ways of making money
from cellphone ads. "Everybody's just trying to dip their toes in the water
and figure out what's going to work," says AdMob's 29-year-old boss, Omar
Hamoui.
Only about 15% of cell phone users browse the web with their phones right now
Google is testing ads alongside search results on cell phone screens
“The big cellphone carriers -- among them Sprint Nextel Corp., AT&T Inc.
and the U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC -- all have ad initiatives that threaten the
rise of the smaller fry”
“In 2006, mobile ad spending was an estimated $871 million world-wide,
according to data from research firm Informa Telecoms and Media. Most of the
money went into text messages, the mobile equivalent of sending people ads by
email. Spending on Internet advertising was about $24 billion world-wide in
2006, according to ZenithOptimedia, a unit of Publicis Group SA.”
“Last fall, Warner Music Group's Atlantic Records called on AdMob when it
started selling cellphone ringtones to go along with an album by hip-hop artist
Sean "Diddy" Combs. AdMob served up an ad reading "Get Your Diddy
Ringtones Now" 715,000 times on cellphone screens over a three-hour period.
More than 20,000 people around the world clicked on the link, taking them to
Atlantic's mobile Web site. The record company was so happy with the sales the
campaign generated that it is planning new campaigns through AdMob.”
They report Microsoft was considering the acquisition of Third Screen, a mobile
ad company in Boston. They display 350 mil ads each month on 10 mil unique cell
phones, working with big customers like Disney, ESPN, Ford, Bank of America, and
the Weather Channel. The discussions fell through, however.

Here's a graphic showing the results of a survey asking cell phone users how
they will (or won't) put up with cell phone ads:

A totally blue-sky scenario here in the USA! I'm probably not alone in this, but
I don't see how this is going to be implemented without either a change in the
billing policies of the mobile telcos or, better yet, an Act of God. For both
ads and mobile video. Why? In the USA, the cellphone user pays for all calls,
both outbound and inbound. All the time. Unless the ads are going to be
presented when all calls are free, i.e., at night or during the weekend, why
should I have to pay for commercials delivered to my phone? If the telcos made
cell calling free and ad-supported, then I can see how they could make it work
without litigation/FCC-mandated directives/Congressional rubberstamping of PSTN
lobbyist's bills. As a trial balloon, it is a brilliant, albeit subdulous way of
desensitizing the already gouged and paying public to this insidious
development.

That's really true, John. They can't very well push ads at us and make us pay
for them!

I was trying to figure out a possible scenario as well...what if an ad company
leased screen space (my cell phone face) from me with my permission (I give them
permission through an opt-in program that lets them cycle ads for their
advertisers on my phone at no charge for me) in return for a reduced rate (or
special "purchasers plan"). They can entice me with discounted
subscription pricing (when I click through one of their advertisers and go to
the company site to purchase, I get a reduced rate for coming in via mobile as
opposed to web of face2face purchasing).

I wouldn't really want to do this...just trying to figure out how they might
make it attractive/worthwhile for folks who would...

[Strange coincidence: About 10 minutes ago I received a totally random and
strange advertising text message on my cell phone. That's never happened to me
before!]

Waggler:

That's really true, John. They can't very well push ads at us and make us pay
for them!KM, we are talking about The Phone Company! 

The same naboobs who made people rent phones from them until around '83 or '84.


Remember the Universal Lifeline Service fee? 

These guys would try anything to schneider us.Waggler: I was trying to figure
out a possible scenario as well...what if an ad company leased screen space (my
cell phone face) from me with my permission (I give them permission through an
opt-in program that lets them cycle ads for their advertisers on my phone at no
charge for me) in return for a reduced rate (or special "purchasers
plan"). They can entice me with discounted subscription pricing (when I
click through one of their advertisers and go to the company site to purchase, I
get a reduced rate for coming in via mobile as opposed to web of face2face
purchasing).Then we get to the details. 

Would I have to watch ads before I pick up an incoming call. Or after? Or before
outgoing calls? Or after? At night? 

Would it be some sort of MLM thing where I have to into the telco to friends and
family? (Notice that I didn't call the scheme viral, these are telcos, they
don't deserve any benefit of doubt.) 

Is there a minimum number for payment freedom? Waggler: Strange coincidence:
About 10 minutes ago I received a totally random and strange advertising text
message on my cell phone. That's never happened to me before!Girl, when you got
it, you GOT IT!

You have achieved that high eminence where spammers have moved from your snail
mail through you email and have now invaded you cell phone.

My initial, trite reaction: I hate it; it's inevitable.

I spend a bit on my cell phone (service and device) and want minimal intrusion
and fuss. Clostridium difficile down the street, I'm all ears; but if I just got
car jacked, could we please omit the questions about my non-nutritional use of
processed cheese products?

It's not a mere matter of who's paying, either. I can live with a small HP ad on
page one of the Wall Street Journal. Don't crazy-glue a car-wash flyer to my
windsheild.

Here's hoping it's a very expensive process so that the marketing is tightly
focused. Just becasue I voted for the State Lottery, don't send me pictures of
people displaying the top ten risk factors for mortality and morbidity. (I'm
like Willard Van Orman Quine who commended this as " `a public subsidy of
intelligence,' on the grounds that `it yields public income that is calculated
to lighten the tax burden of us prudent abstainers at the expense of the
benighted masses of wishful thinkers.' " ) 

Not too focused, though. ("Come to Betty Ford and see how Log Cabin
Republicans lowered their cholesterol and stopped gulping Johnnie Walker Green
Label. On Tuesdays. In Kansas. At the Westin.")

One question. How did Harris do this survey? Two stage disproportionate
stratified sampling on cell phone users? 

Yikes.