Microsoft rolls out ads tailored for its MSN Mobile portal vying with Google, Yahoo, AT&T and Verizon Wireless…
“Microsoft began displaying advertisements to mobile users of its MSN site with premier advertisers…”
Redmond, Wash., — Microsoft on Monday began displaying mobile advertising to MSN Mobile customers for the first time, in hopes of generating additional revenue from the budding business.
Starting Monday, MSN Mobile customers in the U.S. will begin to see banner and text ad placements that conform to the U.S. mobile advertising guidelines provided by the Mobile Marketing Association to deliver a more consistent and engaging experience for consumers.
“Paramount Pictures and Jaguar Cars North America are among the first companies to advertise on MSN Mobile in the U.S.”
Microsoft already displays mobile ads in a number of countries, including Belgium, France, Japan, Spain and the U.K.
Like the rest of the services and content on MSN Mobile — which lets users access Hotmail, instant messaging, search and news — ads will be tailored for easy, comfortable Web browsing via handheld devices.
Now when mobile users in the United States visit Microsoft’s MSN Mobile Web page on their cell phone and smartphone browsers, they will see banner and text ad placements from companies like Paramount Pictures and Jaguar Cars North America. Both have signed up as Microsoft’s early partners.
When displaying the ads, Microsoft said it will conform to the U.S. mobile advertising guidelines supplied by the Mobile Marketing Association, a non-profit made up of agencies, advertisers, device manufacturers, carriers, retailers, software providers, and service providers that want to bring marketing to mobile devices.
The news presents a new challenge for Yahoo, which began offering mobile ads in the United States last year and overseas this past fall. Google and AOL are also looking to chomp on as much of this emerging, multibillion-dollar market as possible.
“The online advertising company aQuantive Inc. and the mobile group Screen Tonic SA, recently acquired this year, backed up Microsoft’s initiative.”
The technology that Microsoft used to embed banner and text ads in its mobile portal was created by Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group with expertise gained from its acquisition of ScreenTonic SA, a European mobile ad firm specifically designed for managing and providing ads on mobile phones, acquired by the software and internet service provider earlier this year.
Microsoft also acquired aQuantive in May this year for USD 6 billion. The purchase consolidates Microsoft’s position in display ads that use sound and video, an area where the company still ranks ahead of Google, which dominates the market for ads linked to search terms.
The software giant claims that the introduction of mobile ads will enhance the experience for customers: “Microsoft is continuing to make significant investments in the MSN Mobile portal. By incorporating advertising on MSN Mobile, we are allowing advertisers to extend their existing campaigns from PCs to games and now to mobile phones, further delivering on our vision to extend advertising across multiple platforms and devices,” stated Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN.
“Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot are both innovation leaders in their own right, so when we partnered on the upcoming film “Cloverfield,” we wanted to find cutting-edge ways to market the film," said Amy Powell, senior vice president of Interactive Marketing at Paramount Pictures.
“We released an exclusive film clip along with a contest whereby the person with the most clip views will be the first one to see the movie before its release on Jan. 18. We are very excited to partner with MSN Mobile on this promotion because it extends our reach and connects us with our audience on an additional digital touch point.”
Besides the usual information services, such as news, entertainment, online chat or local weather forecast, MSN Mobile users will also be provided with a new service from MovieTickets.com Inc. and Thumbplay Inc.
Building on the success of the FOX Sports channel on MSN Mobile, Microsoft now offers additional content to U.S. customers through the option of purchasing movie tickets, ring tones, wallpaper, games and video clips from mobile phone browsers:
- Through a continued alliance with MovieTickets.com, Microsoft has extended the movie experience to MSN Mobile. U.S. customers not only can view movie reviews, theaters and show times, they can also purchase tickets directly from the phone via MovieTickets.com.
- In an exclusive collaboration with Thumbplay Inc., customers in the U.S. will now be able to purchase ring tones, wallpaper, games, video clips and more within the MSN Mobile offering.
- MSN Mobile also now offers an astrology channel providing daily horoscopes to customers in the U.S. for free.
While the market for online ads for desktop PCs is maturing, the mobile ad market remains the next green field, one that is fraught with challenges.
Consumers, however, are not so eager to see advertising on their mobile phones, fearing the promotions, which come in text, banner ads and pop-ups, will clutter the tiny screens on their iPhones, BlackBerrys and other Web-enabled gadgets.
Microsoft is trying to present mobile ads as an “enhancement” to the content it already offers on MSN Mobile. But it might be a tough sell to mobile users who are already frustrated with their tiny phone screens without banner ads taking up the precious viewing space.
The three major Internet based providers, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo, consider the mobile advertising service as a lucrative investment that could possibly increase their revenue even more than the online advertising does.
Mobile advertising sales in the U.S. accounted for $421 million in 2006. That number is expected to reach nearly $5 billion by 2011 in the U.S. alone, according to market research firm eMarketer. Global mobile advertising sales will reach $11.3 billion by 2011.
Microsoft’s bid to enable advertising on mobile devices, coming on the heels of Google’s Android mobile operating stack Nov. 5, is the latest step toward making the mobile ad market a reality and not just a glimmer in online ad providers’ eyes.
With the additions of advertising and premium content to MSN Mobile, Microsoft is able to enhance the experience for its audience while continuing to provide a free mobile site.
The premium content adds to the already rich MSN Mobile experience, providing customers with one-stop access to e-mail, news, sports, entertainment, local movie listings, maps and directions, as well as Windows Live services such as Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Spaces and Live Search.
“MSN Mobile is available for almost all mobile phones with Internet browsing capabilities.”
Customers interested in using MSN Mobile can visit http://mobile.msn.com on their mobile phone Web browser or their PC for more information.