Free Ad-Sponsored Cell Connection

Several announcements in the ad-sponsored cell connection area today. Myspace is launching a free ad-based service:

[from Myspace to launch ad-supported cell phone - Yahoo! News]

[...]

The social networking Web site MySpace is launching a free, advertising-supported cell phone version Monday as part of a wider bid by parent News Corp. to attract advertising for mobile Web sites.

Fox Interactive Media, which oversees News Corp.'s Internet properties, said it also plans to roll out versions of FoxSports.com, the gaming site IGN, AskMen and its local TV affiliates in the coming months that will work on cell phones that can access the Internet.

The company said it also plans to offer a mobile version of its Photobucket picture sharing site in coming months.

The company already offers premium, subscription-based versions of MySpace through AT&T Inc. and Helio wireless services. Those versions include special features integrated into specific handsets, such as uploading cell phone photos directly to a user's profile page.

The new version set to launch Monday will work on all U.S. carriers and will allow users to send and receive messages and friend requests, comment on pictures, post bulletins, update blogs, and find and search for friends.

So, users will see the ads, but will be able to communicate with pals on MySpace gratis.

In today's New York Times, the Blyk service was reviewed:

[from Getting Free Cellphone Calls for Ads by Eric Pfanner]

British cellphone users will get their first look Monday at a new mobile service called Blyk, which will offer subscribers some free calls and text messages in return for their agreeing to accept advertising on their phones.

The idea behind Blyk is not new; Virgin Mobile in the United States started a similar service last year. But the introduction of Blyk in one of the most competitive and technologically sophisticated mobile markets means the service will be scrutinized as a test of mobile advertising’s viability.

Compared with the hundreds of billions of dollars that mobile operators generate annually in fees from callers, text-message users and other network users, mobile advertising remains a tiny business. Analysts estimate that it will generate $1 billion to $2 billion in revenue worldwide this year.

Yet activity is heating up, not just on the consumer side with services like Blyk, but also behind the scenes, as network operators, Internet companies, advertising agencies, technology start-ups and even phone manufacturers seek a piece of the action.

Why are so many people trying to get into such a small business?

Analysts say that spending on mobile advertising could surge, with estimates of the market ranging from $5 billion to $11 billion within five years.

So, are we seeing a watershed, where cell connection with swing to a TV advertising model? Or will this targeting be limited to the cost conscious youth market only?

I spoke to Marko Ahtisaari about Blyk -- he's 'responsible for brand and design' there -- and he clearly believes that the youth market is susceptible to this, but that others could fall in too. But Blyk is targeting the young, exclusively.

So, what happens when this works for the young? Won't the ads themselves become socialized? Won't they become just another shared space on the web-in-the-phone? Why wouldn't the same appeal to the sports crowd -- men and some women in their teens through to aged -- who want to communicate about sports? Casual gaming? Technoids? Why not everybody?

I see this as two major threads:

1. Ads will drive the Web onto the cell devices faster than any other mechanism. The sort of independent life that cell networks live today, with second rate browsers and kludgey IM clients, is going to go away real fast. Cells will become just another device tapping into the Web, and those billions of ad dollars will underwrite that shift.
2. The meme I am calling Social Everywhere will dominate the dynamics of the ad-augmented cell experience. Everything will be a way to stay connected to buddies on the phone: the apps, the OS, the ads... even charging your phone will be broadcast as an update to your pals.

Just like the bottom third of CNN TV broadcast screen is dedicated to other information streaming by about breaking news, weather, upcoming shows, more and more of the pixel footprint on cellphone screens will be dedicated to socializing. The sociality footprint will get larger and larger.

Comments

[David Cushman]

I saw Blyk in action yesterday alongside Tomi Ahonen at a Mobinar I was hosting for emap. It is a truly awesome engagement model. I do think it's different from what has gone before. And I think it's device agnostic.
It's an entirely opt-in social analytics data engine. My best guess is that it will succeed, by the bucketload - at least in the short term.
However, it relies on having the gift of data to hand out - a resource that on cell is still relatively scarce. But for how long?