Will mobile advertising make you rich?
Virgin Mobile USA CEO Dan Schulman told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit today about a new advertising partnership with AOL’s Third Screen Media.
We asked him how big a deal it was. Schulman was enthusiastic, to say the least.
“We think it will drive a trillion dollars to us in the next four to six months.”
On the more serious side, Schulman explained that mobile advertising was still in its infancy as carriers have yet to really figure out the right way of offering people ads on their phones without becoming a nuisance.
“It’s small (in terms of revenue) and I wouldn’t even put it in the meaningful category yet. We’re experimenting with it. Mobile advertising is something you need to be quite careful with. A cell phone is a relatively intimate device.”
Virgin Mobile USA has had some success with its advertising forays. Schulman said more than 700,000 of its 5 million customers had signed up for its “Sugar Mama” promotion that let them earn free phone minutes in return for watching ads online.
Its subscribers can also put their friends to work for them with a “Sugar Mama” widget on social network Facebook. The more friends download the application and watch ads, the more free minutes their pal can accumulate.
(Photo: Reuters)
3 comments so far
I already pay for my phone and service and if ads start showing up on my phone like telemarketers call my land line then ill throw both away. In the land of the Free, I’d like to have a life Free from advertising.
- Posted by Chris Walker[…] These sentiments were echoed today by Virgin Mobile USA (VM) chief Dan Schulman, who announced his own mobile ad deal with AOL (TWX). Reuters: […]
- Posted by Mobile on net » Blog Archive » Microsoft To Sell More Mobile Ads, Try To Not Piss People OffAfter taking money from my prepaid card Virgin Mobile also charged my bank. They have refused to issue a refund for the double charge, My bank did a fraud investigation and got my money back right away and now Vigin mobile has suspended my servive. Remember they double charge me and now I can’t use my phone and it was already paid for by a top up card. I am reporting them to as many agencies as I can for fraud.
- Posted by Suzanne Galicia