Verizon to Allow Ads on Its Mobile Phones
VERIZON WIRELESS, among the nation's most widely advertised brands, is poised to become the advertising medium itself. — Beginning early next year, Verizon Wireless will allow placement of banner advertisements on news, weather …
Context & Ripple Effects
Verizon Wireless had already been building paid mobile-media offerings: VCast was priced at $15 per month for mobile YouTube access, and MediaFLO was planned for launch by the first quarter of 2007. Opening news and weather screens to banners adds advertising inventory alongside those subscription-led services.
The importance is less the banner format than the distributor: Verizon controls the mobile service environment where the ads will appear, placing it between advertisers and mobile-content audiences.
First-order effects
- Verizon Wireless gains sellable banner placements in its mobile news and weather services, while advertisers gain access to inventory inside a carrier-controlled mobile portal.
Second-order effects
- The move gives Verizon a second way to monetize mobile media alongside paid offerings such as VCast, reducing its reliance on subscription fees for every service screen.
- Mobile news and weather providers distributed through Verizon's services face a carrier that can influence both audience access and the advertising model around their content.
Third-order effects
- If other carriers follow Verizon's model, mobile operators can become advertising intermediaries as well as network providers, concentrating control over mobile inventory at the distribution layer.
The trend: Mobile carriers are extending their role from connectivity and paid content into ownership of the advertising space around mobile services.