Would You Trade Free Cellphone Calls for Advertising?

It’s a reasonable question, and one that some European consumers will soon have a chance of answering. The New York Times reports that 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.

“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,” the report said. “Analysts estimate that it will generate $1 billion to $2 billion in revenue worldwide this year”–but they also estimate it will grow to between $5 billion and $11 billion within the next five years.

The article said that everyone wants in on it now, in case mobile media advertising turns out to be a “bonanza” in profits. “There’s a battle raging between the Web world and the wireless world for control of mobile advertising revenue,” said Patrick Parodi, chief marketing officer of Amobee Media Systems, an online advertising specialist, in the article. “It’s going to be war.”

Seems like it already is.

Getting Free Cellphone Calls for Ads [NYT]

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