The tie-up with Vodafone makes the marriage between targeted ads and discounted content official. After all, sponsorship reduces the price tag on other content delivered via radio and TV—so why should it be any different in the mobile space? This is the message that ran like a leitmotif through my interview yesterday with Geraldine Wilson, vice president of Connected Life, Yahoo! Europe, the business group responsible for the company’s “beyond the browser” strategy. (Listen to the podcast here.)

Wilson filled in many of the gaps in the thinly written press release, detailing what Vodafone (and other operators) are likely to gain from a quasi-ad-funded approach to content sales and delivery. To be clear: Users must opt-in for the service, so we’re not talking about spam here. And Yahoo doesn’t clash with Google, Vodafone’s partner for mobile search. According to Wilson, Yahoo brings very specific capabilities to the table—with behavioral targeting at the core. “We can understand or predict what kind of adverts they (users) are likely to be interested in based on what content they’re looking at, what time of day they’re looking at (it), what day of the week they’re looking at (it). So, there’s a lot we can do already, and obviously as we move forward … there’s an opportunity to do even greater targeting.”

All aboard!: In Wilson’s view, the industry is on the cusp of a new megatrend. Users will commit to advertising to access premium content in return for a meaningful discount. Moving forward, Yahoo is also looking at some “very viral (marketing) products we believe could really increase the uptake (of content/services) on mobile.”

The dynamic duo: Yahoo has developed a “dual approach” that combines building and boosting its own brand and mobile communities with a respectful subservience to operator brands and business rules. “There’s another side of our business which is about leveraging the capability that . . . we’ve got in display advertising.” Using Yahoo’s monetisation capability, operators can then monetise their properties and their users.

Right time, right place: Having established that users will view ads to get content and services discounts, the question remains: When will they be most receptive? Wilson said ads will grab users’ eyeballs when they come in connection with content they are engaged with—but no interruptions, please! A great place to push a targeted ad would be in the middle of a game, when users move up a level. “Graphical ads will have a big role to play there.” (No pun intended.) Music downloads provide a similar opportunity—as long as the ad doesn’t interfere with the content download.
Listen to the podcast here.