• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 7, 2008

QuickPlay Media and Amobee Media Systems are partnering to give wireless carriers the ability to serve ads in mobile video clips.

Amobee will work with ad agencies to sell and serve mobile video ad inventory while QuickPlay's streaming technology will power the video ads. The 3- to 5-second spots will run before and after video segments lasting a few minutes.

Vodafone Italy was the first operator to use the companies' new video ad-insertion service earlier this year for its FreeVideo offering, giving subscribers free access to local and branded video content in exchange for receiving advertising from major brands.

ActionAid and RCS Media Group were among the initial advertisers using the service.

QuickPlay and Amobee are discussing with other carriers the expansion of the service in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Americas markets. With the explosion of video-sharing on YouTube and other sites, "consumers are really looking to get that content and experience on their handsets," said Gerardo Lara, marketing director at Amobee.

The proportion of wireless subscribers who watch video on their cell phones is still small--less than 5% in the U.S., according to mobile market researcher M:Metrics. But the mobile video audience is expected to grow with the build-out of high-speed networks and improvement in mobile devices.

Amobee already handles ad insertions for 11 wireless operators in mobile media formats spanning the Web, music, text-messaging, applications and games, as well as video.

In March, it launched a new ad platform for Sprint's Boost Mobile division geared to the operator's mostly under-age 30 customers. Amobee previously formed a partnership with Winstar Interactive to sell mobile inventory and develop relationships with major ad agencies.

QuickPlay provides mobile video services for 13 major mobile carriers in North America and Europe, supplying both live and on-demand content from more than 150 different media companies.