• by Ross Fadner , October 15, 2004

Third Screen Media, a mobile marketing services company, this morning is launching a new mobile marketing network that will combine carriers, mobile application content providers, and advertisers.

Prior to today's launch, the three-year-old company has been gathering ad inventory in various global positioning system, video, and mobile gaming software applications, said company CEO Tom Burgess. The company develops a piece of code compatible with several mobile formats that enables it to deliver ads to specific units inside several different application formats. The company said its distribution network of 100 worldwide carriers reaches one billion worldwide mobile phone owners.

Currently, Third Screen has ad-delivery partnerships with NASCAR.com TO GO, Motorola, FunMail, eBay, and Weather.com. Similar to Advertising.com, Third Screen will resell inventory it has already purchased from these content providers.

Burgess said the mobile marketing services company is advertiser-focused, with existing relationships with over 140 advertising agencies. Its advertising services include mobile ad serving, tracking, and reporting through M-spot, Third Screen's optimization tool, as well as media planning, buying, advertising creative, and production. The products allow advertisers to target consumers by time of day and geographic location; targeting by demographic and behavior is also possible if advertisers can provide opt-in registration information.

Mobile market research firm Ovum predicts that global industry spending will hit $9 billion this year and $39 billion by 2007, yet it remains to be seen how consumers will react to advertisers' attempts to reach them on their mobile phones. (See related story in today's MDN.)

Burgess said Third Screen doesn't buy or sell phone lists--and added that the company's global network already gives it access to a broad audience, and that user information is not retained outside of campaigns.

According to Zelos Group, a market research firm, 40 percent of the 170 million mobile phone owners in the United States can access downloadable mobile applications; Zelos expects that figure to expand to 70 percent by 2007. Frost & Sullivan, a software industry market research firm, predicted that the mobile games and entertainment industry will hit $1 billion by 2006.

Third Screen sells its sponsorships at a $50 CPM. Burgess said carriers and content developers share 60 to 70 percent of the ad revenue, with the remainder going to Third Screen. Third Screen is currently running two active campaigns, for NASCAR.com TO GO and Dunkin' Donuts. Third Screen Media is the third company to join the W2 Group, founded by former Interpublic Group executive Lawrence Weber, which also includes communications firms Racepoint Interactive and Digital Influence Group.