• The New York Times , Monday, May 7, 2007 12 PM

Advertisers always seem to be the last to attend a new media party (usually just after Microsoft). The latest is on cell phones, where original video content is being produced and consumed, but is not (as yet) being supported by advertisers.

Just two years after News Corp.'s Fox Mobile and Viacom's MTV Networks pioneered cell phone video programming, nearly every major film and television studio is working on projects. But look at the 2006 spending numbers for mobile phones: just $421 million according to research aggregator eMarketer. Compare that to broadcast TV's $48 billion slice of the ad pie.

Mobile phones are certainly pervasive: The Yankee Group says there are 195 million subscribers nationwide. Most don't yet have 2G and 3G network phones capable of viewing video, but that'll change over the next five years as the cost of these fancy phones and making calls go down. Meanwhile, the current number of mobile video viewers is only about 5 million, Yankee says, which content makers note would barely pass for a prime-time show. That's a big reason why advertisers haven't noticed. Another reason is the ever-fragmenting ad market. So-called mobisodes have to bring in the audience if they expect ad dollars-and that likely means giving their product away for free, eventually.

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