• by David Goetzl , April 23, 2008

Even with content expanding rapidly on mobile devices, many questions remain about whether consumers will be receptive to advertising. A Silicon Valley company, which believes it has a solution to the retention challenge, is offering mobile TV programmers and service providers what it believes is a unique way to gauge that effectiveness.

GoldSpotMedia believes that targeted and interactive ads have the best chance of resonating on mobile TV. In turn, it has developed a product that allows dynamic ad insertion within the content, hoping to better match marketers with interested consumers. Interactive ads--prompting a consumer to receive a coupon or receive crucial info--can also be staged.

GoldSpot is now offering programmers and service providers a "Trial-in-a-Box" product that enables them to test the effectiveness of various mobile TV ad models themselves. GoldSpot believes the findings can lead to determinations about the potential profitability of targeted and interactive mobile advertising. The product intends to gauge the effectiveness of how traditional TV inventory functions in mobile TV. In short, does a 30-second spot work in both? If not, what works better on mobile?

Programmers and service providers can also test what kind of content--live sports or news, movies or TV shows, or made-for-mobile content--brings the highest ad receptivity.

"Virtually everything is in place today, including mature broadcast technologies ... high-quality content and consumer acceptance, to make interactive mobile broadcast TV a reality," said Staffan Nilsson, senior vice president, business development at GoldSpot. "The glaring exception is proof that it can be profitable to the entire value-chain."