• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 10, 2009

Text-messaging provider 4INFO is opening up its ad-serving technology to mobile operators and publishers to monetize their content with SMS text ads.

By tapping into 4INFO's AdHaven server, users gain access to services including campaign management, ad sales and operations, and billing along with ad-serving.

They can also choose from mobile ad formats such as click-to-call, click-to-video and click-to-the Web for text campaigns. Publishers can either sell their own ad inventory or go through 4INFO's text ad network, which includes publishers such as NBC Universal, USA Today, and InterActiveCorp. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company says its network reaches 16 million users and delivers 80 million messages a month.

Internet technology provider VeriSign is the first company to adopt AdHaven to offer ad-serving to mobile publishers through its messaging and mobile media division.

4INFO said the move would help to expand advertising around text messaging. "Because of AdHaven's flexibility combined with 4INFO's expertise in mobile ad targeting and insertion, no mobile content is off limits or out of scope--and all SMS publishers are capable of turning a cost center into a revenue stream," said company CEO Zaw Thet in a statement.

4INFO's platform offers mobile content such as news updates, horoscopes and sports scores via text-message alerts or as search results. It also serves small text ads that appear within messages that consumers can access either directly or through third-party publishers. Last year, 4INFO struck a trial mobile content and advertising deal with Yahoo.

Text-message advertising accounts for the bulk of mobile ad dollars, and is expected to continue rising as more and more cell phone subscribers adopt mobile data services. Research firm eMarketer forecasts that text-message ad revenue will grow to $2.4 billion in 2009, up from $1.5 billion last year.

Underscoring its active role in the space, 4INFO last month raised $20 million in equity and debt financing led by Peacock Equity--the joint venture of NBC Universal and GE Capital--and Gannett Inc. The company has raised a total of $40 million to date.