Text-based services may sound dull within the context of all the hype surrounding mobile TV, video sharing and the like. But today, in the real world, there are an awful lot more people using SMS than there are using those other services. So why not keep early implementations of IMA simple? At least that way the ads are more likely to get seen, and advertisers are more likely to get measurable results. But this announcement also raises another issue - what will happen to telcos’ dreams of building IMA revenues if media owners and other brands keep bypassing their channel in this way?
The USA Today service has been implemented via a partnership with 4Info, the SMS-based publishing specialists. Every day, SMS short codes are published in the print issue of the newspaper that readers can use to sign up for free SMS news updates on their favorite topics. Each update also contains a text-based ad offering discounts or promotions on products and services related to the subject of the update. Users can then react to the ad by texting a response if they want to take advantage of the offer.
The service neatly integrates the mobile and print communication channels in a basic but potentially effective way, by providing a service that many users will value, via a technology that everyone with a mobile phone has access to, and most people use at least occasionally. Right now, this will make for a more attractive proposition to users who either don’t have a phone capable of handling richer content, or who don’t use those features because they are worried about running up huge data bills.
The launch of this service also indicates that some media companies with large audiences are determined to plough their own furrow when it comes to building a more interactive relationship with their customers, and offering additional value to advertisers. Mobile operators hoping to use IMA revenues to offset declines in voice revenues should be concerned about this. They need to intensify their efforts in persuading advertisers that their IMA can be even more targeted and effective than that offered by individual publications or other media channels, thanks to their wider reach and the granularity of their user data.
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