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Full-Screen Mobile Ads Reach Opt-In Subscribers; Unilever Hops Aboard

Univlever is targeting 190 million Latin American and Caribbean subscribers of carrier America Movil with full-screen mobile ads. The ads will offer rewards such as special offers and discounts.

America Movil has partnered with MyScreen Mobile, a company out of Toronto, to deliver the full-screen ads to its customer base.

MyScreen targets subscribers based on demographic and psychographic profiles. Full-screen ads are delivered to opt-in subscribers at the end of every call. The ads include calls to action such as asking consumers to press a key to be connected to a call center or forwarded to a mobile website. When subscribers opt in, they choose the type of ads, such as lifestyle, health, or sports, that they want to see. 

Subscribers enter basic lifestyle and demographic info, which lets advertisers target their ads to specific audience segments. Subscribers then accumulate rewards points for every ad they view on their phone. Points can later be redeemed for free services and other bonuses from the carrier.

MyScreen claims its ads outperform mobile internet clickthrough rates, which it says averages 0.1%. In a trial with Turkish carrier Turkcell, for example, MyScreen says its ads pulled a clickthrough of more than 20%.

A recent study by online advertising network Chitika indicated that mobile internet users - and especially iPhone users - are only about half as likely as non-mobile internet users to click on ads.

Unilever and Grupo Bimbo, a mega food corporation in Mexico with brands in Latin America, Europe, China, the U.S. and Canada, will be among the first to deliver ads to America Movil subscribers via MyScreen.

Mobile ad revenues in South America are projected to grow to $1.3 billion by 2013, according to Jupiter Research data. Gartner predicts that global mobile advertising spending will surpass $13 billion by 2013.