Advertising makes the world go round. Your mobile phone is now the target for hungry advertisers looking for a new medium to invade. A Toronto-based company called My Screen is offering incentives to mobile phone users so that they will agree to watch an ad on their phone. Each time you watch an ad you will accumulate reward points that you can then redeem from your mobile operator for things like free airtime minutes, ringtones, mobile games, and gift cards. Your mobile operator will decide whether your rewards can be redeemed for cash, merchandise, or gift cards outside of your network.

The ads will only be displayed at the end of a call so that they will not interfere or disrupt your phone calls. The ads are targeted, rich, full screen, contextual ads. This is not spamming. No one can complain about receiving these cell phone ads because this is an opt-in service. Registration is free. However, you may incur data charges to watch the ads, so it’s best to check with your mobile operator before signing up. Currently this service works only on BlackBerrys, Nokias and Motorolas. There is an iPhone version in development.

Advertisers are hoping that mobile phone advertising will reel in the 18 - 35 male demographic. ABI Research reports that the consumer response to the cell phone ads has shown that 37% of those surveyed would be open to incentive-based marketing programs. Considering that the target market is 18 - 35 year old males, I would like to know how many of the respondents fit into that category. I wouldn’t watch a cell phone ad to accumulate reward points, would you?

Photo courtesy Flickr