New Platform Helps Carriers Tap Into Mobile Advertising Opportunity

Oracle Mobile Ad Network For Carriers

Oracle has launched a new advertising platform that helps carriers get into the mobile advertising business, and ensures they don’t get left in the cold when it comes to any potential new revenue streams.

The platform compiles important — and often times disparate — information about subscribers, such as age, gender, usage patterns, or location, so that advertisers can send highly relevant and targeted ads to the consumers. The platform also provides campaign management tools, so that operators can work directly with advertisers or agencies. While a spokesperson for Oracle said the point is not for carriers to become an ad network, it does offer an “alternative ad delivery channel from the ad networks.” Release. PDF.

Right now, carriers are definitely looking at advertising as a potential new revenue stream, as voice revenues fall and data revenues don’t increase fast enough. Plus, carriers have an opportunity to play a big role in advertising, given that they know more about their subscribers than anyone else. However, they’ve been relatively slow to embrace advertising, erring on the side of caution when it comes to disrupting the customer experience. Meanwhile, developers and publishers of applications and mobile web sites have be able to cash in on advertising to varying degrees using third-parties, such as AdMob (acquired by Google), Millennial Media, AOL’s Third Screen Media, Quattro Wireless, Jumptap and others.

But there’s one problem with each carrier going after advertisers directly. That is, big brands want big audiences. They want to reach all males between the age of 30 and 34, who are interested in buying a new car. Not just that demographic on one particular network. However, there are perks to working directly with the carrier, the Oracle spokesperson said. In addition to having more information about subscribers, they also have built-in billing infrastructure, meaning an ad could lead to a purchase more easily. It probably would not lead to the purchase of a car, but smaller things, such as DVDs or other low-cost items that could show up on a person’s monthly bill.

The Oracle product also plays well with ad networks. It has what Oracle calls a “data abstraction layer,” which pulls subscriber data from multiple back-end databases. That information can be used to send contextual ads, and could be shared with any third-party, such as AdMob. Oracle says this is available based on subscribers’ opt-in permissions.

For now, it sounds like the ad formats are limited, but they do include bulk messages that can be delivered either by SMS, MMS, or WAP Push. The platform also provides a few options for business models. In addition to traditional click-through rates, carriers can offer revenue sharing agreements or subsidized services. In the case of subsidized services, you could imagine a automobile manufacturer or car insurance company subsidizing free navigation services for a month. For the carriers, that could convert to a paying customer once the sponsorship expires.

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