Amobee Media Systems has launched a commercial mobile advertising trial with Orange in France — the first such trial to take place in France to test advertising subsidised downloads.
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Orange France is using Amobee’s Media System to test the business model behind using advertising to help fund mobile content and entertainment services. Subscribers are offered the option of downloading a game from games publisher Filao at a reduced price or for free, if they accept advertising within the game.
A number of brands are taking part, including Coke, Saab, Travelski, Société Générale and Mobifun. The ads are served interstitially during idle time in between levels or while the game is loading.
For two months, users will have the option to request further details on each brand, either by initiating a call by opening a WAP session, or can click past the ads and continue with the game at any point. Filao has integrated Amobee’s Handset API, an SDK file that enables the games to receive ads, into its games.
“The mobile industry is willing to test the role that ad-funding could play in growing the mobile entertainment market,” said Patrick Parodi, CMO of Amobee. ”Similar trials in other territories have shown high levels of user acceptance – provided that the model is opt-in and controlled by the user.”
Jérôme Le Feuvre, Head of Mobile Games and Music at Orange France, said, “The objective is to understand how users will respond to in-game advertising. The trial should enable us to gather live usage data about the impact and acceptance of advertising within a mobile game, and test the potential of new business models around mobile content.”