Mtv, mobile video distributor to offer ad-supported content

In a little more than a year after approach out of beta, Mobile River video site Mywaves picks up impulse with new advertisers. It also continues to add content and today announced a partnership with MTV.

Under the partnership, MTV will provide content from the network's properties including VH1, and Gametrailers. Content will be ad-supported on Mywaves' mobile site. The network's content has been available through Mobile River phone bearer on a subscription or pay-per-view model antecedently.

"This is the first time that person with content that so tightly resonates with the young adult demographic is devising a very aggressive move to embracing the ad-supported model on the Mobile River platform," said Rajeev Raman, CEO of Mywaves.

MTV is responsible for merchandising ads on the Mobile River platform and the two companies will share gross. Ad helping is another matter. "Ad helping is done through a joint integrating between their ad platform and our ad platform, both servers are workings together," said Raman.

Ads will chiefly be :15 pre-roll units. Although an in-house study, Mywaves found :15 ads performed better than :5 and :30 spots.

Across the rest of Mywaves' network, the video publishing house has attracted about 20 new advertisers in recent months, including Microsoft, Mini, Paramount Pictures, and Toyota.

Mini, in a political campaign for its new model, the Clubman, has four :15 pre-roll spots. The two-month campaign is wrap up.

Another auto maker, Toyota came to Mywaves to promote its new Matrix. It bought a mixed political campaign including WAP banners and :15 pre-roll ads, which will run through April.

In India, Microsoft bought a geo-targeted CPM-based political campaign to raise consciousness for MS business office New Day merchandise line. Animated banner ads were part of the creative placed for the political campaign. WPP/quasi-stellar radio source worked with Mywaves on the Microsoft advertising.

Movie studious use a different type of targeting: time of day, and day of week. Mywaves is working with Paramount Pictures to place ads for upcoming movies as it gets closer to weekend screen times. "Advertising will run heavier closer to the weekend," said Raman. He didn't list any specific movies Paramount committed to advertising, but said the studio is interested in advertising some upcoming releases.

A range of ad units run across the Mywaves video network including banners, text messages, content discovery screens, pre-roll, click-to-video, and other formats. Because of the special needs of developing creative for mobile, Mywaves formed its own department to make sure creative met requirements.

Film needs to be cropped tighter and be brighter, text needs to be bigger, and audio often doesn't port over to a mobile device. "There are very few people to make it work on mobile," said Raman.

Very often the team will take a :30 creative filmed for TV or another format and edit it down to :15 while preserving the message. The team will compose a text overlay or interstitial that carries the creative, and often add an overlay or animation.

Note: The story originally listed MTV properties Jackass and Atom Entertainment as part of the Mywaves catalog. At launch, only video from Spike, VH1, and Gametrailers on Mywaves' mobile site.