Yahoo! seals T-Mobile ad sales role

by Andrew McCormick, Media Week 17-Jan-08, 16:00

LONDON - T-Mobile is set to open its portal to advertising after appointing Yahoo! as its exclusive ad sales house.

Through the deal, Yahoo! will sell banner ads on T-Mobile, with the first campaigns expected to go live early Q2, 2008.

Yahoo! now sells ads on T-Mobile and Vodafone's mobile portals, and has targeted others as it seeks to become dominant in mobile ad sales. Rhythm New Media will continue selling video ads on T-Mobile, as it does for 3.

"What brands want is audience," said Geraldine Wilson, vice-president of connected life at Yahoo! Europe. "They don't mind what operator they're on - it's all about building scale."

Sales houses and digital publishers are engaged in a land grab for mobile sales and highly-trafficked operators' portals are the most prized properties, as they act as access routes for customers using the mobile web.

Companies such as 4th Screen Advertising, AOL, 4DS and Sky Digital Media are all seeking to build a stock of mobile sites to sell ads across.