At CTIA last week, I met with a couple of companies that are both working in ad-supported content. Though coming at it from slightly different angles, it highlights some of what’s going on in the space.

Third Screen Media has created a platform that allows content publishers to monetize their content through advertising, but perhaps more importantly, they’ve also created a platform for media agencies to buy inventory and control their mobile campaigns. For mobile advertising to take off, there’s got to be a framework through which agencies can plan and buy campaigns the same way they do in established ad markets, instead of mobile ad space being thrown in along with Web space, or just being bought with a few extra thousand dollars lying around.

The company also shared some interesting stats: the size of its average ad buy grew between 2 and 3 times in 2005, while it’s currently seeing $30 to $50 CPM rates — granted the overall number of impressions may still be low, but that’s an encouraging figure for publishers. While Third Screen is keen to help content providers make money (and move away from subscription fees in some cases), they’re also cognizant of the fact that they’ll need to work with carriers, and emphasize the ways they can add value, such as with targeting information that can make ads more relevant and less intrusive.

I also spoke with mFoundry, which creates a platform that simplifies mobile application development. Its mWorks product lets content providers create XML-based applications that use its basic UI and framework. It’s got a lot of smart enhancements over J2ME applications, like the ability to update applications as well as reduced size. But mFoundry has also recently launched a system to allow content providers to build ads into their applications, giving them the opportunity to forgo subscription charges and generate ad revenues instead.

I tried out an mFoundry application, FlyteSource-Mobile, which tracks airplane arrival and departure information, airport weather and other information (so I guess that long delay on the way out of Vegas was good for something), and it’s pretty cool, and certainly useful. But, like so many things on this Sprint phone I’ve been playing with, it’s got a monthly charge ($3.99 I believe). The interesting content in Sprint’s system is mitigated by the tollbooths everywhere — $4 a month here, $3 there, $7 over there and so on. It all adds up rather quickly, and when users are already paying $15 to $25 per month for the data service on top of voice and messaging charges, it’s asking rather a lot. Circumventing these charges, or at least supplanting them, with advertising should increase uptake significantly, and ultimately increase revenues.

As a back drop to all of this, a survey of members of the Mobile Entertainment Forum found that 81% expect mobile advertising to cut or eliminate subscription charges — so companies like these that are moving early to develop systems to support ad-backed content, and to figure out the right business model, should do well.

[tags]mobile, mobile advertising, mobile marketing, mfoundry, third screen[/tags]