3 to offer ad-funded content service this month

Rating: terrific timing

By Annie Turner

Once again the UK’s smallest operator, 3, has proved the most radical. Today it announced an entirely ad-funded video service. Consumers will be able to view news from ITN and video clips, such as sport highlights and celebrity goings-on, free of charge – so long as they are prepared to watch ads at the beginning and end of each item.

Users will have to provide information such as their age and gender to sign up for the service, which 3 says will ensure that they only receive appropriate, tailored advertising.

The service will be available later this month, apparently.

This is good timing, attracting a great deal of attention and, possibly, revenue, before Vodafone finally gets round to launching its flat-rate data services in early summer. Confusing and expensive data rates have been the single biggest inhibitor of data (including video) usage and take-up of services. 3 launched its flat-rate tariffs toward the end of last year.

Al Russell, head of mobile Internet and content services, Vodafone, told GoMo News that he is “bullish” about advertising on mobile and believes it will play a substantial role.

So far, data usage has been stunted – despite colossal expenditure by operators in the phase when they thought they were content providers – because users are too terrified of having to sell their house to pay the data usage bill.

Staying a little ahead of the curve is the only way that 3, the last entrant to the UK market, can compete. So far, so good, but 3 must exploit its first-to-market advantage. The next three to six months are going to be very interesting.

Related News:

1. Amobee partners with QuickPlay and DaDa to provide Vodafone Italia with ad-funded mobile video content
2. Vodafone finally launches flat-rate data offers
3. ORANGE ANNOUNCES THE LAUNCH OF AD-FUNDED VIDEO MAGAZINE SERVICE ‘ZAP!’ ON ORANGE WORLD
4. First Hop enables ad-funded mobile content services
5. TIM launches Vitamine service to enhance its pioneering Tribu offer