3 UK signs Yahoo! as portal advertising partner and we ponder on the CPC, CPM and CPA

3 UK is opening up banner space on its portal and Yahoo! is the selling the inventory.

 
The Yahoo! sold adverts will be seen by visitors to Planet 3, which reaches a group of customers who have already demonstrated interest in mobile internet services.  For example, 3 UK’s ad-funded music video service offers subscribers free music videos in return for watching a short, targeted video ad and already has more than 1.4 million registered users.

From the press release:
3 UK Head of on Portal Advertising, Neil Andrews said, ”With the ever-increasing popularity of the mobile Internet, more and more people are coming to the 3 portal.  We’re in a great position to help brands reach our subscribers with a targeted and relevant advertising message.” 

 “We believe Yahoo! has the experience to help us take full advantage of our advanced portal and unique all 3G subscriber base.  By combining Yahoo!’s expertise in mobile advertising with 3’s valuable inventory, we can help big brands target their advertising with maximum success.”

Geraldine Wilson, VP of Connected Life, Yahoo! Europe said, “Yahoo! is very focused on building up the reach and quality network that advertisers are looking for on the mobile, along with targeting capabilities and creative formats necessary for mobile advertising to be really successful. 3 UK is a great new addition to our portfolio of mobile advertising partners.  Their commitment to bring the best of the mobile Internet to their customers, coupled with the high volume of traffic the portal gets, presents our portfolio of advertisers with a very attractive opportunity.”

What we think?
Yikes – does this make it 27 or 29 mobile operator wins for Yahoo?  I recently conducted a poll to see if Yahoo! was the mobile display ad leader.  The results were inconclusive, but Yahoo! definitely has the most operator wins in the space.

What I find interesting is that click through rate for the banner ads and the revenue details. Of course they are not published here –but Yahoo!’s rates for advertisers are so low in the UK– the money will have to come from the CTR for the operator.  Yahoo! has been a power house for getting on to portals and now its their advertisers are going to have to pay more that GBP 25 for CPM. It seems as though the aggressive strategy for advertising has paid off for Yahoo!

For 3, any way to make larger profits from the mobile portal can only be positive.