Ad funded trial goes live in France

Ad-funding company Amobee, has this week launched a commercial advertising trial with Orange in France.

Orange customers interested in playing games will be offered them for free, or at a reduced rate, if they first agree to watch an advert. The games are being offered by Filao in the two month trial, which is a first for France.

Ad-funded incentives are gathering momentum as interest in the technique has lured major brands including Yahoo, Google and Vodafone. Coca-Cola, Saab and Sociee Generale have signed up for the trial

Users taking part will have the option to request information on each brand, either by initiating a call by opening a WAP session, or by clicking past the advertss and continuing with the game at any point.

Patrick Parodi, CMO of Amobee said: “Similar trials in other territories have shown high levels of user acceptance, provided… the model is opt-in and controlled by the user. We are confident that this trial will further demonstrate a willingness among mobile customers to accept advertising in exchange for discounts or additional value.”

Using targeted adds to pay for calls has been used by Virgin in the US in a service called SugarMama.