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Yahoo's Grand Mobile Ad Experiment

November 7, 2006 8:39AM

Formatting sites especially for mobile devices has become increasingly popular as more cell phone users buy handheld devices equipped with Internet access, color screens, and other features. In September, an Irish company began a new top level domain, dot-mobi, intended to host only Web sites formatted for cellular phones.

Cell phone users have long been able to use their wireless devices to search the Web, often without the banner ads that adorn sites viewed on a bigger screen. That may soon be changing. On Nov. 7, Yahoo begins testing an advertising platform that will serve up ads specifically tailored to the smaller screens and bandwidth constraints of mobile devices.

Yahoo has offered mobile-phone-compatible versions of its main properties -- such as the Yahoo homepage, e-mail, instant messenger, and finance sites -- since 1999. Unlike sites formatted for a computer screen, the mobile sites didn't previously include banner ads or other forms of interactive sponsor messages. PepsiCo will be among the first advertisers to try the new mobile platform.

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