Virgin Mobile taps AOL Platform-A for display ads

By Gabrielle Kalika

May 22, 2008

Ring me and I'll ring you back

AOL and Virgin Mobile USA said that Platform-A will be the exclusive display advertising and sales partner for Virgin Mobile USA’s WAP banner ad inventory.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Platform-A sales force will manage Virgin Mobile USA’s WAP banner inventory, while fully leveraging Platform-A’s Third Screen Media mobile ad serving platform to reach people ages 14-34. Third Screen Media is a business unit of Platform-A. 

“This is the first time we've put ads on our WAP deck because we know people do not want to be bombarded on this very intimate screen they carry with them everywhere,” said Jayne Wallace, head of corporate communications for Virgin Mobile USA, Warren, NJ.

“For other programs in the future that would place ads in front of eyeballs on the mobile screen, we will look to make them opt-in and provide some value to the customer,” she said.

Virgin Mobile USA claims to have more than 5 million subscribers and is one of the largest mobile virtual network operators in the United States.

The ad platform comes from Third Screen Media, which was bought by AOL last year.

Advertisers using AOL’s Platform-A can target consumers using AOL consumer brands such as AIM, Moviefone, MapQuest, TMZ and AOL.com. AOL’s content network lets advertisers get their message across multiple networks, including display, mobile, video, search and affiliate.

Platform A integrates sales for Advertising.com, AOL-run sites, Tacoda, Third Screen Media and AdTech.

Also, Platform-A includes Quigo, a site and content-targeted advertising business and AdTech, a leading international online ad-serving business based in Frankfurt, Germany.

Virgin Mobile USA advertises its mobile services on partial owner Sprint’s network.

“Similarly to when the Internet launched, everyone had to experiment with different revenue or business models to find the ones that made sense and were good business,” Ms. Wallace said.

“We're at that point now with mobile advertising - we're experimenting," she said. "In five years, hopefully, we'll have developed programs that benefit advertisers, carriers and consumers."