LAS VEGAS - Mobile effectively extends the reach of traditional, Internet and in-game advertising, according to Microsoft's keynote at the CTIA Wireless 2009: Mobile Life conference.

For example, research shows that leading Internet sites that have a presence on the mobile Internet can extend their reach by 13 percent. The software giant also discussed its current mobile strategy and its vision of the future of the mobile space.

"We see a huge growth curve for mobile advertising, the traditional hockey stick for new businesses," said Dan Schiappa, general manager of mobile and in-game advertising for Microsoft, Redmond, WA. "Mobile provides the ability to measure the success of campaigns, and it has scale -- there are large numbers of mobile consumers.

"This is the start of mobile advertising as a critical business, and it spans across the PC Internet, gaming devices and traditional media -- mobile is an extension of all of those," he said.

Microsoft is the exclusive search and advertising provider for Verizon Wireless, MSNBC and CNBC Mobile, and it has its own mobile platforms such as Windows Live, MSN and Live Search.

Microsoft is a proponent of a three-screen strategy for advertisers.

"Push advertisers to sell across PCs, mobile and TV/gaming," Mr. Schiappa said. "One campaign across all three environments will help brands maximize audience reach and relevance.

"The industry needs to simplify cross-platform media buys and extend innovation across platforms," he said.

There are more than 270 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. Recent surveys indicate that 92 percent of subscribers cannot get through the day without using their mobile phone and more than 34 million mobile consumers in the U.S. user their mobile device to view the Web.

"What's driving rapid growth of the mobile medium is the availability of more quality content, advances in handsets, both hardware and software, that make for smarter devices and a better user experience, and better connectivity from 3G networks and WiFi, making it easier for users to consumer more mobile media," Mr. Schiappa said.

As consumers continue to discover the connected nature of wireless, advertisers are also drawn to the personal, interactive and effective options that mobile affords.

"Microsoft's mobile media vision is useful, entertaining and engaging -- mobile advertising has to be one of those three things or consumers will be turned off," Mr. Schiappa said. "The mobile phone is the last bastion of privacy, but when we explain the types of ads we're thinking about, many consumers say ?That would actually be valuable to me.'

"We have to drive innovation to enable that vision, leverage advertising across the entire R&D and flesh out the mobile aspects," he said. "We have to innovate across the mobile ecosystem."

For advertisers and agencies, that means providing accurate measurement and a single view across media buys. For publishers, that means providing robust targeting and enhanced reach. For developers, that means enabling innovation and rich experiences. And for carriers and OEMs, that means providing differentiated experiences and new revenue streams.

Microsoft's vision of the future involves exposing consumers to advertising messages wherever they may be.

When consumers unlock an Xbox achievement, they could receive coupons as an extension of the mobile advertising ecosystem.

When consumers see a movie poster, they could use Microsoft's mTag technology to view a trailer, send it to friends, then see locations of movie theaters and show times and buy movie tickets, all from their handset.

As consumers walk through a mall, they could get mobile alerts of sales and coupons then use their phone to find out where items are located in a certain store. A mobile barcode scan could help a consumer find out if there's a nearby store that has better prices.

Microsoft believes that carriers are looking for new revenue streams, and that the solution is ad-funded experiences for subscribers.

"Carriers are interested in increasing subscribers and reducing churn with enhanced services," Mr. Schiappa said. "To build loyalty with consumers, carriers can provide them with cash back or 10 free SMS messages to engage with advertising.

"If done right, this would create sticky environments for consumers," he said.

In closing, Microsoft issued an industry call-to-action: Create engaging experiences that value the privacy of consumers.

"We have to make consumers trust us and be self-regulated, and we have to provide new, innovative experiences," Mr. Schiappa said. "We can't continue with WAP banner ads, because people don't see a lot of value in them.

"If you provide entertaining, engaging and useful experiences, then end users will adore it," he said. "This is the beginning of the explosion of mobile advertising.

"The industry is ready to rally around us to help this business explode."