ChaCha has expanded its suite of SMS advertising capabilities with the launch of video-rich MMS ads, which can reach both smartphone and feature-phone users.

The new unit lets advertisers reach almost 90 percent of the market with video ads and images right on their mobile phones. ChaCha claims MMS can help mobile advertisers get the full benefit of the mobile market.

?So now, brands who do mobile advertising with us, can send not only text messaging as part of a relevant, personal conversation to our 16 million ChaCha users - but also they can now send video content to our users on their mobile phones,? said Cat Enagonio, vice president of marketing and client care at ChaCha, Indianapolis, IN.

?Examples of what advertisers can send include things such as an image of a coupon with a bar code for redemption in store, or short video advertisement about a product, insert their logo with a text advertisement and more,? she said.

Reach
Here is an example of how this might be used.

ChaCha gets 1.7 million questions per day on mobile alone. 

So if a user asks, "What was the score of Sunday night's NFL game between the Redskins and the Cowboys?"

As they are waiting for their answer and focused on their mobile device, ChaCha can come back with a clever ad about Vitamin Water's new sports drink with a cool ad video clip to catch their attention, or Nike's latest shoes with a coupon image.

What is most powerful about this service is its reach. 

?MMS allows us and our advertisers to reach people on virtually all phones, as it works on both smartphones and feature phones,? Ms. Enagonio said. ?This is a huge benefit for advertisers.? 

Smartphones are in the adoption phase with 25 percent of the population owning one. 

The 75 percent of the remaining population has some form of a feature phone. 

MMS-based ads let advertisers reach more than 90 percent with video ads and images right on their mobile phones, which is very significant for brands. 

?We are indeed working closely with a couple of our most major current brand advertisers who have found success using text messaging with ChaCha,? Ms. Enagonio said. ?Also we are working with a not-for-profit for a trial of our first MMS delivery. 

?We can't talk about who they are just yet, but are thinking will be news a few weeks out,? she said.

State of MMS
MMS is in the early stages with respect to marketing. 

Approximately 5 billion MMS messages are being sent between users every month.

There are nearly 275 million phones in the U.S. and Canada alone that support MMS, so the users are there and ready to receive this exciting, personal and very engaging form of advertising.

A whopping 3.1 billion phones worldwide in use today are capable of receiving MMS messaging. 

?This is an ideal way for mobile advertisers to put their catchy video ads and rich media content right on virtually every users mobile phone - wherever they are,? Ms. Enagonio said.  

Final take
Giselle Tsirulnik is senior editor of Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily
/>