Google expands ad tests

2006-11-16 13:50

San Francisco - Google Inc said on Wednesday that it has expanded its mobile internet-advertising tests to cellphone subscribers in eight additional countries, including China and several major European nations.

The ads apparently will appear whenever someone in those countries use a cellphone's internet capability to access a site or to search via Google's engine, the company announced on Wednesday.

It would not detail whether it had made deals with mobile-service providers.

But in expanding its cellphone advertising initiative, Google is attempting to expand the reach of its advertisers and online features beyond websites and personal computers.

It's also going after the $11bn that advertisers are expected to spend on mobile marketing by 2011, according to a recent report by the telecom division of Informa Group.

Google began testing text-only advertisements sent to cellphones earlier this year in the United States, as well as Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom.

As of Wednesday, Google said that it has added China, the world's largest cellphone market, as well as Australia, France, India, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

"The tests will enable a wider range of advertisers to reach users with relevant information when they're on the go," Google spokesperson Erin Fors said in an e-mail.

"For example, when users search for ringtones, they may see an ad to purchase or download one of the latest ringtones, directly from their mobile device."

Google joins a growing number of internet heavyweights focusing more intently on cellphone advertising.

The company's chief competitor, Yahoo - which considers itself a leading provider of advertisements that appear on cellphones - recently began testing graphical cellphone ads, claiming to have once again one-upped Google.

- Dow Jones