Shop 'Til You Pop: AOL sets its eyes on mobile media

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday zeroed in on mobile ad provider Third Screen Media as the company of the hour, seeing as they are in the midst of talks with AOL Time Warner. And what, might we ask, are they talking about? What else but acquisitions.

 

What I wouldn’t pay to be a fly on the wall at that meeting.

TSM: So, how much will you pay us for, well, us?

AOL: That’s a good question, Third Screen. And we have an answer. How does one dollar sound to you?

TSM: Horrible. This isn’t Ebay. Or The Price is Right. C’mon, we’re worth at least 80mil, plus a couple of Benzes. Don’t play like Microsoft; we wanted their top-secret Vista hacks and they wouldn’t bend, and now you can get them off the Internet. And did you know we’ve got MSNBC in our pockets?

AOL: Okay, then, how about (hem, haw) two dollars?

TSM: You have got to be kidding me. Average mobile campaign budgets have risen practically tenfold, everyone is predicting massive growth of the industry, and you’re sitting here telling me that you’re gonna let us slip through your greasy little fingers? Fine, buddy, we don’t need you. We can do this act alone.

AOL: No, wait. (Mango!) Don’t go.

You get the picture. In the meantime, big guns like Ford are experimenting with mobile campaigns and finding them successful, adding fuel to the fire. The general consensus seems to be that mobile ads are indeed the next big thing, what with geographical targeting and the personal nature of the medium. Dare I say that a consumer in the hand is worth two in the bush?

Still, questions remain standing about how much The People will stand for. Will cell phone banner ads be the next pop-up? Wendy Davis of Mediapost ruses, “For now, mobile ads don't seem to have sparked much of a backlash. But whether consumers will accept such ads after they lose their novelty remains to be seen.”