AdAge.com, on a roll recently, published an interesting article this week regarding cell phone advertising. The punch line: “Despite the glowing predictions of the wireless industry, advertising and cellphone-based content distribution do not appear to be jelling well yet.”

Is it possible for cell phone advertising to be an effective segment of an ad buy? Sure. We’ve proven, however, that one of the key elements maximizing advertiser ROI is the context in which the ad is delivered. Our advertisers stay with us because our model is effective. Time-shifted advertising delivers ads to the user when it’s contextually relevant to do so and advertisers get qualified leads as a result. For example, if I’m searching for an iPod online and am delivered the website of retailer who can show me various offers on iPods, I’ll clearly see value in that advertisement – comparison shopping at its best.

Can you remember what ads you saw last night when you were watching American Idol? I can’t either, because I wasn’t looking to make any purchasing decisions at the time (and, no, it wasn’t because Gedeon McKinney got voted off too soon . . . although he did). Even worse, for those out there who TiVo or utilize a cable-company DVR feature, the advertising segments are simply the cue to hit the fast-forward button. What’s the ROI on that advertising?

It will indeed be interesting to see what the future holds for cell phone advertising and if advertisers can ever receive substantial enough ROI to justify the spend.

Stay tuned…