The agreement with Mogo, which expects to launch a video-on-demand-type operation in about two months, allows the media agency to sell advertising spots on the service. Mogo has allocated 15 seconds to advertising out of a two-minute clip, which will feature a variety of content highlights, from news to entertainment and sport.
The company's founder Kenny Bloom said the service - initially based on a subscriber pays model - had changed to an advertising-driven format during its four-year development phase.
"There are already over eight million users of China Mobile's Montrenet service, which is a flat fee, virtually unlimited GPRS data service that enables Mogo to deliver content," said MindShare/Maxus China managing partner Quinn Taw.
Bloom expected the cost of a 15-second spot to be at par with a 30-second primetime ad slot on Shanghai or Beijing TV. Explaining the higher cost, he said the service was more targeted and would allow advertisers to customise spots to fit a subscriber's demographic. "We're not reinventing the wheel but sending the signal to a smaller box, the handset," said Bloom, who helped launch Warner Music in the late 1980s.
Mogo is currently in partnership talks with local and international content providers, including television stations, for content, but Bloom said it was premature to disclose their names.
Bloom said the market would initially comprise urban males, 35 years and up in executive positions. "The service is most relevant to busy executives ... and as our research is finding, they are the hardest to reach with traditional media," said Taw.
As the cost of high-speed connections and handset prices fall, Bloom expected the demographic would skew younger and towards females.