SIA in web-based telephony first

SINGAPORE - Singapore Airlines has become the first company to place advertising on MediaRing Talk, a new medium for targeting web-based phone users.

The new technology allows the airline to place ads on a display that appears when users make free, over-the-internet phone calls with MediaRing Talk, a service similar to Skype.

The company claims to be the only medium to make the technology available to advertisers to date.

Advertisers can buy a placement on the "skin" of the display, typically for 60-seconds, with two rotating banners.

The cost per placement is five US cents. For a minimum buy of 100,000 placements or 100,000 minutes, an advertiser will pay US$5,000.

Campaigns are measured based on click-through, which is calculated by the number of calls made or the number of banner impressions served.

MediaRing processes around 400,000 minutes of talk time per day, and has a registered user-base of more than a million. The service allows free phone calls to eight destinations so far.