NEW YORK-The Wireless Advertising Association released the first few parts of its standards and measurements for mobile advertising, which the association hopes will become accepted as industrywide guidelines.
The standards cover advertising through short message service messages sent over GSM networks. The standards define the difference between a full message-which consists of 160 characters-and a sponsorship-which consists of 34 characters.
In addition, the association defined a variety of advertising guidelines for the wireless industry, including users’ permission levels, devices’ screen characteristics and the potential audience an advertiser can expect. The definitions will be used to smooth over the still unclear process of selling and buying wireless advertisements.
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The potential for electronic advertising is huge, some industry watchers say, with some estimates pegged at $16 billion by 2005. However, wireless advertising still faces a variety of hurdles before it will become accepted, many agree.
The WAA said it will continue to release more standards and definitions in the coming months, including those for advertising on personal digital assistants and through WAP and i-mode devices.