News Corp. debuts ad-funded MySpace Mobile Web

Fox Interactive Media announced an advertising-funded mobile incarnation of its social networking service MySpace, part of parent company News Corp.'s wider bid to generate ad revenues via the mobile web. Fox Interactive Media already offers a premium MySpace Mobile service via operators including AT&T, Helio and Vodafone--the new ad-supported service set to launch Monday will operate across all U.S. carriers and will enable subscribers to send and receive messages and friend requests, comment on photos, post alerts, update blogs, and find and search for friends. At launch Fox Interactive Media will focus on sponsorships and banner ads, but eventually will move to more targeted advertising based on user registration data--local ads based on GPS data are also scheduled to follow. 

"The MySpace Mobile Web significantly lowers the barrier of entry for all MySpace users to access their profiles on-the-go," said Amit Kapurfor, MySpace VP of business development. "An ad-supported MySpace offering is a major component of our mobile monetization strategy and we look forward to broadly offering this industry leading roll-out to advertisers."

In addition to the free MySpace service, Fox Interactive Media will introduce ad-funded mobile versions of FoxSports.com, gaming site IGN, movie site RottenTomatoes.com and AskMen.com--several local TV affiliates will also launch free sites, and in the weeks ahead, image-sharing site Photobucket will make its mobile debut as well. FIM will partner with mobile advertising network Millennial Media to both sell and serve mobile-based ads, with a limited number of MySpace charter sponsorships available during the next few months.

For more on the ad-funded MySpace service:
- read this release
- and this Baltimore Sun article

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