Virgin Mobile USA: Ads for free minutes

Virgin Mobile USA is teaming up with Microsoft's XBox, Pepsi and the anti-smoking "Truth Out" campaign to offer its subscribers free voice minutes in exchange for watching advertisements on Virgin's Web site and then answering a few questions about the ads. The service is called SugarMama because users can decide which ad or ads they'd like to watch, making that particular sponsor their "SugarMama." One 30-second ad followed by a few multiple choice questions answered online or through SMS buys the user one minute of free airtime. That's about a minute of your time for a minute of free airtime. The service beats recently unveiled Xero Mobile, the MVNO that plans to offer ad-supported, free airtime minutes to the punch. Virgin says it expects 60 percent of its customers to participate in the program in some capacity, but promised its advertisers at least 30,000 of its 4 million subscribers will take part.

For more on Virgin Mobile USA's ad-supported airtime:
- see this analytical article from BusinessWeek