LOS ANGELES – MySpace, the social networking platform, is launching a new, ad-supported mobile web site that will be free to users on mobile devices, Fox Interactive Media (FIM) announced Monday.
The new MySpace Mobile Web service will be available to consumers this week, with additional sites coming in the months ahead for the company’s other web brands.
“Accessing the Internet from a mobile phone will soon be as common as text messaging and voice calling, and it’s FIM’s goal to deliver these new free, ad-supported experiences as additional options for our users,” said John Smelzer, Senior Vice President and GM of Mobile for Fox Interactive Media, a division of News Corp.
The launch of the mobile site marks the first time that FIM has delivered ad possibilities to marketers looking to reach Internet users on mobile devices, the company said in a statement.
The MySpace Mobile Web and additional FIM sites will offer users free content, tools, and services that were previously available only to paid subscribers.
“It significantly lowers the barrier of entry for all MySpace users to access their profiles on-the-go,” said Amit Kapur, VP of business development for MySpace. “An ad-supported MySpace offering is a major component of our mobile monetization strategy and we look forward to broadly offering this roll-out to advertisers.”
FIM has partnered with Millennial Media, a mobile advertising network, to both sell and serve mobile-based ads, which includes custom sponsorship packages within MySpace and more traditional display-based ads with other FIM properties, such as IGN, FOXSports.com, AskMen and RottenTomatoes.com.
In conjunction with Millennial Media, FIM will sell a limited number of charter sponsorships within MySpace’s new mobile site over the next several months and open all advertising inventory by the end of the calendar year.
Within the new site, free functionality will include the ability to send and receive MySpace messages and friend requests, comment on pictures and profiles, post bulletins; update blogs, find and search for friends, and view or change mood status.
