Personalised mobile advertising and video streaming specialists Ad Infuse and Minick are launching Switzerland’s first ad supported video service. Rather than paying a download or subscription fee to receive video, Swisscom Mobile customers can get video on demand content supported by 10-20 second ads at the beginning and end of each programme. A comedy channel pilot has launched and music and sports will follow.

Stephen Upstone, Ad Infuse MD for European business development tells us:

“The potential for mobile marketing in video is immense - projected to hit $1 billion within five years. And the European market is virtually untapped. This is a great opportunity to lead the way in developing the European mobile video market and to bring quality content supported by personalised advertising to mobile subscribers. Ad supported mobile video is ready to take off. Consumers want anytime/anywhere access to quality content. As history has proven, supporting that content with advertising is a very efficient and effective way to give it to them.”

Canon, Peugeot and Sony-Ericsson are amongst the international advertisers participating, with local advertisers taking up the rest. Ad Infuse does the personalisation trickery, whilst Minick operates the back end infrastructure.

Marius Dano, Strategy Manager at Swisscom, tells us:

“Ad supported video is a strong proposition for consumers, advertisers and content providers. We look for it to bring new customers to mobile video and help existing customers find more content to enjoy.”