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March 27, 2007

Today Yahoo announces the availability of its Mobile Publisher Services in an effort to help publishers increase the distribution and monetization of their Web content on cell phones.

Now Yahoo's publishers will have access to the Yahoo Mobile Ad Network, Mobile Content Engine, Mobile Media Directory and the Yahoo Mobile Site Submit.

Yahoo's new Mobile Publisher Services are part of the company’s initiative to deliver tools to advertisers, publishers and network operators. The goal of this initiative is to enable the growth of the mobile Web, in an effort to benefit consumers, publishers and advertisers alike.

Steve Boom, senior v.p. of mobile and broadband services at Yahoo said "We have become a leader in the global mobile Internet by leveraging the reach and popularity of our innovative mobile services for consumers, and Yahoo's competitive expertise in digital advertising."

Boom added "now, we are enabling publishers to grow their own mobile businesses by taking advantage of Yahoo's unique experience in technology and services.” For its part, the Yahoo Mobile Ad Network will allow mobile publishers to have syndicated advertising served on their mobile content and services. Publishers will be able to select the ad formats they want to have run, such as display, sponsored links, video or in-game placements.

"By bringing together the global audiences of Yahoo’s popular mobile services with those of participating publishers, we will create a combined pool of valuable inventory," said Boom. The company will use its leading global sales force and proven ad-serving technology to sell and serve this valuable inventory to leading advertisers.

Launch partners in the Yahoo Mobile Ad Network include Mobi-TV, the global leader in mobile and broadband television and music services, Opera, a provider of Web browsers for mobile devices, and go-2, the location-enabled mobile content network in the United States.

The first advertisements will go live in the second quarter of this year. Yahoo plans to expand the number of partners in the Yahoo Mobile Ad Network over the coming months. The company has established a leadership position in global mobile advertising and is already working with advertisers, publishers and operators to create new revenue streams.

Last month, Yahoo launched its mobile display advertising platform on its Yahoo Mobile Web service in 19 countries. In October of last year, Yahoo also launched search advertisements in beta in the U.S. and U.K. The Yahoo Mobile Content Engine will enable publishers to bring their content to Yahoo’s mobile audience. It will also help enable publishers who do not have a mobile site or only have a limited mobile offering to quickly distribute their content to consumers on their mobile phones.

The company's Mobile Content Engine will allow publishers to create their own content, such as listings or articles, discoverable to consumers by integrating it into Yahoo OneSearch™.

As an example, a real estate company could publish a list of homes for sale, enabling a consumer to find them and get the detailed listing information they need all through Yahoo's oneSearch. The Yahoo Mobile Media Directory will allow publishers to make their mobile media content accessible directly through Yahoo's oneSearch. Publishers could submit a catalog of their content such as ringtones, games, video and applications.

Yahoo Mobile Media Directory will combine Yahoo’s editorial expertise, innovative search technology and the power of ratings and reviews from the Yahoo community to drive discovery of mobile media. As an example, a mobile game publisher could submit a list of its games, enabling a user to more easily discover the game, get relevant information like ratings and reviews all through Yahoo's oneSearch, as well as go to the publishers’ mobile site to get the game in question.

The Yahoo Mobile Site Submit will allow publishers to provide information about their mobile site, such as a description and relevant tags, to ensure that their sites are accurately indexed and available to consumers through the Yahoo oneSearch feature.

For example, a hotel could submit their mobile site, including description tag, enabling weekend travelers to find their location and see if they still have rooms available through Yahoo's oneSearch.

The Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services will go live today across nineteen countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.K., the U.S. and Vietnam.

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Source: Yahoo press release