Starz, a premium cable channel, launched a mobile advertising campaign for its original television series ?Crash? on Zap2it?s expanded version of the What?s On? iPhone application.

The newest version of the What's On? application expands advertising opportunities to include the standard 480 x 55 and 320 x 55 banner units and interstitial units that takeover the device screen as the application is loading. Starz used the interstitial unit to advertise the second season premiere of Crash.

?Mobile is a piece that we?re testing and learning candidly from,? said Kelly Bumann, senior vice president of consumer marketing at Starz, Englewood, CO. ?We like that?s not a completely crowded environment and we can design creative to appeal to people.

?We like that on the iPhone consumers can click and stream video ? that?s good for an entertainment company to get consumers into the sample clip and then connect them to when the show is playing,? she said. ?Mobile offers many of the benefits of online but in more places and it is more convenient because it?s not tethered.?

Starz is a paid cable channel that broadcasts contemporary movies, documentaries and original series such as Crash and ?Party Down.?

Zap2it is an entertainment Web site known for TV and film industry news, as well as multimedia galleries and TV programming listings. Its demographic is males and females between the ages of 18 and 45.

Crashing into mobile
For the Crash campaign, consumers who clicked the screen for more information were transported to an external WAP page with more information on the show. With the newest additions to the application, Zap2it and its developer Napkin Studio have built in the functionality for advertisers to open a WAP page inside the application.

?Starz took advantage of the interstitial, a full-screen takeover that lasts for a short timeframe,? said Rebecca Baldwin, general manager of Zap2it, Chicago. ?They saw that as a primo opportunity to get the brand and the show Crash in front of iPhone users who by nature are tech-savvy, young and fashion-forward.

?The ad came up each time a user entered the application, it looked great and they were very excited by it,? she said. ?It called attention to the fact that Crash was premiering that day of the campaign and it quickly resolved to the listings the user was coming to the application for.

?It was intrusive, but something that users could close as soon as they wanted to.?

Ms. Baldwin said that Zap2it launched the newest additions to the application because of consumer complaints about the application as a whole, especially access to listings.

Besides allowing consumers an easier path to the TV listings, Ms. Baldwin said that Zap2it placed more branding features within the application as well.

Additional new features include The Buzz, an aggregator of Zap2it's TV, movie and celebrity news, show recaps and photo galleries.

Movie showtimes and trailers from Zap2it?s partner ScreenPlay are also available.
Other enhancements include a new user interface, as well as improved search and favorites functionality.

Because of the requests of first-generation application users, a new reminder feature was added. Users can now set alerts on their mobile devices to remind them when their favorite show is airing using the Apple Push Notification Service.

Zap2it said that it plans to extend the application to other smartphone platforms such as the Palm Pre and RIM?s BlackBerry.

Ms. Baldwin said that advertisers, especially TV networks, have shown interest in advertising within the application.

In addition to being where the eyeballs are, Ms. Baldwin said that advertisers like to be associated with the advanced technology that goes into making applications.

Ms. Baldwin said that advertisers have shown particular interest in being on the TV listings page because it is sort of like the point of purchase for a TV viewer, because they are in the application deciding what to watch and the advertiser can be there, influencing the decision.

?We believe iPhone users check the application throughout the day to see what they?re going to watch on TV that night,? Ms. Baldwin said. ?That?s the point when they make a decision, they spend time there and an advertiser wants to be in their face during that decision-making period.

?It?s key for them to have a presence when viewers are deciding what to watch,? she said.