Brands such as Toyota and Subway were able to connect football fanatics with branded content and marketing collateral via a sponsorship within Yahoo Inc.?s Fantasy Football mobile properties.

With Toyota specifically, Yahoo integrated the carmaker?s ads into the Fantasy Football application and mobile Web site. The Toyota branding and advertising was front and center as users continually monitored their teams? progress and regularly conducted their trades.

?We have seen eye-popping growth across the Fantasy Football properties,? said Paul Cushman, senior director of mobile sales strategy at Yahoo, Sunnyvale, CA. ?On game day [Sundays], we see a 2.5-times increase in Web page views.

?The value proposition is really strong,? he said. ?Anyone who is a fantasy football fanatic can?t stand being away from it. That is what makes mobile fantasy football?s value proposition so high for consumers.

?We are all about preserving the user experience so we are not just slapping banners all over the place. We focus on rich media pop ups that don?t take away from the experience.?

Campaigns
Clicking-through the banners bring consumers to a branded experience where they can engage more deeply with the marketing collateral that each company provides.

For example, Subway used expandable and animated banner ad units that opened within the application without opening the smartphone?s browser, to promote its $5 footlong sandwiches.

Once users click on Subway?s banner ad, a full-screen landing page opens up within the application, letting users scroll though to view different $5 footlong sandwiches with high-resolution images and detailed descriptions of ingredients.

Toyota's ads relied on a built-in HTML canvas within the application that enabled mobile Web access, to learn more about some of the carmaker?s models.

A static banner ad drove consumers to Toyota?s mobile Web site, which features a dealer locator letting users search by ZIP code and request a quote. It also links to certified used vehicles and lets consumers research various car, truck and SUV models.

Audience engagement
Campaigns such as these not only reach a brand's target audiences, but through integration, they also increase engagement. 

Yahoo claims it saw nearly 2 billion page views during the fantasy football season from September - November 2010.

Android accounted for 21 percent of the 2 billion, with around 400 million application page views.

IPhone accounted for 63 percent with 1.2 billion page views on the application.

The mobile Web accounted for about 16 percent with around 300 million page views. This number represents more than a 10X increase in total mobile Web page views from 2009-2010.

From September 2010 to January 2011, the Fantasy Football destinations saw 1.3 billion ad impressions.

Game day page views increased from six per user in 2009 to 15 per user in 2010.

?I think what is important is that the ads are not detracting from the content or the user experience,? Mr. Cushman said. ?Another thing is that brands are now looking for PC and mobile integration.

?They want to be able to create a concept for online and extend that campaign to mobile,? he said. ?We are able to help them do that seamlessly."