Vodafone Italia has selected Amobee Media Systems to offer ad-funded mobile video content to the operators 29.1 million customers. The service, called FreeVideo, enables Vodafone Italia UMTS users to access a wide range of high-quality, local and branded video content for free, in return for receiving relevant commercial messages from major brands. Two of the first brands to sign up to the service are the charity group ActionAid and the global media company RCS Media Group. 
Amobee is providing the centralised ad-server to seamlessly integrate relevant and dynamic commercial messages. The launch of the service follows recent similar deals with Vodafone in Spain, Greece and the Czech Republic, where the company is enabling ad-funded peer-to-peer SMS messages and games, as well as advertising on Vodafone Live!
Amobee and Vodafone Italia say they have brought together a best-of-breed set of partners to enable the launch of FreeVideo. QuickPlay Media, which specialises in the management and delivery of Mobile TV and video services, is powering streaming video content with its OpenVideo service delivery platform. QuickPlay is also enabling dynamic real-time stitching of ads provided by the Amobee platform and FreeVideo content.
Dada Ad, the ad agency business of community and entertainment services company Dada, is responsible for recruiting and managing the relationship with advertisers aiming to run rich-media, tactical campaigns on mobile. Dada Ad has been successfully selling mobile campaigns for Vodafone Italia since March 2007.
UMTS users with a video-enabled handset can opt-in to watch free news, sport, comedy and music clips from media brands such as e-Class, Dorna and Digital Magics. Amobee instantly processes the users profile and contextual information and selects a relevant pre-roll video ad, followed by the video content and then a post-roll ad.
Weve been rolling out new and exciting mobile advertising deals with Vodafone across Europe, says Amobee CEO, Zohar Levkovitz. Vodafone Italy is the latest step in a very successful relationship. Ad-funded video services enable operators to develop a new revenue opportunity as brands make use of mobile as a channel to reach audiences. It also allows users to watch mobile video for free. Vodafone is really making great strides in maximising the potential of this.