06 November 2007

People have proven that they're willing to accept ads almost anywhere in
exchange for free services, and thus, ads have popped up everywhere. But one
place they haven't been common is in phone service. VoIP
service JAJAH wants to change that, though, and has introduced a call
advertising platform that allows customers to earn credits toward their phone
calls. JAJAH users could earn enough credits to cover their entire phone call
this way, says the company, and advertisers will have a new way to reach potential
customers.

The opt-in ads come as part of a partnership with Oridian, a privately-owned
ad network that targets international Internet users. "In tests over
the past months we have identified a method to overlay advertising content
on phone calls in a way that users find acceptable," said JAJAH cofounder
Roman Scharf in a statement. That method involves overlaying the audio recording
while the call is connecting, so that it doesn't interrupt the flow of the
phone conversation later on. The ads will be targeted, too—comparing the
JAJAH ad platform to "AdWords for the phone," the company said that
local companies will be able to target JAJAH users that are geographically
local to them instead of a thousand miles away.