Mobile Gaming Ad Network Expands

Playing Texas Hold ‘Em, Blackjack or even Funky Monkey on a mobile phone, and serving ads to those who play the games, just got easier thanks to a partnership between San Francisco-based Greystripe, operator of a mobile gaming ad network, and Singapore-based BuzzCity.

Greystripe has added BuzzCity, which offers wireless community services, to its AdWrap mobile advertising network. As part of the deal, Greystripe will now provide a library of 400 mobile games and applications from its GameJump.com portal to BuzzCity’s youth-focused myGamma.com Web community. MyGamma.com boasts 1.5 million users in Americam, Asia and Europe, according to Michael Chang, co-founder and CEO Greystripe.

“For Greystripe it’s not enough for us to be a great advertising format, but we have to provide the reach, and this is part of the solution,” said Chang. “The biggest challenge in mobile is getting the wide distribution. It’s instant exposure to [BuzzCity’s] mobile community.”

Greystripe launched its mobile ad network last May, then landed its first partner in December with ProGames Network. BuzzCity is its second.

Mobile gaming has been seen as a particularly busy space, with some pundits predicting $4.4 billion dollar revenues within three years time, though the majority of play happens with downloadable games.

Neither Greystripe or BuzzCity have formal relationships with wireless carriers and have instead built their businesses “off deck,” according to Chang, but he said, “we feel that the full screen ad in a rich application gets you a strong brand impression that leads to higher conversation rates.”