Startup Dunia

With a user base of 100 million+ and one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world, it comes as little surprise that tech pundits view the mobile platform as the key to being successful in India. The adoption and subsequent success of mobile advertising will play a key role in shaping the future of the mobile platform.

The biggest gripe with mobile advertising is that people find it intrusive. While several others try to find an ideal, non-intrusive approach, adMAD.mobi seems to be taking an innovative,revenue sharing approach with their users. adMAD is a venture from a Delhi based startup, TechnoApex Software.

The concept is simple. When you sign up for the service, you provide the site with your interests and preferences. They will then send you SMS ads for which you get paid. Well, the buck doesnt stop there. You can invite your friends and family to use the service. For each SMS they receive, you make money too. When any of their friends gets an SMS, you again get paid. So on, till the fifth degree of separation. Hopefully, the breakup below will illustrate the point:

• Get 20 paise for each SMS you receive
• Get 15 paise for each SMS your friends receive
• Get 10 paise for each SMS their friends receive
• Get 5 paise for each SMS their friends receive
• Get 1 paisa for each SMS their friends receive

I could not take the service for a test drive myself because they need a India based mobile number to complete the registration. Their current user base stands at 39,453 registered users. Its just been two weeks since they went live and so their advertiser base seems to be relatively small as of now. They have been extensively marketing the service via Orkut and word of mouth.

I think adMAD’s concept and implementation are simply brilliant. If people can make money simply for receiving SMS’es, I’m sure a lot of them will not mind the intrusive nature of the ads. Moreover, adMAD grows virally because there’s a monetary incentive for existing users to rope in other users to the service. As of now they are self funded and seem to be growing really fast. The one thing about which I couldnt find any information on the site is if the users can temporarily opt-out or not receive SMS’es. Another thing that caught my eye is the following point in their Anti-Spam policy:

However adMAD.mobi does not take responsibility of any user participating in spamming activities using adMAD’s name and resources

None the less, any and all such issues are minor points which will get addressed once the service matures.

My gut feeling is that this service is going to be very,very popular - that is, if adMAD team can continue roping in advertisers and deliver on its promise to pay the users. After all, if I get one SMS in 2-4 days, it directly impacts the money I make from the service. So, one of the key aspects to their success - to get as many advertisers as possible.