Updated on Wednesday, November 08, 2006, 00:00 IST

San Francisco, Nov 08: Yahoo Inc. is to begin delivering graphical ads to mobile phones as part of a test of how it can extend corporate brand marketing on the Web into the wireless market, the company said on Monday.

The Internet media company said it will start an initial public evaluation later this week in the United States of slimmed-down banner ads and similar advertising to the small, but growing number of users of Yahoo's Mobile Web service.

"The challenge is that because cellphone screens have limited real estate, ads have to more relevant," said Julie Ask, an analyst with JupiterResearch.

"There is an extra burden" compared to ads delivered to computer users on the Web.

The brand advertising trial comes a month after Yahoo began a parallel test to deliver relevant text advertisements tied to searches phone users can perform on mobile Web browsers. That test is taking place in the United States and Britain.

Banners ads are nothing new on cellphones. Start-ups like Third Screen Media of Boston already work with ad agencies, buyers and mobile carriers to deliver ads to wireless users.

But as more and more U.S. mobile phone users own phones with fast Internet access, major Internet players are eyeing the market. On the computer Web, Yahoo is the largest provider of image-based, brand advertising and the No. 2 supplier of online search advertising behind rival Google Inc..

It's a potentially lucrative market.

Bureau Report