SAN DIEGO - A Yahoo Mobile executive said that mobile advertising has been growing despite the economy during a keynote address at CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2009: Mobile Business.

Yahoo also unveiled the next phase in its efforts to deliver personally relevant Internet experiences to mobile users worldwide by showcasing the new Yahoo mobile homepage during the keynote address. The presentation covered the growth of mobile Web usage and Yahoo?s various ad-supported mobile properties, including search, applications and the mobile Web site.

?Many of the barriers that have hindered mobile growth are starting to break down,? said David Ko, senior vice president at Yahoo Mobile, Sunnyvale, CA. ?Challenges remain, but the mobile ecosystem has gotten better.

?The economy has been a challenge, but mobile advertising has been growing and will continue to grow substantially over the next few years,? he said. ?Leading brands from sectors as diverse as automotive, CPG and finance are coming to mobile and no longer just testing the waters, they are investing in mobile campaigns repeatedly

?Mobile offers these brands audience extension.?

As a leading Web brand on the mobile Internet in the U.S., Yahoo reaches more than 35 million unique users per month, according to a June 2009 comScore report, and millions more worldwide.

U.S. mobile Internet growth has been healthy, with total mobile Internet users growing 45 percent from June 2007 to June of this year. In comparison, the number of total Yahoo mobile users has grown 54 percent over that same time period, according to Mr. Ko.

Yahoo has also launched mobile applications for Apple?s iPhone and RIM?s BlackBerry, including Fantasy Football, Flickr and Finance, all of which are ad-supported.

?So why is Yahoo so focused on mobile?? Mr. Ko said. ?Yahoo has 500 million users each month on the PC Internet, and our goal is to let each and every one of them access the Internet on their mobile device if they choose to.

?On the mobile front, we?re tapping into that audience to mobilize key Yahoo properties,? he said. ?We want to build great mobile services for consumers and advertisers.

?As the Web continues to evolve, we?ll see a shift in the industry, but we don?t believe that the mobile experience will take over the PC experience, instead we believe it will complement that experience.?

Yahoo upgrades mobile site
Yahoo?s mobile homepage at http://m.yahoo.com is available across 32 territories. The upgrade is part of the $100-plus million Yahoo is investing in core product enhancements.

Usage of Yahoo?s mobile homepage has grown more than three times over the past two years.

The goal of the redesign was to simplify and enhance the mobile Internet experience for people worldwide by offering an open environment where consumers can bring together their favorite content and services from across the Internet.

Yahoo increased the reach of its new mobile homepage, which now supports more than 1,900 different mobile devices, a fivefold increase from its April 2009 debut.

Over the last two years, from August 2007 to August 2009, Yahoo has seen usage of the mobile homepage grow by more than three times worldwide.

Additionally, Yahoo has optimized the mobile site for consumers with more powerful mobile devices such as the iPhone, Palm Pre and Android-based handsets.

Some of the mobile homepage enhancements introduced for these devices include dynamically updated content with pagination. Without using additional screen real estate or refreshing, users are able to access a variety of content.

For example, the ?Today? module now surfaces ten of the leading stories from around the Web and gives users access to 48 of the top news, business, sports and entertainment articles via consumers? smartphones.

An enhanced RSS reader now supports photos with captions and adds the ability to scroll through more headlines from favorite feeds without having to refresh content.

Enhanced mobile video integration lets consumers watch streaming video with one click.

Featured mobile video content includes the Yahoo-produced Tech Ticker, a rundown of the latest financial news, and Prime Time in No Time, a recap of last night?s TV shows, as well as news, entertainment and sports videos from the Associated Press.

Yahoo also made enhanced movie results a priority. Movie posters now show consumers what is playing at a theatre near them, and with a few clicks they can watch the trailer, read reviews from Yahoo and Rotten Tomatoes and even buy tickets from participating theatres, all directly from their mobile device.

Consumers can now customize their mobile Internet experience through the ability to discover via results from Yahoo's mobile search and editor-selected content.

Visitors to Yahoo?s mobile site have access to email and social networking accounts from various Web providers, as well as instant messaging, address book and calendar tools.

Consumers can also bring together into a single location their favorite content such as Web sites, sports teams, news sources, local content, RSS feeds, weather, stocks and horoscopes.

However, the most relevant enhancement for marketers may be to the mobile ad units that Yahoo offers.

?If you clicked on an ad in the past, you may not have had the best experience, because it would actually open the browser and kick you out of the application,? Mr. Ko said. ?Today, we are offering brands expandable ads.?

Mr. Ko demonstrated the ad unit by pulling up an example from Jaguar.

?These are larger ad units that expand and contract without hindering the overall user experience,? he said. ?When consumers close the landing page, they are returned to the content they were viewing previously.

"We want to make it easier for you to access the services that are most relevant to you however, wherever and whenever you want to."