The Weather Network is launching of WeatherEye Mobile for Windows Mobile and Google Android this week. Available on both iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones, the free app offers bows instant weather updates across North America including weather warnings and related info like flight tracking, traffic and seasonal reports, like as golf and ski.
Reaching 887,700 uniques a month (according to Nielsen Q2 Mobile Internet Report) and 13.3 million monthly page views (according to Omniture July 2009), the mobile site is the third most popular mobile site according to Nielsen, after Windows Live Mail and Google.
Cross platform promotion opps are available across The Weather Network’s website, desktop apps and TV offerings, and can be delivered through a number a variables ranging from age and gender, city, time of day or even weather conditions.
‘There no better time to advertise a sale on snow tires than during one of our active weather alerts or a new product launch for a QSR targeted around lunch hour,’ Mark Thompson, director of mobile at The Weather Network tells MiC. ‘Our applications and mobile websites are a great opportunity for advertisers who are looking for the greatest reach in Canada, as well as for those who have very specific demographic targeting needs.’
Feature sections on the mobile site like Golf are currently sponsored by Acura, and its Bug section is currently sponsored by S.C. Johnson’s OFF.
‘We designed the ad units on the application with both the advertiser and the user in mind,’ says Thompson, adding that unlike most applications where the ad unit is at the top, these ads are placed near the bottom, just above the navigation buttons. Thompson says the position offers the greatest viewing opportunity for advertisers without affecting the user from getting the weather info they came to the app for. ‘We had a number of repeat advertisers,’ says Thompson, ‘and we’ve seen advertisers continue to advance their spend and commitment to mobile with constantly improving mobile jump pages and microsites which link from the banner ads on our apps and mobile websites.’
