Ad-funded mobile games firm gives away... free ads!

Australian ad-funded mobile games firm Thumb Doctor Games has announced that it'll be giving away free ads on its network for the rest of 2008.

The company runs a network of mobile games including online rankings and tournaments, with players able to win prizes. The company develops its own games, as well as distributing those of other developers.

The company reckons it can deliver targeted demographics of users, right down to targeting players by their favourite drink or genre of music.

The company will be giving advertisers up to $1,000 of ads for free until the end of this year. "The aim is to increase awareness and position the network as an effective mobile advertising tool by encouraging advertisers to use the service," says boss William Bakhos.

"We can confidently guarantee a CTR of over five per cent and so far many advertisers have consistently seen rates well above that".

Bakhos says that more than 110,000 mobile games have been downloaded in the last two months, with 150,000 unique plays (which makes it sound like a lot of gamers are only playing a game once).

However, Thumb Doctor is targeting new platforms too, including iPhone and other smartphones.