Answering almost a billion questions, with an average of 2 million a day, ChaCha, one of the largest free answer services, seeks to expands its services to MMS by distributing ads, content and coupons to users using mobile phones.  ChaCha has 15 million users at the moment. The platform’s new features give you the ability to:

• Send coupon images, complete with barcodes, to consumers
• Launch rich media content, including video, to consumers
• Use barcodes within their coupons for instant redemption
• Message information about contests
• Segment users according to location, handset type or interests

What sparked the idea? Text services has proven itself to be more than mere SMS functionality.  Though multimedia-enabled devices only occupy a small 25 percent of the total mobile-user population, multimedia messages reach up to 5 billion per month.  Most mobile devices can view MMS, and many of the phones in the US since 2008 have access to MMS. From ChaCha CEO Scott Jones:

“Many marketers view sight, sound and motion as major enhancements to their brand’s message, and we are now in the ideal position to support these objectives in mobile channels. Smartphones have whetted the consumer’s appetite for mobile, rich-media content. MMS allows media to finally reach virtually all mobile phones in a way that advertisers can have their messages seen and heard.”

Consumers will only receive requested contents and can opt to watch some ads while waiting.  Having these opt-in features are key for a tool like this, especially as ChaCha looks to layer in more functionality with its search tools.  The hyper-local discount trends are really picking up for the mobile sector, and it’s something we’ll see incorporated into several industry paths in the coming year or so.