Recently I discovered a new game on my cell phone that I have fallen in love with. You know how sometimes you become so engrossed with something that you can't wait to sneak away for just a minute to get your fix? For some people it's a book, texting, whatever. Right now for me it's the cell phone game Draw Something. 

Draw Something is basically Pictionary for your phone. It's a turn based game in which players are connected via internet and draw pictures for the other player to guess. For instance, say your word was "peacock". You would then use your finger (or stylus is you're lucky enough to have a device that supports one) and draw a peacock. When the other player guesses you drawing (or doesn't), they then get to choose a word and draw it for you to guess, and so on. 

Like many Android and iOS apps, Draw Something offers a paid and free version of the software. Being the cheapskate that I am, I opted for the free version. As can be expected, the free version includes ads between turns. For the first couple of days I played, these ads were your run of the mill popup ads for a variety of products and services. Then all of a sudden I got hit with it. After correctly guessing my opponent's picture, an ad popped up. Nothing new here, except this time it was a VIDEO! "Oh no!", I thought. It couldn't be. But it was. And now, in much the same way you sometimes have to wait for a video advertisement to play before a YouTube video will load, I have to watch a Toyota commercial before I can draw a picture of a freaking peacock! 

I guess it was only a matter of time before cell phones were plastered with the same commercials you see on cable television. The major holdup was surely nothing to do with marketers not recognizing the opportunity. It had everything to do with cell phones not being quite powerful enough to support streaming video. This has been going on for years on the internet. What’s the last time you watched a video on CNN.com or Weather.com and not had to sit through a 15 or 30 second ad first? The Android version of Angry Birds brings in over $1 mil of ad revenue per month in the form of banner ads. Imagine how much these developers could ask for if they were to offer video advertising!