How Could American Idol Be American Ideal?

While I think American Idol has done a great job promoting text messaging, I think they are missing a huge opportunity for mobile marketing.

From IndyStar American Idol a Cingular sensation

No matter who triumphs in this year's "American Idol" competition, Cingular Wireless may be the biggest winner.

Cingular Wireless is making out better than any of the contestants in the nationally televised talent show because of the boost it gets in text messaging from customers who vote for their favorite performer.

Cingular has an exclusive deal with the show's producers that lets its customers text in their votes instead of trying to call in on often-busy lines.

Last season, 41.5 million text votes were sent in; Cingular charges $19.99 per month for a text package with 2,500 messages included and 10 cents per message on a pay-as-you-go plan, meaning the company raked in as much as $4.15 million in text messaging fees from "American Idol" votes alone last year.

41.5 potential interactive mobile ads. Think of the potential advertisers could have with this.

Let's say of the 41.5 there's 5 million individuals. How much would an advertiser pay for this data? What could they do with this?

$4.15 million is peanuts compared to a creative mobile campaign.