The idea of consumers urgently wanting more information from an advertiser on a mobile TV show may seem far-fetched, but that action will grow into a $419 million global market by 2012, researchers at MultiMedia Intelligence predict.

“A call-to-action is a feature that allows one to get more information or to communicate with the advertiser while the advertisement is playing.  For example, if you see an advertisement for the latest car, you would press the call to action button and an SMS text could be sent to your phone with the nearest dealership or a dealer could send you more information,” wrote Chief Research Officer Frank Dickson.

Cell phones are bad at video compared to TVs, but good at communications.  So it makes sense for advertisers to use the latter feature to augment the former, he said.  That kind of advertising will happen first in North America, later becoming prevalent in Asia, he said.

The company also found that by 2012, total mobile TV and video advertising revenue will exceed $1 billion, based on subscriptions exceeding $14 billion.