• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, December 23, 2011

Mobile video is slated to become a bigger business in 2012, with a number of video ad technology firms upping their mobile offerings.

Companies such as Jivox and Rhythm are aiming to capture more of the ad market in mobile video in the year ahead with new ad formats and technology. eMarketer has predicted  that mobile ad spending in the United States would rise 65% this year to $1.23 billion, and then jump again to $1.8 billion in 2012. Some of that growth will come from video ads, with more players jumping into video marketing messages on mobile phones in the year ahead.

For starters, mobile video ad company Rhythm launched a new in-banner video ad earlier this month. This format essentially lets video ads be inserted anywhere mobile banner ads run, and may make it easier for marketers to take existing online video pre-roll ads and plunk them into mobile campaigns. Rhythm said Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and HTC are two of the first advertisers running campaigns using the mobile video unit. Users can interact with the video ad by tapping on it, with custom buttons allowing for interaction and engagement. They can tap to like on Facebook, to tweet, or to purchase a ticket on Fandango, as examples.

Then there’s Jivox, a video ad technology firm which recently raised $8.2 million in venture funding last month. The company will use the money to grow the use of Jivox’s tools across multiple screens, including mobile.

Look for mobile video to be a big part of multi-screen video advertising in 2012, said Jivox CEO Diaz Nesamoney. “TV advertisers will embrace a multi-screen approach, with interactive video ads arriving on Connected TV devices — introduced first via companion apps on tablets/smartphones and eventually via connected devices like Roku and finally via cable set top boxes,” he said.