Texting Really Does Pay Off

If you’re a mobile user from the smart phone, preferably those who have an unlimited texting data plan, then texting may actually put money in your pocket. A new Spanish mobile application is offering users money in exchange for texting advertisements to friends.

Chad2Win, a Barcelona-based company and exclusive in Spain, is offering users up to 34 US dollars a month to send messages to their friends. In just under a month since its launch, Chad2Win has lured in close to 100,000 users.

The service is a free one and is the first to actually pay its users. Chad2Win pays a user one cent for every advertisement they see, and three cents for every ad they click on.

Although Chad2Win seems to be striving since the launch, the company needs to be careful for failure that has doomed similar services in the past. Services like these need to find a way to monetize its free offering, and if by chance customers may have to pay in the future, well that could spell doom.

"There's an obvious issue in that the type of person who is that careful with their money is not likely to be that attractive to advertisers," said James Barford, Enders Analysis mobile analyst.

Chad2Win has been able to secure some major sponsors working with Volkswagen, Panasonic (News - Alert) and Caixabank, a Spanish lender.

Viewing and clicking on advertisements seems like an easy way to earn money, but it takes hundreds of clicks to earn the full 34 dollars a month. According to Chad2Win director Fernando Troyano, it would take a user about 800 clicks a month to earn the full amount, so most user’s average anywhere between $6 and $14 a month.