Would you watch a few commercials on your mobile phone in exchange for free calling minutes? How about listening to a brief advertisement in order to save money on a favorite product or service? Most Web browsers already do it online, so why not on the phone?

VoodooVox, the company behind the concept of In-Call Media, recently held a summit in New York to talk up the virtues of this new advertising channel. The company's technology inserts targeted ad-supported audio directly into the call stream of any type of phone traffic.

If the panelists at the first In-Call Media Summit are to be believed, it's more than just a replacement for boring, static-filled hold music. And since the company claims to be powering more than 250 million calls a month, consumers must be willing to listen. After all, if those VoIP and free information services are going to stay free, the companies behind them need to make money somehow.