American Idol was a game changer in the US as far as mobile marketing is concerned. Last night 74M text’d in.

The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) today published a draft Code of Practice (Code) outlining best practices for Participation Television (P-TV) in the United States. P-TV services typically provide viewers the ability to interact with television shows – for example, where viewers are asked to text in votes or enter sweepstakes using their mobile phones. Often these shows integrate enhanced content with premium rate mobile services. P-TV is expected to experience continuing fast growth in coming months.

Had a chance ealier today to talk to Edward Boddington, MEF Americas Board member and Telescope, Inc. Founder. Boddington helped develop ‘Pop Idol’ in the UK, which became ‘American Idol’ in the U.S. (he handed the envelope to Ryan Seacrest last night on ‘American Idol’ announcing Jordin Sparks as the new American Idol). 

Some numbers from Ed. $300M P-TV in UK, 30% of it is mobile messaging. In the US, the numbers are in the range of $30-50M though accurate estimates are not available. The final version of the code will be available at www.m-e-f.org within 2-3 months. Thanks to Chris Pfaff for arranging the interview.