A WSJ story focuses on European mobile advertising launches, because it says “European phone technology is generally more advanced than American.” (Although the article then points out that the difference in 3G phone penetration between the US and Europe is 16% and 20% respectively…so not that big, really.)

UK operator 3 is singled out for its old-school TV approach to advertising: its video clips are entirely ad-supported in pre-roll and post-roll formats (other operators in Europe typically charge extra for TV services). Some of the big-ticket advertisers that have come onto the platform include Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, and Unilever—the latter is actually experimenting with targeted marketing strategies, sending its ads for a male antiperspirant only to young men.

The 3 ads are more expensive based on the audience size…it charges $141 CPM, compared to $20 average CPM on Britain’s TV channels, says Ujjal Kohli, CEO of Rhythm NewMedia, the U.S.-based mobile ad firm that runs the service for 3.

But the service is causing a stink with at least some of 3’s users: some 25 percent of subscribers said they were put off by the ad-supported service. Nevertheless, as a new entrant in the market 3 has consistently tried to break mobile business models—most significantly it was the first 3G operator to offer users a flat-rate data service to encourage usage, something that other operators are finally starting to roll out.

All of the other major mobile operators with 3G networks are also starting to offer video ads: Vodafone, T-Mobile and Telecom Italia among them.