Yelp is now selling display ads in its mobile apps, with two advertisers — Taco Bell and InterContinental Hotels Groups (IHG) as the first two advertisers to give it a try.

According to Ad Age, those two companies will have exclusivity for the month of March in their respective categories — Taco Bell for restaurant-related searches and IHG for travel-related searches.

The IHG ads are reportedly showing today, but I’m not seeing them yet in my searches. AdAge says the Taco Bell ads are expected to begin showing on Thursday. Their article included this screenshot showing a Taco Bell display ad.

Miller Lite is expected to begin a Yelp display campaign later this month before the ad product opens up widely on April 1st with geo-targeting and cross-device tracking, AdAge reports.

Yelp has already been showing its non-display local business ads in mobile apps. In its Q4 2012 earnings announcement, Yelp said that 25 percent of local ads were shown on mobile devices in the quarter and its app was used on 9.2 million unique mobile devices. The company previously said that 45 percent of Yelp searches happen in its mobile apps.

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Display Advertising | Mobile Marketing | Top News | Yelp

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