Television viewers sent ITV 68m text messages, phone votes and red button activations last year - an enthusiasm for interactive services the network hopes will pay off for advertisers.
ITV and Channel 4 have launched text message interaction on the advertisements they screen, hoping viewers will be as keen to contact advertisers as they have been to vote on The X Factor and Big Brother or answer competition questions on Today with Des and Mel.
ITV offers mobile interactivity via a deal with the Mobile Interactive Group. Viewers text a keyword to an ITV number and then receive a bounce-back message from the advertiser.
But mobile marketing rivals have branded the ITV and Channel 4 interactive offerings to advertisers - which can cost up to £10,000 - a "rip-off".
Peter Birch, the ITV head of interactive sales, said the broadcaster had done six deals with advertisers, including two with retailer MFI on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
The broadcaster offers advertisers a package costing £8,000 that gives companies a shortcode number for 28 days and up to 10,000 free responses. The fee includes production, design and management of the service. Channel 4 charges up to £10,000.
"Because we can do these volumes, we can turn around with guarantees and give users discounted rates. We can offer cheaper rates then most people in the market," said Mr Birch.
Channel 4, which launched its service in August, is moving ahead with text message interactivity on mobiles and has run an army recruitment advert for the government.
When viewers text the keyword "soldier" to its shortcode number 80010, for the cost of a normal text message they receive a demo with videos and interviews with army wives on their mobile phones.
"It was like pushing water uphill last year but this year there is a lot more positive feedback," said the Channel 4 commercial interactive manager, Matthew White.
Channel 4 will dump its red button interactive service for programming but retain it for advertising - which is expected to grow 20% this year.
But both the ITV and Channel 4 mobile offering have been labelled a "rip-off" by rivals in the mobile advertising industry.
Mobile marketing company Incentivated and others offer five similar campaigns that run for 12 months without production costs for £3,300.
"It's a bit of a rip-off," said the Incentivated managing director, Jonathan Bass. "£10,000 for a keyword with a shortcode that allows you to run a single campaign for 28 days is three times what we have been charging and that keeps us happy."
The networks counter that their packages are "flexible" and can be offered combined with other offers such as spot advertising or programme sponsorships.
One industry source said there was ignorance in the marketplace about the rates.
"There are a lot of media agencies out there who don't know how to go about buying mobile media and negotiate those rates down."
Nick Wiggin, the chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association, was more circumspect, saying: "It's fair to say that there's quite a lot of difference in the marketplace at the moment. Media agencies are in a strong position to get down the price of the mobile inventory."
He said media buying agencies were recruiting specialists to help them to research the market.
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