Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc., in a push to tap the growth of advertising on mobile phones, will start showing graphical ads for companies including PepsiCo Inc. on Internet sites that people access with their handsets.

The ads are tailored to the smaller screens on phones and even to individual models. They will start appearing this week on Yahoo's mobile home page, in news stories and e-mails, Michael Bayle, a Yahoo senior director, said in an interview. Clients will pay based on visits to Yahoo's sites.

Sales of mobile phones outnumbered personal computers last year, spurring Yahoo and Google Inc. to add more services for cell phones and find ways to show ads. Sunnyvale, California- based Yahoo last month started selling ads linked to search results on mobile phones. Google, the most-used Internet search engine, added new e-mail software for phones last week.

``We want to make it as easy as possible for the advertiser,'' Bayle said. The ads will initially be static images. The company will investigate offering animated ads in the future, he said.

Yahoo and Google and other Internet companies have created stripped-down versions of their sites for cell phone screens.

Users clicking on Yahoo's ads will either be taken to the mobile Web site of the client or a customized page hosted by Yahoo, Bayle said.

Shares of Yahoo, owner of the second most-used Internet search engine, rose 2 cents to $26.61 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They have declined 32 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Thaw in San Francisco at jthaw@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 7, 2006 16:26 EST