The market analyst and the European carrier billing company have revealed what is new and what is next in billing digital content via the mobile network operators in Europe.
According to them, the European digital content market is expected to increase to EUR 35.7 billion in 2019, with games and videos continuing to be the most popular categories, generating combined sales of more than EUR 5.3 billion annually by 2019. It was proven that carrier billing will allow vendors to profit from 60% higher conversion rates for first time transactions and 70% higher conversion rates for second transactions compared with credit card billing, the companies pointed out.
Other highlights of the joint Juniper Research and DIMOCO white paper include the fact that carrier billing is as an essential, additional payment method, as it provides content vendors with the opportunity to monetize consumers who do not own a debit or credit card, or even have a bank account, whilst using pre-existing billing relationships even when no data was provided by these customers and personal information is never seen by the retailer. Carrier billing can be used on multiple-screens. Historically used only to bill content acquired on mobile phones, carrier billing now embraces content delivered to devices such as tablets, desktop PCs and smart TVs, greatly expanding the scope and scale of potential revenue for all vendors.
The paper also unveils that carrier billing implementation sees higher conversion rates and transaction values. First-time conversion rates with carrier billing 70%, compared to 10-12% with credit cards. The uplift is particularly pronounced for small value transactions (less than EUR 10). For repeat purchases the conversion rate with carrier billing was 80-88%, while with credit card billing it was 20-25%.
Carrier billing is the user-preferred payment option for billing digital content, the paper reveals, as 75% of European users prefer carrier billing if the payment option is available in digital content storefronts.
The companies also mention that the value of digital content billed via carrier billing will rise, as from just under EUR 1.8 billion in 2014 the value of digital content billed via carrier billing will rise to nearly EUR 9.8 billion in 2019, an average annual growth of 41% over the forecast period.
DIMOCO and Juniper Research define carrier billing as the “payment for goods or services by means of the customer’s mobile payment plan, either with the monthly phone bill (for contract customers) or as debit from prepaid credit.”
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