VIENNA—Carrier biller Dimoco has published a paper covering the Top 5 trends in the carrier billing market for 2017.
Carrier billing offers content owners and merchants the ability to do business with consumers that do not own a credit or debit card by offering them a reliable and simplified payment mechanism. It uses the pre-existing, trusted billing relationship with mobile carriers that enables consumers to make purchases through the operator’s billing system. Dimoco enables almost 1 billion European subscribers to purchase goods and services from merchant and aggregators with their mobile phones.
The trends that will drive carrier billing market growth and adoption in 2017 are:
1. Digital content consumption is on the rise: Digital content revenues are expected to increase from just under $140 billion worldwide in 2015 to $180 billion in 2017, according to a Juniper Research report. The primary driver is consumer demand for digital content on multiple screens, including connected TVs and in-car entertainment options. Content producers that offer carrier billing as a payment method will win over consumers for the simplicity of the payment option. What categories will drive digital content consumption next year?
• Gaming will continue to account for the largest share of carrier billing digital content consumption.
• Video on Demand (VoD) will experience significant growth in the coming year with consumers taking advantage of real-time acquisition and consumption of their entertainment whenever and wherever they are.
• ePublishing is expected to grow significantly in 2017. This growth can be attributed to an increase in digital book sales.
2. Tech-savvy, always connected consumers looking for better payment options: More industry players in the digital services and digital content arena will choose carrier billing as their preferred payment method. This move will open their market to audiences who are tech-savvy, always-connected and have a low credit card penetration.
3. Flexibility and new subscription models are on the rise: Digital content producers will explore new subscription models, including one-off purchases and daily/weekly/monthly subscription plans that are charged directly to the customer’s phone bill.
4. New European regulations to open up new opportunity: The new European regulation Payment Services Directive No. 2 will enable companies to offer additional service transactions to take place via carrier billing. This includes online ticketing, donations via mobile phone, as well as loading of goods such as gift cards.
5. Physical good carrier billing transactions are on the horizon: While carrier billing has become one of the more popular payment methods for digital service and content transactions, it has yet to be used for purchasing physical goods online. 2017 will be a pivotal year in taking the industry one step closer to this becoming a reality.
For more information on Dimoco, visit Dimoco.eu/carrier-billing.html.
