VIENNA — DIMOCO has announced its release of a study outlining the key trends it believes will drive the carrier billing market in 2017.
According to the company, 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, simplified payment mechanism. It uses the preexisting trusted billing relationship between mobile carriers and consumers that enables purchases through the operator’s billing system, with DIMOCO enabling nearly one billion European subscribers to purchase goods and services using their mobile phones.
The trends that DIMOCO identifies as driving carrier billing market growth in 2017 include an increase in digital content consumption.
For example, 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, with the primary driver being a demand for digital content on multiple screens, including connected TVs and in-car entertainment.
“Content producers that offer carrier billing as a payment method will win over consumers for the simplicity of the payment option,” says a DIMOCO spokesperson, who notes that the top categories driving digital content consumption are gaming (the largest share of carrier billed content); video on demand services; and ePublishing, with significant growth in digital book sales.
The spokesperson says tech-savvy, always connected consumers are 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,” the spokesperson explains. “This move will open their market to audiences who are tech-savvy, always-connected and have a low credit card penetration.”
New, more flexible subscription models are also on the rise, as are opportunities arising from new European regulations.
“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,” the spokesperson adds. “The new European regulation Payment Services Directive #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.”
Another innovation on the way is carrier billing for physical goods.
“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,” the spokesperson concludes. “2017 will be a pivotal year in taking the industry one step closer to this becoming a reality.”
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