According to Juniper Research, globally operators are expected to generate more than $14 billion in revenues over the next five years from content paid through carrier billing. This growth will be driven by a rise in carrier billed payments made through devices such as tablets, consoles and smart TVs.
Further, the research firm states that existing deployments of carrier billing on application storefronts have resulted in a marked increase in paid conversion rates (more than 30 times those of credit cards). They have also enabled first-time monetisation of unbanked consumers and younger demographics. It is the sophistication of third-party carrier billing solutions which allows for permits subscription billing, paving the way for content monetisation.
Juniper Research underlines that a number of storefronts have found that carrier billing integration results in uplift in average transaction values as well as volumes, partly due to higher sales of bundled in-application virtual items. In fact, at present, over the top (OTT) content providers such as Amazon, Netflix and Hulu are now adding value to their subscriptions through the addition of original content such as Transparent, Bosch and Ripper Street.
According to the research firm, the next step for OTT players would be the acquisition of major sporting rights. However high acquisition cost of such content is a deterrent at present. Moreover, even for free streamed sporting events, audiences are rarely in excess of a million ? to recover the investment costs.
