Premium content grew 20% in 2007; short of expectations

A new report from MultiMedia Intelligence predicts the market for premium mobile content platforms grew nearly 20% last year, reaching a $3.4 billion share of the $18.5 billion in revenue generated by the mobile premium content market.
However, that growth falls short of expectation.
“Many industries would be thrilled with 20% growth. While the mobile content platform and digital commerce services companies find it disappointing, much of the issue is out of their hands,” said Frank Dickson, chief research officer at MultiMedia Intelligence. “The ringtone market is softening while other content categories are failing to live-up to expectations. Additionally, the mobile content platform and digital commerce services companies sit in the mobile content ecosystem stuck between the more powerful operators and content owners.
“The operators have tremendous power as they own the subscriber,” said Dickson. “The content companies have power as they own the content that individuals want. The revenue distribution among the different industry segments reflects this power imbalance.”
The study found the digital commerce segment – which encompasses companies like Amdocs, Bango, Comverse and Valista – increased by less than 10% last year. In addition, the firm said the transition to an off-deck dominated content market is developing in North America, but it is stymied because the purchase process is too challenging for consumers.