AIME unveils good quarter for premium rate revenues

- mobile and fixed line channels show increase buoyed by the adoption of new payment channels and forms of distribution such as social media

- complaints to premium rate regulator, PhonepayPlus are down

Industry trade association, The Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME) today unveiled strong revenue figures for the premium rate sector Q3 2010.

Driven by an increase in growth across mobile (7%) and fixed line payment channels (9%) out payments generated by premium rate services are up with an overall increase of 4.8 % to £145m for the quarter.

Industry trade association, The Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME) today unveiled strong revenue figures for the premium rate sector Q3 2010.

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Cross mobile operator micro-payment service, Payforit, has also grown by 7% for the quarter, indicating ongoing consumer acceptance and trust in buying content and services via the mobile device.

At the same time complaints to premium rate regulator, PhonepayPlus are down to an all time low of just 1100 for the same period which represents a complaint ratio of one complaint to every 112 thousand transactions. Overall complaints to PhonepayPlus are down 75% over a two year period.

Feedback from AIME members suggests that various factors have contributed to this growth including the continued evolution of social media, where for example, viewers of large scale participation TV shows such as The X-Factor are engaged in social interactivity with their peer groups and show based fan pages.

This adds up to a much deeper and immersive experience where interactivity, such as voting for contestants, is growing in popularity.

Also, 2010 has seen the increased adoption by some of the smaller niche TV channels of new interactive payment channels such as voice short codes which enable simple and transparent participation and which may be adopted by the larger TV companies in due course.

AIME member, and supplier of voice short codes, Orca Digital, for example, has recorded a 30% increase across Q3 2010 for this service and year-on-year growth (Q3 2010 against Q3 2009) of 345%. This trend is set to continue throughout 2011.

It is possible that there may also be a re-introduction of mobile voting around some TV shows (championed by AIME and its members). There is also likely to be a growth in new voting channels such as mobile apps where viewers can purchase credits via premium rate SMS and other payment channels and use them to vote for contestants from within a show based mobile application.

Core Facts

Driven by an increase in growth across mobile (7%) and fixed line payment channels (9%) out payments generated by premium rate services are up with an overall increase of 4.8 % to £145m for the quarter (Q3 2010)
Increase buoyed by the adoption of new payment channels and forms of distribution such as social media
Complaints to premium rate regulator, PhonepayPlus are down

Quotes

Mobile Interactive Group’s Interactive Broadcast Platform (IBP) which launched in February 2011, has helped drive the re-introduction of mobile voting into the media, broadcast and entertainment industry. For example, the platform enables viewers to purchase credits and vote for contestants via a show based app for programmes such as Sky’s ‘Got to Dance’ and ITV’s ‘Dancing on Ice’ engaging viewers and encouraging interactivity.

At present a number of major broadcasters are looking to take the platform as participation in TV shows is predicted to achieve impressive growth internationally throughout the coming months.

Rob Weisz, Commercial Director, Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) and AIME member

It is very pleasing to see this upturn in industry revenues. Over the past two years industry players across the ecosystem have worked more closely together and we are starting to see the benefits of this strategy. AIME has established some highly effective working groups to address key areas and to provide focus, an example of this being the Interactive Broadcast Forum (IBF).

This collaboration has resulted in greater emphasis on value provision, customer care and loyalty, with new channels to market also representing signs of innovation coming back to the sector. We believe that the industry is well positioned to exploit growth in new micropayment channels across the digital world.

Edward Boddington, AIME chairman