M-Commerce in SE Asia: Understanding the opportunities of today and tomorrow

Interested in the mobile media market in SE Asia? Thinking about expanding your mobile entertainment product into the area? Want to find out the rising trends and how to tap into the potential of the market?

Join MEF’s webinar on Wednesday 25 August and gain insight into the m-commerce opportunities available in the SE Asia mobile media market.

The mobile device combines an innovative payment platform with the power to fuel impluse purchasing and is changing the way consumers pay for content, goods and services. The panel is made up of brands with real experience in the market, including Maxis, Motricity and Tata Teleservices, to help your business take the first step with these exciting opportunities.

Confirmed Speakers

• Shea Silidker, Associate Director - KPMG (Moderator)
• Cynthia Yeo Wee Teng, International Transfer Product Manager - Maxis
• Jim Ryan, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer - Motricity
• Joerg Krahnert, Managing Director - Netbiscuits
• Pankaj Sethi, President, Corporate Strategy & Services - Tata Teleservices
• Suhail Bhat, Policy and Initiatives Director - MEF

WEBINAR REGISTRATION: Please click here to register
DATE: Wednesday 25 August 2010
TIME: 13:30 Delhi / 16:00 Singapore / 09:00 London

In addition, if you wish to join the Asia M-Commerce Steering Committee to shape activities moving forward, please contact Suhail or Miranda.

Click to download the MEF M-Commerce Guide recently published by MEF North America, featuring case studies of how brands and content owners are harnessing the mobile commerce opportunity in the US and Canada.

Mobile Entertainment Forum’s fourth Business Confidence Index suggests economic recovery and growth

Mobile Entertainment Forum’s (MEF) fourth Business Confidence Index (BCI), compiled by KPMG, points to signs of recovery and a clear trajectory of revenue growth of 28% for the coming year.

The latest BCI survey of the MEF Membership, representative of the whole mobile media entertainment value chain, demonstrates a fourth consecutive growth prediction since January 2009 and a clear trend that the industry consistently projects growth in the region of 25-35% for the next 12 months.

Andrew Bud, the Global Chair of MEF commented: “Our industry has faced a difficult period, but these latest findings clearly show that confidence in the growth of our industry has not diminished in the last year. 81% of respondents report that their actual performance for the last quarter was either better than or in line with budget, and viewed alongside the consistent and significant market growth predictions being made by our industry is very positive news as we move into a new year.”

Rimma Perelmuter, MEF Executive Director added that: “The BCI demonstrates growing demand for paid-for mobile content. As with previous findings, 61% of revenues for the next quarter are projected to come from subscription and one off purchases. There is also consensus amongst respondents that applications will provide a substantial additional revenue source. Half of the revenue projected to come from applications in the next quarter will be from paid for apps.”

Mark Harding, Director of Digital Content at KPMG, who analysed the survey findings, stated that: “Following some uncertainty in the market over the last 12 months, headcount growth actually exceeded the projections made last quarter and respondents predict further headcount growth in the coming quarter. Applications have developed considerably as a driver of growth over the past 6 months, illustrating the dynamism of this new business model for monetising mobile content."

"The findings also identified regional variations in outlook. Central and South America have demonstrated great potential and confidence, with growth predicted for this region for each quarter to date, up from a projected 2% share for the year ending December 2009 to an actual share of 9% of the market for the year ending September 2009. Respondents believe Africa, the Middle East and China will see increases in revenues for the next 12 months, while established and other emerging markets are forecasting relatively stable revenues. Overall, these are very positive findings following a necessary period of adjustment and refocus.”

MEF Leads the Way on Mobile Entertainment and Mobile TV Debates

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the MEF team and following on from the recent success of MeM 2009 and the Meffys, we’ve been featured in some high profile publications for the work we’ve been doing on the Mobile Entertainment and Mobile TV debates.

Firstly, Reuters and the International Herald Tribune featured Andrew Bud, Global Chair of the MEF, and the global research that MEF conducted with KPMG into consumer satisfaction with mobile entertainment. In an article called ‘Apps a nail in coffin of broadcast mobile TV’, Andrew talks about the lively debate surrounding mobile TV versus mobile video. Andrew is quoted saying:

“Mobile TV is all about real-time, linear transmission ... where the timing of the programming was set by the broadcaster and the consumer would dip in and dip out.”

"Mobile video is much more about video-on-demand. It gives the consumer much more freedom. It's also a little less stressful on the mobile networks."

The article also notes:

"A survey by KPMG and the MEF found that nearly 40 percent of consumers had at one time watched a piece of mobile video on their handset: 52 percent of them said the experience was satisfying, against 38 percent of a much smaller number of users who said they had tried broadcast mobile TV."

MEF was featured in another article on Reuters this week, entitled ‘Mobile entertainment seeking players and payment' that looked at MEF’s work on the second Business Confidence Index (BCI) compiled by KPMG:

“From social networks to games, images and music; online entertainment has increasingly moved to the mobile handset…

According to the trade association Mobile Entertainment Forum, the global mobile entertainment industry is now worth some $32 billion dollars.

According to a survey released in June by the forum and compiled by KPMG, the industry also remains confident that it can continue to grow strongly despite the current economic challenges, predicting average revenue growth of 28 percent for 2010.”

Both of these pieces highlight that MEF is leading the way on the mobile entertainment and mobile TV debate and is looking out for what’s happening to the industry in our own backyard. For more information about the MEF BCI, compiled in collaboration with KPMG, see http://www.m-e-f.org/news/mef_news/bci2/

Mobile entertainment industry confident despite economic crisis

The findings of the latest MEF Business Confidence Index (BCI) on the $32bn global mobile entertainment industry has shown that the industry remains confident despite the current economic challenges, predicting average revenue growth of 28% for the coming year. The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) BCI is compiled by KPMG.

Commenting on the findings, Andrew Bud, Global Chair of MEF, said: “A vital part of MEF’s mission is to provide insight in to the market and the BCI is a uniquely valuable tool to do so. This second release begins to reveal the trends in the industry and confirms its optimism about the future.

“In spite of an incredibly difficult economic landscape, the prediction for average revenue growth in the mobile content sector is up 1% on the annual growth prediction from the last BCI to 28%. This echoes the finding that 81% of respondents are as confident about the future of their organisation as they were at the end of last year.”

Rimma Perelmuter, Executive Director at MEF, comments: “The mobile entertainment industry is relatively stable due to proven business models, with more than 50% of total revenue generated from consumer purchased content. Social networking looks set to be the biggest area for growth; followed by games and video; music and ‘infotainment’. It is encouraging to see an optimistic outlook throughout the mobile entertainment value chain, despite uncertainties around forecasting and budgeting.”

The analysis also shows that the ‘marketing mix’ of communication channels within the industry is evolving.

Mark Harding, Director of Digital Content at KPMG, added: “The revenue growth and confidence shown by the sector proves that, despite tougher economic times, consumers are still prepared to spend money on mobile content. The coming of age of the smart phone has no doubt helped to support this, by improving the customer experience and access to exciting mobile applications.

“More organisations in the mobile entertainment value chain are moving their marketing budget towards the industry’s own platform of mobile, at the expense of online and sponsorship and events. However, the mobile entertainment industry’s marketing budgets remained constant over the last quarter and are predicted to remain so over the next, with 87% predicting their marketing budget will remain the same or increase.”

Mobile entertainment industry confident in face of economic downturn

MEF has launched the first quarterly Business Confidence Index (BCI) for the $32bn global mobile entertainment industry. It reveals that the industry is confident it will continue to grow despite the economic downturn, with MEF members predicting an average revenue growth of 27% in 2009.

The MEF BCI, compiled in collaboration with KPMG, is the first of its kind and was undertaken to gauge the confidence of the mobile entertainment industry and to highlight specific trends over time. Every quarter it surveys MEF members across the globe, representing the entire mobile entertainment value chain.

News of the BCI has already appeared in publications such as Mobile Entertainment and mocoNews.net,  and the report can soon be accessed by MEF members at www.m-e-f.org.

"I believe that the BCI’s positive outlook reflects ROI that our industry expects to see in 2009 and beyond after almost a decade of investment in mobile media. With growth anticipated across key segments of the industry, MEF will be working with our members to help them capitalise on new opportunities and address existing bottlenecks presented over the next twelve months.”

Rimma Perelmuter, Executive Director at MEF

As well as being optimistic about the growth of the industry as a whole, the MEF BCI identified a number of areas within mobile entertainment which are set to grow throughout 2009. The top five areas of growth were cited as:

1. Social Networking
   
2. Music
   
3. Video
   
4. Games
   
5. Infotainment
   

When asked whether demand for mobile entertainment consumption would be impacted by the credit crunch, over half of respondents said they saw mobile entertainment as a 'feel good' affordable purchase and it would therefore be resilient to the effects of the downturn.

The MEF BCI also reveals the spread of mobile entertainment revenues across the globe, with China and Central & South America being seen as hotspots over the next twelve months and respondents predicting growth in excess of 50% in both regions.

“We believe that the quarterly BCI will make a great contribution to the industry, at a time when companies face great uncertainty in their forecasting and budgeting. It is an example of how MEF offers leadership in illuminating the status and trends of our industry. We appreciate the support of KPMG in running this large scale and highly confidential operation.”

Andrew Bud, Global Chair of the MEF

The MEF BCI will be conducted on a quarterly basis moving forward. A report on the findings of the first Business Confidence Index can soon be accessed by MEF members at www.m-e-f.org.