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.”