Mobile content rings up record sales

Sales of ring-tones, downloads, music and other mobile entertainment content will more than double to US$38.1bn by 2011, new research has predicted.

The latest report from Informa Telecoms & Media said that the mobile market was worth US$18.8bn in revenues worldwide in 2006.

"Music services such as ring-tones, full-track downloads and ring-back tones will continue to generate the highest proportion of revenues in the mobile entertainment industry," said Daniel Winterbottom, senior analyst at Informa and joint author of the report.

"But mobile TV service revenues are set to sky rocket over the next five years, growing from US$178m to more than US$1.8bn in 2011.

"Large sporting events are seeing more and more people take out subscription packages with their operators to watch TV services on the move, and this is reflected by the phenomenal growth this segment will see."

Music and images dominate the market, according to the study, accounting for 64 per cent of revenues in 2006.

But while mobile music will continue to grow, the market for wallpapers, avatars and other images is expected to shrink. Images will have fallen to fourth place, behind mobile games and video, by 2011.

Ring-tones and wallpapers, the mainstays of the mobile entertainment market, are becoming less important as consumers upgrade to more advanced handsets which support a wide array of entertainment features, from 3D games to broadcast TV to high quality music playback.

Mobile games and video, which together represented only a quarter of mobile entertainment revenues in 2006, will account for close to half the mobile entertainment market's growth in five years' time.

"Consumers are becoming more aware of what their handsets are capable of, and what services are being offered," said Chris Coffman, senior analyst at Informa and joint author of the report.

"There is still significant room for improvement, but mobile operators are making it easier for consumers to access entertainment content by introducing search tools and personalised portals."

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