By Windsor Holden

A new report published last month by Juniper Research forecasts that revenues from mobile adult content and services are expected to reach $2.8 billion by 2015, driven primarily through the uptake of video chat and subscription-based services. The increase – from $1.7 billion in 2009 – comes despite the proliferation of free content available via tube and TGP (thumbnail gallery post) sites which has depressed revenues in Western Europe.

Video chat service providers have reported a combination of high retention rates and – with services often billed at several dollars per minutes – of very high ARPU. Thus, even with a comparatively low user base, service providers can generate extremely strong revenues. Meanwhile, the industry is experiencing a transition from pay-per-download to subscription models as D2C adult sites gain traction and traffic by offering a wide range of specialized niche content.

However, the mobile adult strategies report found that while the rise in consumer smartphone adoption had led to a dramatic upsurge in mobile traffic to leading adult websites, sites are only now beginning to monetise this traffic by offering mobile-optimised content and billing mechanisms. Furthermore, the transition from walled garden to open Internet has seriously impacted on-portal adult revenues in more mature markets.

In Western Europe, adult areas on operator portals were relatively successful, as were off-portal services billed via PRSMS. As people have increasingly surfed the Internet via the mobile, they’re discovering a wealth of free content – much of it not optimised for the mobile experience, but still more than sufficient for casual users.

The Mobile Adult Video Whitepaper is available for download from www.juniperresearch.com together with further details of the study ‘Mobile Adult Strategies: Downloads, Video Chat, Apps & Messaging 2010-2015.

About the author

Dr Windsor Holden is Principal Analyst with Juniper Research. He is responsible for developing Juniper Research's report portfolio and designing a forthcoming range of market intelligence services focusing on the mobile content market. Dr Holden has written extensively on mobile content, emerging telecoms markets and digital TV. He is also a regular conference speaker and a former Research Fellow of the Institute of Communication Studies, University of Leeds.

About the company

Juniper Research specialises in the identification and appraisal of high growth opportunities across the mobile telecoms, content, and applications sectors. The company offers market intelligence, analysis and research in the form of analyst reports, subscription databases and consultancy services. Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

http://www.juniperresearch.com/reports/mobile_adult_strategies