Mobile content to hit $44B by 2011, video to lead surge

Worldwide mobile content revenues are expected to surpass $44 billion in 2011, more than double the expected $20 billion in revenues generated this year, according to iSuppli Corp.
The mobile market research firm said the growth largely will be driven by rising demand for mobile video. However, it added that mobile video still remains a “highly fragmented service offering with uncertain business models, technology standards and consumer usage models.” ISuppli predicts streaming and broadcast mobile video will generate $6 billion in 2008, up from about $1 billion expected this year.
Some areas are experiencing much higher rates of growth in the mobile video and non-messaging sectors, iSuppli found. For example, India leads Asia in compound annual growth rate growth of non-messaging data revenue at 40.4%; Italy is expected to see the strongest non-messaging data revenue CAGR through 2011 in Western Europe at 29%.
“Data and content revenues are the life preservers to which wireless operators are clinging as voice average revenue per user declines accelerated during the quarter for the 20 key operators tracked by iSuppli,” said Mark Kirstein, VP at the company. “Aggregate voice ARPU in the first quarter declined by 6% sequentially compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. Meanwhile, mobile data ARPU increased by 1% sequentially. Data ARPU is particularly strong among North American operators, where both messaging revenue and mobile multimedia content are seeing strong growth.”
ISuppli also found that data accounts for nearly 20% of revenue for the 20 key wireless operators it tracks. Several U.S. carriers also saw messaging-related revenue double from 2005 to 2006, largely driven by peer-to-peer messaging and SMS. Lastly, Universal Music Group continues to hold the largest share of mobile music content revenue among the major record labels, according to iSuppli.