digital content

European digital content industry will triple by 2026

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

The European digital content industry reached last year almost €45.3B in terms of revenues and will reach €114,6B in five years (x3). These data result from an analysis carried out by Telecoming, a company specializing in monetization technology (Adtech and Direct Carrier Billing) since 2008. The firm has studied the evolution of digital content consumption in Europe.

Last year, 498M Europeans accessed digital content and spent on average €15 per month. 52% of total revenue came from video, games (34%) and music (14%). The study concludes that the consumption trend will go up. In 2026 a total of 606M users will consume digital content and increase their monthly spending to €30.5 per month. The video games sector, perhaps driven by the metaverse, will be the sector that will experience the highest growth. In five years, it will account for 47% of the total income of the digital content industry, above video (42%) and music services (12%).

Roberto Monge, Chief Operations Officer at Telecoming, stated, “the European digital content industry is very dynamic, and the average spending will continue growing. The subscription model will predominate because it meets users’ expectations. The UK and Germany are the leading digital entertainment markets, with great growth potential.”

 

The UK, the leading video consumer

In 2021, the UK was the country that consumed the most digital video services (44% of the population). In 2026 it will also be the top country, with 59% (41,3M users) of the active population appreciating this type of content. The UK has the most profitable digital video services market: €4,2B in 2021 and €5,7B in 2026 (62% will come through subscriptions). At some distance, Germany will follow with a volume of €5B in the coming five years. It is estimated that the entire European market will reach €30.6B in that period.

Video games will register the highest growth

According to Telecoming’s research, 62% of Europeans will enjoy mobile games in 2026 (+9 points vs 2021). Germany led the ranking with 49.8M users last year, followed by the UK (44.8M). Both countries will add followers in the coming years (+14 M in Germany and +11.4 in the UK). European mobile gamers played almost 2B games in 2021.

The evolution of the mobile gaming market will be an unprecedented growth.  €15,6B generated in 2021 will become €68,6B in 2026. This growth will go hand in hand with the consolidation of the metaverse, the next big thing where the leading technology industry players are already investing.

9 out of 10 Europeans pay for digital music services. However, the UK is the largest market (€16B in 2026). 18% of Britons accessed a digital music service in 2021. This percentage will increase to 22% in 2026. 97% of these will also subscribe to a digital music service and pay €10.8 per subscription (average). This is also a general trend in Europe. In 2026, 98% of users will subscribe to at least one music service.

 

Telecoming is an international company specialized in digital services monetization technologies. It deploys solutions aimed at improving mobile payment processes and advertising technology. A scalable, flexible, and secure platform seamlessly integrates revenue generation tools for companies operating in the digital environment. Leader on the economics of digital content since 2008, Telecoming currently operates in 21 countries.

SLA Digital Announce Partnership with Unitel to Launch Direct Carrier Billing in Mongolia

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

SLA Digital and Unitel logos showing the partnership of the two companies

SLA Digital have announced a new partnership with Unitel Group, a Mongolian telecommunications company, with Unitel naming SLA Digital as their managed service provider for carrier billing.

As part of the relationship, SLA Digital will also be able to offer digital content providers access to Unitel’s other payment options including IPTV payments, Toki E-Wallet and payments made via U-Point, their points based loyalty program.

Kevin Drayne, CEO at SLA Digital commented: “We are delighted to be working with Unitel to enable seamless and secure payment experiences for their customers through carrier billing. We see this relationship as a real opportunity to bring more to Unitel and their customers, by offering a vast range of digital content and entertainment with new convenient ways to pay.”

 The partnership means Unitel will be able to effortlessly introduce new digital content to customers from SLA Digital’s expanding client portfolio. Likewise, digital content providers can connect to Unitel’s mobile subscribers, and expand into this region, through a simple integration process.

 Kevin continued: “Our direct connection with Unitel Mongolia will allow our existing and new digital content partners to easily connect to the mobile operator and make the most of all the payment options available. We hope that more content and more ways to pay will lead to greater choice and satisfaction for Unitel customers.”

 SLA Digital are inviting digital content providers who would like to connect with Unitel Mongolia to get in touch at sla-digital.com/contact

Evina raises 20 million euros to secure financial services for telecom operators

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

 

Paris, November 18, 2021 – Paris-based cybersecurity company Evina, which operates in 70 countries, has announced a €20 million funding round to consolidate its leading position in securing financial services for telecom operators.

The future of telecom operators will not be determined by the sales strategy of cell phone plans, but by the ability to provide new services to the huge customer bases they have patiently built up. Among these, financial services are the most crucial.

The financial services offered by telecom operators today not only offer the possibility to buy digital content, mobile applications or subscriptions to major streaming platforms directly via their SIM card, but also to receive, withdraw and transfer money. The aim is both to offer a highly efficient one-click payment method with conversion rates 100 times higher than those of a bank card, and to replace and compensate for the absence of basic banking services. Especially at a time when there are more smartphones than people on earth, and 2 billion people do not have a bank account.

Today, nearly 20% of global digital content purchases go through operators. By 2021, this will be worth more than $40 billion, with double-digit annual growth. In addition, more than $2.5 trillion is flowing through operators’ e-wallets. This amount is expected to double within 5 years.

The financial services offered by operators are so successful that they have inevitably attracted organized crime from around the world. “All the criminal organizations in the world are converging on cybercrime,” warns Guillaume Poupard, the Director General of the French National Agency for Information Systems Security.

It is to face this challenge that Evina was founded in 2018 by a team of hackers, cybersecurity researchers and financial services specialists who have worked for more than 15 years in the sector they protect.

More than $1 billion saved in the last 12 months by Evina for ecosystem players

David Lotfi, CEO and founder of Evina explains how it all started: “We realized that no one knew how to stop this new generation of cybercriminals, who are extremely professional and have much more advanced technical and financial resources than before. We saw this as a major threat and decided to develop a dedicated solution. Very quickly, the largest operators around the world asked to implement our solutions.”

Evina is now present in over 70 countries. It protects the world’s largest telecom groups such as Orange and Vodacom, but also major digital merchants for whom control of operator payment is a strategic advantage. With a detection rate of 99.94% of false transactions and a false positive rate of less than 0.06%, Evina has prevented the theft of more than 1 billion euros over the last 12 months.

In recognition of its solution, Evina has received all the industry’s leading awards over the past two years, including the Global Carrier Billing Summit award for the best anti-fraud solution in 2020 and 2021 and the Juniper Award for the best financial transaction security solution in 2021.

Confidence in Evina and in the industry’s potential from US funds and historical investors

The €20 million fundraising will allow Evina to accelerate its commercial presence outside Europe, with the opening of offices abroad, and to strengthen its technical team with new talent, in order to consolidate its position as a leader in the world of financial services for telecom operators.

The round was led by New York-based Radian Capital with the support of Evina’s historical investors including 50 partners, Saas Partners and Id4VC.

“Telecom Operators are in a very strong position to offer the next generation of financial service products. And while they currently possess much of what they need – embedded customer base, access to phones, known identities, financial performance, and bank account credentials – these operators still lack the security capabilities necessary to fight the most sophisticated fraud attempts. This is why we are so excited to back the team at Evina. They bring ‘bank security’ capabilities to these Telcos that allows them to operate in 2021 and beyond.” enthused Jordan Bettman, founder of Radian Capital.

Learn more about Evina at: https://www.evina.com/

Dutch digital innovator Sam Media used extended reality to develop a better learning experience

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

As a leader in innovation, Sam Media makes the next generation of digital content accessible to everyone, on any device. On October the 14th, Sam Media will officially launch it’s latest e-learning and entertainment product, XR Academy. The product will be presented during a launch party at World Telemedia in Marbella.

A better learning experience for everyone

XR Academy enables consumers from all age groups to explore a wide range of immersive, high-quality educational content. The product is the result of a diverse team of thinkers, educators, computer scientists, software developers and 3D artists from all over the world, coming together with a shared mission to transform learning experiences with the latest technologies, and to overcome the two main challenges in VR education today: the lack of high-quality content, and the availability of VR headsets.

XR Academy has been designed to be compatible with all types of virtual reality headsets. Even consumers that don’t own a VR headset are able to engage with all the content effectively. All they need is a smartphone with internet access.

What is Extended Reality?

​​Extended reality (XR) is referring to all real-and-virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables, where the ‘X’ represents a variable for any current or future spatial computing technologies. E.g. It includes representative forms such as augmented reality, mixed reality and virtual reality and the areas interpolated among them. Its connotation lies in the extension of human experiences, especially relating to the senses of existence (represented by VR) and the acquisition of cognition (represented by AR).

Product features

XR Academy allows consumers to take virtual field trips to a variety of destinations, such as Mount Everest, capital cities around the world, and faraway planets across the universe, all from the comfort and safety of their homes.

  • Immersive VR platform
  • 360° documentaries
  • Captivating VR lessons
  • Engaging Quizzes
  • Supports all languages
  • Constantly growing content library
  • Animation for illustration and engagement purposes
  • Accessible on mobile and the web

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ8M2fyCd_s

Corporate website: www.sam-media.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sam-media.

SLA Digital Announce Partnership with Etisalat UAE for Carrier Billing

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

SLA Digital is pleased to announce Etisalat UAE, one of the world’s leading telecom groups in emerging markets, as one of their mobile operator partners for carrier billing.

SLA Digital is connected to Etisalat for carrier billing, offering new and existing global content partners easy access to new customers through the convenient mobile payment option. Etisalat’s customers in UAE can access more digital content with the option to charge purchases direct to their mobile phone bill or by using their prepaid credit.

Kevin Drayne, CEO at SLA Digital commented, “Etisalat is an innovative partner and we are pleased to officially announce our partnership with the mobile operator. The carrier billing market in UAE has enormous potential for any content partners looking for a seamless and secure payment option for their customers and an additional revenue stream for their business.”

SLA Digital will continue to roll out new services with Etisalat UAE through subscriptions, one-off payments and in-app purchases with carrier billing.