With consumers increasingly able to create their own ringtones, carrier controlled ringback tones are on track to lead mobile music by 2012, according to new research from MultiMedia Intelligence. With worldwide revenue nearly tripling to $4.7 billion, ringbacks will fall just short of mobile gaming revenue in capturing the largest share of the premium content market.
Overall, the global retail market for mobile premium is projected to reach $29 billion by 2012. Developed markets, such as Japan and Korea, have seen dramatic growth with some operators seeing data revenue exceed 30% of total service revenue. New growth is predicted to come from Europe and then the Americas.
Also, according to the study:
- Realtone ringtones are displacing polyphonic ringtones in all regional markets.
- Retail mobile music is nearly a mature market in South Korea, but an expanding market in Japan. By 2012, the mobile music market in Japan, for example, will be over 7 times the size of the mobile music market in South Korea.
- Streaming mobile music is growing; however, it does not yet have the market scale compared to other mobile music categories. Mobile games and adult content are continuing to grow, but at gradually slowing rates.
