opinion

A New European Mobile Market

It’s no longer a well kept secret that digital commerce is moving toward mobile platforms at a global pace that continues to accelerate. In many countries the proliferation of mobile phones and data plans now dwarfs the number of traditional desktop computers. The infrastructure improvements necessary to expand mobile connectivity further are being given top priority by governments and corporations who understand the growing importance of these services to emerging economies and modern societies. Now some primary markets are faltering as they create artificial obstacles for content providers to overcome, while other nations in Europe appear poised to become key target markets for forward-thinking content providers.

When many American business owners think of European markets, they unintentionally limit their scope to the well-known economic strongholds of Western Europe, including Germany, France and the U.K. as examples. In the last 10 years these countries have lead the way toward “always on” connectivity in Europe but now their political climates are becoming increasingly adversarial to adult interests.

In the last 10 years these countries have lead the way toward “always on” connectivity in Europe but now their political climates are becoming increasingly adversarial to adult interests.

Germany has implemented a peculiar set of restrictions and requirements that adult companies must satisfy to do business legally within its borders, and British Prime Minister David Cameron infamously opened a Pandora’s box of censorship problems by advocating nationwide filtering of adult content recently. The proposed changes would require consumers to opt-in to view an unfiltered version of the web without the heavy hand of government obscuring certain topics based purely on the subjective standard of “good taste.”

In the U.K., all mobile operators already have adult content filters on phones, automatically installed and they can only be deactivated by request with proof that the user is over 18 years of age. The U.K. government has also taken additional steps to reach agreements with the largest public Wi-Fi’ operators (O2, Virgin Media, Sky, Nomad, BY and Arqiva) to install mandatory family-friendly content filters on their services by the end of August.

Overall volatility of the EU economy does play a role in digital commerce, with some specific areas rebounding faster than others on a very region specific or even carrier specific scope within individual markets. Each country also has different regulations regarding which price points can be used to bill end users. So, while the macroeconomic effect of national economies may drive infrastructure development, EU economics are not as much of an influence on content price points as some people would expect, since the price points are mainly influenced by legal restrictions that are applied by the different carriers abiding by government regulations.

Mobile marketing within Europe is reaching new untapped areas and bringing in consumers from an increasingly diverse population but the opportunity to earn major profits is counterbalanced somewhat by the complexity and learning curve necessary to remain fully compliant with all authorities that have jurisdiction over your ventures. That’s why many top brands rely on key distribution partners like Affil4You to arrange the right billing options and abide by the regulations, restrictions and cultural obligations of each target audience.

There is no substitute for experience and having an extensive history managing all aspects of European Mobile monetization - from language translations to working with processors who truly understand the marketplace and technical experts capable of optimizing your operations for the devices used in each specific region are essential parts of a cohesive strategy to earn the maximum profit possible, throughout Europe and beyond.

Judy Shalom is Affil4You’s senior sales manager.

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

profile

VerifyMy Seeks to Provide Frictionless Online Safety, Compliance Solutions

Before founding VerifyMy, Ryan Shaw was simply looking for an age verification solution for his previous business. The ones he found, however, were too expensive, too difficult to integrate with, or failed to take into account the needs of either the businesses implementing them or the end users who would be required to interact with them.

Alejandro Freixes ·
opinion

How Adult Website Operators Can Cash in on the 'Interchange' Class Action

The Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement resulted from a landmark antitrust lawsuit involving Visa, Mastercard and several major banks. The case centered around the interchange fees charged to merchants for processing credit and debit card transactions. These fees are set by card networks and are paid by merchants to the banks that issue the cards.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

It's Time to Rock the Vote and Make Your Voice Heard

When I worked to defeat California’s Proposition 60 in 2016, our opposition campaign was outspent nearly 10 to 1. Nevertheless, our community came together and garnered enough support and awareness to defeat that harmful, misguided piece of proposed legislation — by more than a million votes.

Siouxsie Q ·
opinion

Staying Compliant to Avoid the Takedown Shakedown

Dealing with complaints is an everyday part of doing business — and a crucial one, since not dealing with them properly can haunt your business in multiple ways. Card brand regulations require every merchant doing business online to have in place a complaint process for reporting content that may be illegal or that violates the card brand rules.

Cathy Beardsley ·
profile

WIA Profile: Patricia Ucros

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Ucros graduated from college with a degree in education. She spent three years teaching third grade, which she enjoyed a lot, before heeding her father’s advice and moving to South Florida.

Women In Adult ·
opinion

Creating Payment Redundancies to Maximize Payout Uptime

During the global CrowdStrike outage that took place toward the end of July, a flawed software update brought air travel and electronic commerce to a grinding halt worldwide. This dramatically underscores the importance of having a backup plan in place for critical infrastructure.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

The Need for Minimal Friction in Age Verification Technology

In the adult sector, robust age assurance, comprised of age verification and age estimation methods, is critical to ensuring legal compliance with ever-evolving regulations, safeguarding minors from inappropriate content and protecting the privacy of adults wishing to view adult content.

Gavin Worrall ·
opinion

Account-to-Account Payments: The New Banking Disruptor?

So much of our industry relies upon Visa and Mastercard to support consumer payments — and with that reliance comes increased scrutiny by both brands. From a compliance perspective, the bar keeps getting raised until it feels like we end up spending half our time making sure we are compliant rather than growing our business.

Cathy Beardsley ·
profile

WIA Profile: Samantha Beatrice

Beatrice credits the sex positivity of Montreal for ultimately inspiring her to pursue work in adult entertainment. She had many friends working in the industry, from sex workers to production teams, so it felt like a natural fit and offered an opportunity to apply her marketing and social media savvy to support people she truly believes in and wants to see succeed.

Women In Adult ·
opinion

Understanding the Latest Server Processors

Over the last decade, we mostly stopped talking about CPU performance. Recently, however, there has been a seismic and exciting change in the CPU landscape, due to innovation by a chip company called Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Brad Mitchell ·
Show More