Mobile phones becoming a filthy business

The mobile adult-content market is forecast to double over the next five years with Europe expected to be the most lucrative.

According to the latest figures from Juniper Research the market for erotic content on phones is set to rocket from £723m in 2006 to a whopping £1.7bn by 2011.

Overall, Juniper said that over the next five years mobile adult entertainment services will generate £7.5bn in revenues, with Europe contributing 39 per cent and Asia Pacific 33 per cent.

“Adult content business models have succeeded in other major delivery media: print, cinema, DVD, PPV TV etc,” explained Bruce Gibson, research director at Juniper Research.

“There is no reason the mobile channel should not be equally profitable for adult content industry players. The mobile channel will provide a different way of presenting adult content to traditional delivery channels and will reach new audiences.”

Thanks to 3G technology, mobile phones are the hot new channel for the distribution of adult content. While early erotic content arrived in the form of text-based services, high-quality photos and videos are rapidly taking over. By 2011, video-based services will account for over 70 per cent of mobile erotic revenues.

Gibson added: “Mobile is about fun and instant gratification. I think the biggest opportunity is at the casual and 'softer' end of the adult market – lads in pubs sharing a video clip after a few pints and people looking for a bit of fun when they have spare time to kill etc – not the hard-core stuff.”