Push notifications to bring $10.9bn opportunity for MNOs – report

Dublin-based Openmind Networks claims a potential $10.9 billion market opportunity awaits companies that can make operator-enabled push notifications work.

The market forecast is based on the On Device Research reported it commissioned by analyst firm Mobilesquared. The revenue could be harvested by mobile operators, according to the report, if SMS and Push notifications can be used by advertisers as a channel to their target audience. Mobile users will become a greater target if telcos can create more user friendly standard self-care and service apps.

The $10.9bn market opportunity has two main elements, the first being a simple cloud based system that could be run almost immediately, while the second involves creating a new business model.

The creation of a cheap cloud-based push notification, content management and analytics engine could result in revenues of $2.2bn from Push notifications sent by operators this year alone, says the research.

The second opportunity, which involves creating a model where operators charge additional rates for high value click-through messages, ‘might’ also yield additional revenue of $1.4bn, says the report. It speculates that by 2018 this market could rise to $4.3bn in value, based on a charge of $0.1 per push notification.

The report was compiled by combining Openmind’s own data, from a consumer survey into push notification attitudes, with industry messaging forecasts. It then calculated that mobile network operators could capture additional revenue if they created the link between markets and their targets, through creative development of their push notification technology.

According to the research, 55% of consumers respond to Push notifications in some way, outstripping response rates of all other marketing channels. Meanwhile Mobilesquared forecasts that annual global push notification traffic is set to explode, growing from 22.9bn messages in 2015 to 581.5bn by 2018, with operator-enabled push notifications potentially growing to represent 11% of all global Push traffic by 2018.

“SMS has always been the most potent of marketing forces, and there is no reason why push notifications cannot equal, or even, surpass this,” said Nick Lane, Chief Analyst at Mobilesquared.