The mobile entertainment industry is throwing away up to 10% of its gross revenue due to inconsistent and inaccurate content sales reporting, according to research from the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF). The findings were unveiled today as part of MEF's global Content Sales Reporting Initiative.
93% of industry members surveyed across the mobile ecosystem believe accurate content sales reporting is critical to the long-term success of the industry. Currently different reporting styles are a key issue affecting business across the value chain, from operators to service and content providers. One in two respondents said they receive up to 50 different types of reports, and this confusion is exacerbated by the fact that there is no clear reporting line within the value chain.
Further to this, 42% said their reports are not accurate. Most respondents cited loss of revenue, wasted resources and reduced investment in mobile content as common results from poor content reporting.
To combat these issues, MEF is working with key industry stakeholders to create a best practice guidelines for content sales reporting that can be adopted within the industry. The initiative hopes to address specific issues around timeliness, relevance, accuracy and consistency of reports.
The challenge will be finding some common ground between all the different parties involved and their individual needs. For example, when asked how often they would like to receive reports, 37% of respondents said they want real time statistics, 15% want daily and 22% wanted weekly and monthly.
"These results show how acutely the industry is affected by the lack of reporting guidelines. It is clear that we need to pull together to resolve the issues and implement best reporting practices, and MEF's best practice guidelines will lead the way. Standardised reporting will give us an extremely accurate and clear picture of how content is delivered and used, which will benefit all the players in the value chain," said Jason Wells, Senior Vice President, Mobile Entertainment at Sony Pictures Television International.
Suhail Bhat, Policy and Initiatives Director for MEF said: "It is clear this consultation has only scratched the surface, but it is a major step in uncovering the depth of this issue and how it directly affects revenues across the board. The mobile entertainment market is now a huge global force with revenues exceeding $25billion yearly – our systems and processes need to reflect this in order to take the industry to the next level."
As part of this global initiative, MEF surveyed their members and people from the wider industry about their views on sales reporting. The results will be used to inform MEF's Content Sales Reporting Best Practice Guidelines, due to be released in Q1 of 2008.