Jane Woodyer, Head of Marketing at MCP Insight, shares key takeaways from MEF’s recent webinar on Fighting Against Mobile Industry Fraud, available to watch in full now.
Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) is a powerful enabler for the mobile value-added services (mVAS) market, with a projected growth trajectory of over $95 billion by 2026. Offering simplified and more secure transactions, as well as facilitating purchases for the unbanked population, DCB is revolutionising digital transactions. But with this growth comes the potential for fraud.
In a recent webinar, hosted by Dario Betti of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum, industry leaders Rahima Ouadfel, Vice President of Growth at Smadex, and Thomas Tinker, Head of Account Management at MCP Insight, discussed these opportunities and challenges.
The discussion centred around a collaborative whitepaper by Smadex and MCP Insight titled “Transparency and Brand Safe Advertising.” This paper explores how brands can leverage DCB while ensuring compliance and protecting consumers from fraud.
Key Takeaways from the Webinar
Combating fraud
While fraud is a concern, with some regions doing better at tackling it than others, companies like Smadex and MCP Insight are implementing solutions and best practices to safeguard users and build a profitable and sustainable market.
Quality of service is paramount
Smadex and MCP’s experience highlights a direct correlation between service quality and conversion rates. Transparent promotion of services is crucial, not just for user trust but also for mobile carriers who rank services based on risk factors including the quality of the service.
Transparency
Despite notable improvements, a lack of transparency persists in the mVAS advertising landscape. Some traffic remains hidden, with limited accountability across the value chain. Different stakeholders, like mobile carriers and advertisers, often lack understanding of each other’s challenges and processes. Improving transparency across the entire ecosystem is essential.
Regulation and new technologies
The dynamic and fragmented nature of the global regulatory landscape creates complexity for navigating mVAS advertising and DCB. Partnering with digital service providers (DSP) with a deep understanding of regulatory frameworks, as well as compliance experts and industry bodies like MEF, can help brands stay on top of regulatory changes.
The Need for Collaboration Across the Mobile Ecosystem
The webinar emphasised the importance of collaboration between various stakeholders: mobile carriers, aggregators, CSPs, media partners, industry bodies, and anti-fraud providers.
Smadex and MCP Insight have worked together for several years to help brands acquire quality customers using compliant advertising practices, minimising fraud and optimising the user experience for both customers and advertisers.
As my colleague, Thomas Tinker explained during this webinar, working with companies like MCP, who provide compliance and anti-fraud solutions, shouldn’t be something to avoid or be afraid of. He says, “We want to help the value chain, to create a safe and profitable industry for everybody. Because failure to address fraud ultimately leads to market shutdowns. We’ve seen this in the past.”
By working together, stakeholders across the value chain can ensure:
- Increased User Confidence: Transparent and compliant advertising practices build trust with users leading to higher conversion rates and a positive perception of mVAS services.
- Sustainable Market Growth: Collaborative efforts to combat fraud and ensure transparency create a stable and long-term market for everyone involved, from advertisers and carriers to consumers and content service providers.
