The world’s leading Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) service for emerging markets, iflix and the mobile payments company Fortumo are announcing the launch of direct carrier billing for iflix users. More than 620 million people in Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand can now subscribe to iflix and enjoy access to unlimited video entertainment by using their airtime balance or monthly phone bill to pay for the service.
Direct carrier billing will allow any mobile phone owner to subscribe to iflix and conveniently deduct the access fee from their mobile operator balance. In the emerging markets where iflix operates, less than 10% of people own a credit card while smartphone ownership is already around 40% of the population. This means direct carrier billing allows a significantly larger portion of people the ability to pay for iflix subscriptions.
“We are always looking to offer customers the best and most seamless iflix experience possible from content to service to payments. As we continue rapid expansion into emerging markets globally, we are confident that Fortumo will provide seamless payment integration in our markets”, said Tim Whelan, iflix Global Head of Payments.
“Smartphone ownership and digital content consumption is growing fastest in the emerging markets of Asia. iflix has successfully tapped into this opportunity and become the leading provider of video entertainment in the region, thanks to their clever and localized approach to marketing, user acquisition and monetization. We are very proud to help iflix scale and grow their revenue in these emerging economies,” said Andrea Boetti, Vice President of Global Business Development at Fortumo.
iflix has leveraged Fortumo’s Payments API to expand its payment reach across its Asian markets, allowing iflix to roll out direct carrier billing for multiple mobile operators at once utilising Fortumo’s pre-existing integrations with the carriers. iflix can simultaneously use advanced features of direct carrier billing such as free trials dynamic pricing with a fully iflix-branded payment flow to increase user acquisition and payment conversion.
Carrier billing for iflix via Fortumo has been made available for subscribers of the mobile operators Smartfren and 3 (Indonesia), Telenor and Zong (Pakistan), Smart and Globe (the Philippines) and DTAC (Thailand). Iflix and Fortumo expect to announce support for more carriers in Asia as well as the Middle Eastern & African region (MENA) over the upcoming months. A subscription to iflix can be bought from the service’s homepage.
In addition to iflix, Fortumo services merchants such as Google Play, Spotify and Electronic Arts in 90+ countries, supporting them with local expertise and facilitating relationships with mobile operators.
