March 2011 Round up

Knowledge & Networking News

Dear Members and Colleagues,
 
Thank you to the Secretariat for clearing up the glitter after the GM. As stressed, we love new members and this month we welcome Nexus Communications and Screenreach Interactive, and I am keen to keep your Association growing! News of Industry revenue outperforming UK GDP with a 9% upturn was worthy of a flamboyant gesture and a few bottles of champagne for key contributors. From the conversations at the newly formed Future Look Group last week, there really is more to come and I believe output from this group will help support the strategic development of member businesses. I’m also looking forward to the discussion at the Gambling and Gaming Forum on the 20th April, another big growth opportunity.
 
With the new PhonepayPlus Code of Practice published all eyes now turn to the implementation. Do we know where we sit, is our name on the list and have we checked for any skeletons in our client’s closets? These are the three core messages the value chain need to consider before the 1st September.
 
At the GM it was great to hear from the PhonepayPlus CCP Chairman, David Cockburn, about the adjudications process they will follow under the 12th Code and Paul Whiteing (CEO) was able to update members on how the Executive at PhonepayPlus are getting on implementing new procedures. The AIME Executive are continuing discussions with PhonepayPlus on other procedural issues, so please do share your experiences.  I am pleased to report that relations with PP+ continue to build and never has there been such constructive dialogue.
 
AIME has recently published its ambitious list of objectives for the next 12 months, this includes generating more positive press for the industry, driving key working group initiatives and supporting members business with relevant market research.

AIME announces its second annual conference bringing together the third sector and the interactive services industry. The K&N event 'Empowering the Charitable Sector with Interactive Technologies II'  will be held on 13th July in London. The conference will explore how the charitable sector can leverage multiple new and established interactive communication and payment channels, to increase stakeholder/public engagement and drive donations/fundraising. Over the past 18 months, our ongoing support of this sector to drive greater uptake of interactive services, continues to grow consumer confidence in using PRS technologies and this has an obvious value to wider industry. If you would like to become involved with the event on the 13th July or our Charities working group, please contact Zoe Patterson (zoe@aimelink.org).

Of course the plan wouldn’t be complete without the annual AIME golf day on 6th July, which has now become an industry staple.  Hope to see you there.

Finally, I have accepted the keynote speaking slot at Telemedia 360 in Leeds, I shall be speaking with my AIME hat on and hope to see members there.
 
Let’s keep up the great progress of getting back to growth.  A huge thanks to the AIME Secretariat for their continued efforts. 

Yours Sincerely,

Edward Boddington
AIME Chair

This month's discussion topics:

SHOWCASE

REPRESENTATION

INDUSTRY CONSULTATIONS

  • Dept for Social Development in Northern Ireland: Future Regulation of Gambling in Northern Ireland

INFORMATION & NETWORKING

MEMBER NEWS

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Showcase

AIME unveils Good Quarter for Premium Rate Revenues

Industry trade association, The Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME) today unveiled strong revenue figures for the premium rate sector Q3 2010.

Driven by an increase in growth across mobile (7%) and fixed line payment channels (9%) out payments generated by premium rate services are up with an overall increase of 4.8 % to £145m for the quarter.

Cross mobile operator micro-payment service, Payforit, has also grown by 7% for the quarter, indicating ongoing consumer acceptance and trust in buying content and services via the mobile device.

At the same time complaints to premium rate regulator, PhonepayPlus are down to an all time low of just 1100 for the same period which represents a complaint ratio of one complaint to every 112 thousand transactions. Overall complaints to PhonepayPlus are down 75% over a two year period.

Feedback from AIME members suggests that various factors have contributed to this growth including the continued evolution of social media, where for example, viewers of large scale participation TV shows such as The X-Factor are engaged in social interactivity with their peer groups and show based fan pages.

Read more here...

Back to the Top

Representation

Meetings & Events

  • Interactive Services for Charities Research sub group meeting - 2nd March
  • AIME PRS Foundation Course, Manchester - 8th March
  • AIME General Meeting - 9th March
  • AIME PRS Foundation Course, London - 14th March
  • Interactive Services for Charities Research Group - 15th March
  • Forward Look Brainstorm Session - 16th March
  • AIME PRS Foundation Course, MIG - 23rd March
  • AIME IBF: Voice Short Codes Working Group - 25th March
  • PhonepayPlus Forum - 30th March
  • AIME Forward Look Group - 31st March
  • AIME Board Meeting - 31st March

Please find below a brief summary of this months’ activity from AIME's 8 current Forums and other Initiatives we are working on. Any members who have an interest in any of these areas can receive further information (including meeting notes) or details of how to join the working group from zoe@aimelink.org. Or for more information about the benefits of joining AIME and becoming part of the AIME Forums please visit our website or contact our Membership Manager David Ashman, davidashman@aimelink.org

AIME GM - PhonepayPlus presentation: New Sanctions & Investigations Guide

  • Following positive engagement in 2010 between AIME and PhonepayPlus on the regulatory process (resulting in the publication of the PhonepayPlus Regulatory Process schematic) PhonepayPlus attended the March members' general meeting to provide an update on their latest publication
  • Paul Whiteing, CEO and David Cockburn, Chair, Code Compliance Panel (CCP) gave the first presentation to members of the new sanctions and investigations guide as well as answering general questions from AIME members on the CCP process
  • PhonepayPlus Press Release
  • PhonepayPlus published their new Sanctions & Investigations Procedure guide along with the new code - 30th Mar
  • AIME continues to work closely with PhonepayPlus on the UK regulatory process - also in March AIME were invited by PhonepayPlus to give a presentation to IARN (International Audiotex Regulators Network) on the beneficial close relationship between an Industry association and the regulator.

AIME Value Added Services (VAS) - Industry PRS Training

  • AIME has now held 4 Industry PRS training courses in the last month; 2 in London, 1 in Manchester and 1 bespoke day for a terminating provider member
  • Feedback has been strong and the average rating for course content is 4.6 out of 5
  • Full details of our PRS Foundation training course and attendee feedback can be found on our website or contact bianca@aimelink.org to book your place for the next London event.

 AIME Forum: Forward Look

  • Inaugural AIME Forward Look group meeting held 31st March
  • Future agenda topics discussed - current service map being created for existing payment mechanims in order to identify future trends (for both PRS and alternate payment mechanisms)
  • Output from group likely to include business models, tactical issues for working group to address and consumer research

 AIME Forum: Interactive Broadcast

  • AIME Interactive Broadcast Forum Voice Short Codes sub group met again on 25th March to finalise the business case for using mobile voice short codes as part of a participation TV show format
    • The interactive broadcast value chain worked together to overcome any remaining strategic concerns regarding technical, commercials and compliance issues
    • Next meeting to be held end of May
  • Next bi-annual Interactive Broadcast Forum to be held 13th May 

AIME Forum: Interactive Services for Charities

  • AIME announces date of its second annual conference bringing together the Charitable Sector with the Interactive Technology Industry - 13th July 2011 - full details available on our website
  • AIME Interactive Services for Charities Research sub group have met to draft a questionnaire designed to understand the needs of small/medium charities for Interactive Technology

AIME Initiative: Print Best Practice Guide

Other AIME updates

  • Formation of the NEW AIME Mobile Gaming & Gambling group developing and first meeting to be held 20th April
  • AIME's PTV (chat and psychic) group has been progressing with the AIME Best Practice Guide; meeting to be held in April to finalise
  • Regulatory Meetings:
    • Met with Ofcom 7th March to have further discussions on consultations - Non Geographic Numbers & PRS Bad Debt
    • AIME presentation given to IARN on working with the regulator - 15th March at PhonepayPlus
    • AIME attendance at PhonepayPlus Consumer Literacy working group - 17th March, representation by Board Member Rory Maguire
    • AIME attendance at PhonepayPlus Forum - 30th March

Regulatory Update

  • PhonepayPlus publish new Code of Practice and Guidance Notes - 30th Mar
  • PhonepayPlus publish new Sanctions & Investigations Procedure Guide - 30th Mar
  • PhonepayPlus publish Industry report - Current and Emerging Trends in the UK Premium Rate Services Market 2010  - 29th Mar
  • PhonepayPlus publish statement on 2011/12 Annual Plan & Budget - 29th Mar
  • PhonepayPlus publish update on Industry Registration Scheme – 17th Mar
  • PhonepayPlus announce 2011/12 Industry adjusted levy - 2nd Mar 

Industry Consultations
 

 Open Consultations


Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland: Future Regulation of Gambling in Northern Ireland

 

Closed Consultations

 

Ofcom PRS Bad Debt Surcharge

  • Response submitted 24th March
  • AIME pleased that Ofcom took on board Industry concern of original proposed 9.7% bad debt surcharge and to gain clarity on the definition of bad debt within the context of the surcharge
  • Based on the described methodology by Ofcom's consultants, BDO, for bad debt calculations AIME concluded no evidence to dispute the revised figure of 5.2% but did suggest BT need to look to improve its account reporting functionality ahead of future reviews

Ofcom – Simplifying Non Geographic Numbers

  • Met with Ofcom 7th March
  • Response submitted 31st March
  • AIME considered all member feedback and submitted a principles based response looking at 4 key areas; general understanding of NGN, network pricing transparency, unbundled call tariffs, higher rate PRS tariffs
  • AIME has been lobbying since 2008 for higher rate PRS tariffs on fixed line and therefore pleased to see consideration given to this area within the consultation
  • AIME has also proposed that higher rate tariffs for charitable donations should be considered outside this consultation to prevent unnecessary delay in their implementation - a separate business case has been submitted to Ofcom in March

Industry consultations & AIME responses can be found on the AIME website
AIME encourages members to also respond individually to consultations 
For further information please contact Zoe@aimelink.org

Back to the Top

Information & Networking

  • AIME welcomes new members Nexus Telecommunications & Screenreach Interactive
  • Member networking after AIME GM - 9th March
  • AIME Supporting Association and attendance at Changing Media 2011 - 23rd-24th March
  • AIME Supporting Association and attendance at Social Media World Forum 2011 - 29th-30th March
  • AIME attendance at PhonepayPlus Forum - 30th March
  • Member Emails Included:
    • AIME Meeting: GM - 9th March, Draft Agenda
    • AIME Consultation Update: PRS Bad Debt
    • AIME Consultation Update: Ofcom PRS Bad Debt - AIME Draft response
    • AIME Consultation Update: Draft response to Ofcom Simplifying Non Geographic Numbers consultation 

Back to the Top

Member News

MGt, the leading provider of software and solutions for payment, billing and customer management has successfully raised a further £5m from its existing investors, which include the Rothschild Investment Trust and Lord Weinstock’s estate. The money has been raised to fund the expansion of the highly functional and versatile PayWizard payment solution. 

OpenMarket, a leading global mobile transaction hub offering a comprehensive set of mobile payment, messaging and emerging services, and Telecom Express, the leading provider of interactive marketing services to the UK media industry, today announced a key strategic partnership.

Interactive television and mobile technology pioneer Harvest Media Group today announced strong financial results for 2010, with further growth forecast for this year. Over the past two years, net profits have more than doubled to over £1.5m. Further strong growth is predicted for 2011.

mBlox, the world's largest mobile transaction network, today announced the launch of the industry’s first secure, cloud-based, mobile app enabling services that provide brands with unprecedented opportunity to interact with mobile consumers and social networking group members. 

An increasing number of production companies and broadcasters are using the services of professional independent adjudicators to ensure that they are beyond criticism at all times.

Mobile Interactive Group ( MIG ) today announces the integration of its Interactive Broadcast Platform ( IBP ) with social platform Facebook, enabling more than 500 million users* to interact and vote worldwide. 

Back to the Top

Dates for your Diary!

10th May - T360 - AIME Supporting Association, member discount
10-11th May - MVNOs Barcelona - AIME Supporting Association, member discount
13th May - AIME Interactive Broadcast Forum - members only
8th June - AIME GM - Members only
14th June - Social Media Results - AIME Supporting Association, member discount
28-29th June - GameHorizon - AIME Supporting Association, member discount
6th July - AIME annual VIP Golf Day - contact bianca@aimelink.org to book your team
13th July - AIME Empowering the Charitable Sector with Interactive Technology II conference
21-22nd September - ad:tech - AIME Supporting Association, member discount

If you would like further information on any of AIME's activities, initiatives or benefits of membership, please contact me at zoe@aimelink.org

Kind Regards,

Zoe Patterson
General Manager

Back to the Top

Subscribe to receive all future AIME newsletters & information about our K&N events

Sponsors

MIG      bbc       itv     WIN   

  OpenMarket  OXYGEN8     

AIME - Success in Interactive Media


AIME | www.aimelink.org | Tel: 44 (0) 1273 685 328 | 28 Foundry St, Brighton, BN1 4AT