Oh no, not another one of those top 5 lists, I hear you cry! Well, for those of you in the messaging space, listen up, because you may well be pleasantly surprised!
- #RBM has reached an inflection point. Our friends at #mobilesquared reliably informed us that RBM reach has grown a massive 75% in 2022, and has passed the 1B monthly active user mark, making RBM the fastest growing messaging channel globally.
- With a global market share of 72%, Google’s Android OS will surely be RBMs trump card as RCS capability in Android devices continues to grow, and Google’s recent announcement that they will be rebranding ‘Chat’ to RCS can only help grow awareness and adoption.
- Mobile Operators made huge progress last year in aligning their billing models and promotion mechanics. The operators in 3 of Europe’s biggest markets, UK, Germany and Spain have done a magnificent job in making RBM attractive for brands. Did you know that brands can send RBM Branded messages at the same price as SMS? Or that in Germany, a full, rich media RCS message can be sent for no more than the cost of an SMS? We are already seeing a tremendous amount of interest in the channel, and these kind of attractive propositions can only help increase that interest.
- The success of RBM’s biggest challenger, What’s App for Business, is helping educate the market on the benefits of Rich Messaging via the mobile channel. Our job is now to persuade the ecosystem that the channel is not What’s App, Facebook messenger or even RBM, but MOBILE. Rich Messaging delivers such huge brand benefits compared to SMS, email and other forms of direct communication, and covers 95%+ of smartphones globally. If you buy into the Rich Messaging narrative, it is difficult to argue against the inevitability of RBM becoming a dominant platform. As penetration continues to increase at speed, the native nature of RBM, being delivered directly into the Android Messaging inbox, gives it an unassailable advantage over OTT apps.
- Talking to MNOs globally over the last 12 months, I can verify that there is a very clear increase in interest and engagement with RBM. 2023 is going to see a big increase in RBM availability in Northern and Eastern Europe, and Latin and North America, coming in conjunction with MNOs in Western Europe truly getting to grips with the opportunity.
These are just some of the reasons that RBM is well placed to take on What's App and other OTT channels in the race for rich messaging dominance. Have a different view, or want to highlight something I have missed. Lets start a conversation........
