MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is to pull in global revenues of over $180bn (£112bn) between 2012 and 2016, according to the latest Mobile Messaging Futures report from Portio Research. Having maintained its position as the second most successful non-voice mobile service over the years, however, 2011 saw revenue fall behind that of mobile e-mail. By 2016, mobile IM (Instant Messaging) – which generated the lowest revenue in the mobile messaging market in 2011 – will surpass MMS revenue.

“We are not forecasting decline, just decline in growth,” says John White, Portio Researchs business development manager. “MMS still generates in excess of $30bn per annum, and both traffic and revenues are expected to continue growing every year for the next five years.”

In the mobile messaging market, SMS is still king, generating 63.5 per cent of revenue, and the most traffic, in 2011 – and its set to continue dominating worldwide mobile messaging until 2016. According to the report, SMS usage is set to slow down, with its revenue share dropping below 50 per cent, but will continue to exist comfortably alongside OTT (Over-The-Top) messaging services.

“Predictions of the ‘death of SMS’ have been unduly presumptuous, as SMS continues to be a large part of operator’s revenues worldwide,” says Tom Veldman, senior proposition manager at mobile messaging company Acision. “The OTT messaging services market is highly fragmented, and so far we have not seen one service establish itself as a main challenger to SMS. According to our recent 2012 research on consumer messaging habits, 93 per cent of smartphone owners communicate via SMS, despite having access to IM and OTT services. Indeed, the ubiquitous nature of SMS means it offers a reach of approximately 5bn people globally across any brand, network and device type, even without 3G. Until OTT messaging services can replicate this universal reach, it is unlikely that they will make a noticeable dent to the SMS market.”

The full report can be downloaded here.