Mobile subscriptions (mVas/WAP-Click): what is this vertical, how and how much they earn on it

We are sure that at least once in your life you heard about mobile subscriptions and even sent SMS to a short four-digit and, importantly, PAY number. At the moment when the money was withdrawn from you, some webmaster made money on it. Today we are figuring out how to make money on this now for you, what this mVAS is, what user flows it has and how to work with this vertical.
 

What are mobile subscriptions or mVAS and why they are undeservedly unpopular

For webmasters, mobile subscriptions (in different countries they are also called mVAS and WAP-Click) are primarily a vertical where a user subscribes to regular content distribution or temporary access to online services with payment from a mobile account. 

 

What does a subscription to mobile content look like

 

This is a huge list of all kinds of entertainment in the form of text or multimedia (MMS) messages, paid from a mobile account: polls, sports scores, cool ringtones, weather, horoscopes, jokes. This vertical also includes access to various sites on the Internet, such as music aggregators, online cinema and streaming services, a dating sites.

 

For the user, mobile subscriptions are convenient and safe. No need to link a bank card. To register, it is enough to send an SMS to a short 4-digit number or vice versa, make a request by mobile number and enter the secret code that came in the message on the landing page. Money is debited from the phone account by the mobile operator.

 

An example of a landing page for subscribing to mobile content

 

For webmasters, this vertical is a tool with a simple target action that allows you to monetize mobile traffic with high returns. The attraction chain is reduced to 1-3 steps on the part of the user. To get a lead, you do not need to create complex scripts, you can get by with a minimal list of creatives.

 

And the last bonus is high conversion. It is relatively easy for visitors to subscribe to content with a mobile bill. The amount is small and debited automatically. When rebilling, the webmaster will also receive remuneration until the moment of unsubscribing. To do this, you need to send a complex code to a specific number or try to call the support service.

 

Traffic launch statistics on mVAS offer with push notifications
 

How mVAS mobile subscriptions work: billing and user flow

Affiliate networks pay webmasters exclusively for subscribing to a paid service using the CPA model (one-time payment, sometimes listed as auto redemption) or RevShare - a percentage of sales (the longer the user stays subscribed, the more you earn). 

 

In the usual sense, there is no hold in mVAS. But there are some nuances, because the conversion can occur according to several scenarios: 

 

• Nonbillable. Conversion = subscription, even if there is no money on the balance. 
• Billable. Conversion = deducting money for a subscription. 

 

Plus, user SIM cards are divided into:

 

• Prepay - first payment, then access to content. If the postback works for the advertiser, the conversions are approved in real-time. 
• Postpay - subscription payment after a month of use. And here there is a difference what offer. If nonbillable - the conversion is counted even if there is no money on the balance. If billable - conversion only when debiting money.

 

There may be a problem with billable/postpay offers: an advertiser cannot charge for a subscription without money on the balance. A conversion is a PAID subscription. Then everything depends on the advertiser: someone does not pay at all, someone writes off later. If successful, the conversion is credited to the webmaster.

 

 

Payment models or user flow:

 

• 1click — subscription confirmation occurs in one click;
• 2click — the user clicks on the button on the pre-lander, then goes to the payment page and confirms the subscription with the second click;
• 3click — the client clicks on the button on the pre-lander, then goes to the payment page, enters his phone number, if the number is not automatically pulled up (depending on the offer itself), and confirms it with the second click, confirms the subscription with the third click;
• Pin Submit (also called Mobile Terminated or MT). The visitor enters their phone number in the contact line on the landing page to request the sending of a PIN code via SMS or instant messengers. A form for entering the received code appears on this or the next page;
• HE (Header Enrichment - autocomplete)+click —  the user opens the landing page, his number is already entered in a special field, which must be confirmed with the first click, then, getting to the payment page, the user agrees to the subscription with the second click;
• Click2sms — the user needs to send an SMS with a keyword to a short number or enter a phone number on the page;
• Сlick2call (IVR) —the user must call a specific number to confirm the subscription payment decision.

 

Which billing model is better? Each subscription model has pros and cons. And there are many factors to choose from. For example, the obvious drawback of SMS billing - a more complex target action - is also its advantage. In this case, the conversion will not be lower, because this method is more trustworthy, similar confirmation is often used by banks and online TV providers, the audience associates this with security.

 

Video how 3 click flow works take from here: https://telegra.ph/Flou-v-WAP-click-vidy-i-osobennosti-03-25  
 

Verticals with mobile subscriptions: what webmasters run on

The mobile content niche has a huge number of directions, from weather and jokes (hello from the 2000s) to subscription to premium content on porn sites. Popular among affiliates:

 

• Mobile games. This can be access to the game in its entirety or only closed cards, or the purchase of in-game currency, ammunition, super features;
• Video streaming. Services with payment by SMS are common in the Middle East, Europe, and the USA. Often these are pirated online cinemas that were the first to screencast a new movie or TV series with Netflix;
• Sweepstakes. Drawings of smartphones, laptops and vouchers. This also includes various polls, contests with a paid subscription;
• Horoscopes. Still popular and people are willing to pay for them;
• Recipes. Unobvious direction. Despite tons of content on YouTube, many fans of unusual dishes are willing to pay for exclusive recipes;
• Adult. Access to porn sites, adult chats with webcams often comes with payment via SMS;
• Sport. Distribution of sports scores, training records or training programs.
   

Target audience and GEO of mobile subscriptions

It is logical that the target audience are users of mobile devices. But who exactly and where? Some webmasters are sure that mobile subscriptions are no longer relevant in tier-1 and tier-2 countries. Therefore, you need to master tier-3, where a computer is a luxury, and the Internet is slow.

 

In practice, mVAS successfully operates in Austria, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, the Middle East, and the CIS countries. Payouts vary depending on the affiliate program, vertical, region. 

 

An example of offers and payouts in the ADLEADPRO affiliate program

 

As for the audience, we start from a niche:

 

• Adult - men over 25-30 years old.
• Horoscopes for women under 65.
• Sweepstakes, sports - better to pour on young people.
• Cooking - there are many surprises here, both housewives and young successful men who like to cook on their own, but do not have time to sit on culinary sites subscribe to this.
• Video, mobile games - young audience 20-40 years old.
   

Traffic sources for mobile subscriptions

 

As the reviews and cases posted in the public domain show, high conversion can be obtained both from Pop-Up advertising  on entertainment portals, as well as on Facebook and Google. Not to mention the effectiveness of in-app traffic. 

 

Here you can identify another advantage of the niche - this is that it does not apply to blackhat verticals and with moderation (if it is not adult) in 99.9% of cases there are no problems. 

 

The main thing when working with any of these sources is not to forget to specify in the targeting settings: for mobile users.
 

Where to get creatives and pre-landers for mobile subscriptions and examples 

The options, as always, are the same - come up with and do it yourself, or find it in the SPY service. Here are some SPY bundles we found while writing this article. You do not need to use them, they most likely will not convert. But it will not be superfluous to take into account. 

 

https://vimeo.com/737863369?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=147355249 

https://vimeo.com/737873291?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=147355249 

https://vimeo.com/737879865?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=147355249 
 

Where to get offers for mobile subscriptions, mVAS

Some of the available mVAS CPA networks are available in our catalog by the appropriate filter. Basically we can recommend: 

 

• ADLEADPRO. The CPA network promises offers from local advertisers for almost any GEO, good conditions for webmasters, round-the-clock support and ready-made applications. There are more than 5000 offers in the list, some of them are in private.
• Affshark. The affiliate works directly with mobile operators. Main niches: dating, nutra, sweepstakes. Ready-made creatives for promotion. Good choice of GEO. 
• Wildo.Click. One of the first mVAS partner networks. It has been working since the time when most people only dreamed of a smartphone, and mobile content was distributed in SMS mailing lists. The company focuses on direct billing with one-click confirmation. The list includes offers in the following areas: movies, music, adult, files, games.
   

Case for launching traffic to mobile subscriptions from Facebook

• Affiliate network: Affshark
• Vertical: Sweepstakes
• GEO: Sweden
• Traffic: Facebook
• Expenses: $7354
• Income: $11400
• Profit: $4046
• ROI: 55.01%

 

Initially, a test launch was planned with expenses of no more than $1,000. But after the setup, everything worked so well that in the end we scaled up the “experiment”. We settled on the PS5 giveaway. 

 

Note! They let creatives go through the cloak— FB moderators don’t like sweepstakes. But in general, the offer is legal, we managed to work it out without excesses.

 

The affiliate confirmation method is Click2sms. We used a funnel of the following format: banner - warming up pre-landing in the form of a questionnaire - landing page.

 

We chose images of happy people with won consoles for the banners. The announcements indicated that everyone can take a survey and take part in the drawing.

Targeting audience 25+. Ads were shown to users who visit sites dedicated to gaming, reviews of mobile phones and other devices, as well as fans of giveaways and sweepstakes.

 

The trial run of the bundle showed good potential - the conversion remained stable literally from the first hours, without any drawdowns. We worked from several accounts and, as expected, the moderators banned some of them. In general, we know from personal experience that blocked accounts are consumable, so we quickly uploaded a new batch of accounts. In general, with the blocking, everything turned out even better than we expected.

 

What is the result? We scaled the campaign several times and got a good flow of traffic with a stable conversion. The bundle worked for two weeks, and instead of the initially budgeted budget of $1,000, they ended up spending more than $7,000 - but never reached the traffic limit.

 

 

Comment from the editors of AffJournal

Now mobile subscriptions are experiencing a rebirth and give a good envelope. There is a lot of traffic here, the conversion is high, and the target action is simple. But not so many webs work with the vertical, this is a double-edged sword: the competition is lower, but there is less experience in the form of cases and advice on the forums. In the future, we plan to fill this gap by releasing even more articles on this topic.