A2P Messaging Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Component (Platform, Service), By Deployment Mode, By Enterprise Size, By SMS Traffic, By Application, By Vertical, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030

Report Overview

The global A2P messaging market was valued at USD 66.84 billion in 2022 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9% from 2023 to 2030. The market is projected to witness significant growth attributed to the increased use of short messaging services (SMS) among enterprises as A2P messaging is low-cost and universal reach. Additionally, a high emphasis on customer acquisition and engagement is anticipated to boost the growth.

The rising adoption of A2P messaging in several verticals such as BFSI, healthcare, retail & e-commerce, among others, are contributing positively to the growth of the industry for A2P messaging. A2P messaging enables communication with the customers, deliver time-sensitive alerts, and authenticates active users and mechanisms.

The A2P messaging solution allows enterprises to manage bulk messaging services instantly by leveraging quality mobile communications routes across the globe. The A2P messaging offer a centralized tool to work messaging services worldwide without establishing agreements with all the destination operators. A2P messaging builds better client relations and ensures better connectivity and expansion of sales.

Factors such as the growing focus of end users on A2P messaging, increasing penetration of mobile advertisements, and increasing penetration of smartphones across every country are expected to fuel the industry’s growth. The market growth is driven by the rapid adoption of internet services and the integration of OTT messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, which are useful for customer engagement and acquisition.

A2P messaging builds better client relations and ensures better connectivity and expansion of sales. The high emphasis on customer acquisition and engagement is anticipated to boost the market growth. The regulations about the communications practices of A2P messaging vary at regional or country levels.

For instance, the A2P messaging has to be compliant with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules that are subject to certain conditions. The FCC rules protect over-messaging and match message content, such as the importance of the message and timeliness, with broadcast channels

COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted supply chain services and customer behavior & preference. The pandemic had highly affected service industries such as BFSI, media & entertainment, hospitality, and media & entertainment. The gradual shift from conventional business practices to online platforms resulted in the establishment of efficient telecom services and solutions for better customer engagement. Therefore, the telecom sector played a pivotal role in supporting digital infrastructure. A2P services played a crucial role in government communication applications during the pandemic.

The prerequisite services such as real-time COVID-19 updates, notifications, and vaccination reminders provided by governments boosted the adoption of A2P messaging during the pandemic. A2P messaging assisted several emerging businesses and enterprises in staying connected with the customers and increased sales during the pandemic.

The overall emerging opportunities propelled the industry players to invest in messaging services dedicated to the pandemic situation. For instance, WhatsApp announced the launch of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Alert. The WHO Health Alert will provide daily updates and prompts, official information on travel advice, how to protect yourself from infection, and demystifying COVID-19 myths.

However, industries such as retail marketing endured forfeiture with outlets and shops closed; meanwhile, the increase in transactions, alerts, and notifications led to message traffic in line with e-commerce growth. On the other hand, with the advancement in the IT & healthcare industry, the development of mobile operations expanded the reception of A2P messaging.

Component Insights

In terms of component, the market is classified into platform and service. The platform segment dominated the overall market, gaining a market share of over 61.0% in 2022 and witnessing a CAGR of 4.4% during the forecast period. The growth of the platform segment can be attributed to the extensive usage of the A2P messaging platform in various verticals such as BFSI, travel & tourism, media & entertainment, and healthcare. Also, the demand for A2P messaging, online transactions, notifications, and alerts has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The A2P platforms describe various products and provide updates and promotions, especially for small and medium enterprises. It provides users with direct access to multiple brands and services within the messaging app. The direct access allows them to engage with the virtual assistants and represents a number of advantages for businesses to cater ‘always on’ services to customers. The development of AI and chatbot services has increased the number of virtual assistants such as Google Assistant, Apple Siri, Facebook Messenger, and Amazon Echo.

The A2P SMS services segment is anticipated to witness the fastest growth, growing at a CAGR of 5.0% throughout the forecast period. A2P messaging is the means of messaging used for various communication purposes between the application and its subscribing users. The growth of smartphones, new OTT businesses, and MNOs have led to a decrease in P2P messaging service income which is increasing the adoption of A2P platform and services.

Deployment Mode Insights

In terms of deployment mode, the market is classified into cloud and on-premises. The cloud segment dominated the overall market, gaining a market share of over 57.0% in 2022 and witnessing a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period. Cloud solutions such as Cisco Cloud Care, Amazon Connect, and Genesys PureCloud, among others, offer easy deployment and scalability.

Cloud-based A2P messaging provides an effective, integrated marketing campaign that supports increasing client interaction. To offer a secure mobile messaging experience, cloud-based platforms easily integrate SMS, MMS, phone, and other services, which drives the growth of this segment

On-premises contact centers require administration, deployment, maintenance, and scale hardware and software. Also, these solutions are expensive and difficult to manage and deploy due to which the adoption of cloud-based platforms is expected to increase in the forecasted period. Large enterprises primarily employ on-premise-based platforms because they provide in-house data security. 

Enterprise Size Insights

In terms of enterprise size, the market is classified into large enterprises and small & medium enterprises. The large enterprises dominated the overall market, gaining a market share of over 61.0% in 2022. The growth is attributable to the high focus on SMS marketing, increased marketing budgets, and high investments and spending.

Pandemic has led to significant shifts in consumer behavior and purchasing habits. As business messages can boost brand recognition, customer satisfaction, and responsiveness, the adoption of A2P messaging is increasing continuously. For instance, Levis surpassed 85% customer satisfaction scores by adopting A2P messaging and drove 30x more store-related questions than web chat.

The small & medium enterprises segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period 2023-2030. This is due to the small & medium enterprises ordinarily utilizing A2P messaging to describe the variety of products, for updates, and promotional activities. A2P messaging platforms play a pivotal role, in the case of product development as enterprises are able to advertise the new product launch and benefit from brand recognition. Small & medium enterprises are expected to become key adopters of A2P messaging in near future mainly due to the low cost and efficient way of contacting a large number of potential customers.

SMS Traffic Insights

In terms of SMS traffic, the market is classified into national and cross-border. The national dominated the A2P messaging market size, gaining a market share of over 55.0% in 2022. During the pandemic, the national/domestic traffic has increased largely. Industries such as retail marketing endured forfeiture with outlets and shops closed; meanwhile, the increase in transactions, alerts, and notifications led to message traffic in line with e-commerce growth.

The cross-border segment is anticipated to witness the fastest growth, growing at a CAGR of 5.6% throughout the forecast period. The impact of the lockdown was not only noticeable in the Asian region but also in the EMEA region, where a severe national lockdown that was in force for almost three months led to a 13% increase in international A2P traffic. Additionally, the impact on international A2P traffic was minimal in a sizable African nation where the lockdown measures were only applied to major cities rather than the entire country.

Application Insights

In terms of application, the market is classified into customer relationship management (CRM), interactive messaging services, promotional campaigns, pushed content services, and others. The CRM segment held the dominant revenue share of over 30% in 2022 and witnessing a CAGR of 3.6% during the forecast period. The growth of the customer relationship management segment is attributed to the emerging industries adopting A2P messaging for CRM.

Customer relationship management services are useful in examining customer behavior and trends, and it assigns and manages the customer relationship by sending A2P SMS services, which leads to increased revenue. The application contains links to access a PDF or email about a new launch and the ability to track orders, reply to surveys, claim vouchers, and view videos.

The promotional campaigns segment is expected to witness the fastest growth throughout the forecast period. This growth is due to the increasing adoption of A2P services for various promotional campaigns such as providing promotional offers, delivering customer rewards, and circulation of promotional messages to customers. Emerging start-ups and businesses are practicing marketing and promotional activities by sending A2P messages to the customers for brand recognition. This benefits in targeting a bulk customer base with cost-effective strategies.

Vertical Insights

In terms of vertical, the market is classified into BFSI, healthcare, media & entertainment, retail & e-commerce, travel & tourism, and others. The BFSI segment dominated the A2P messaging services market share, gaining a market share of over 29.0% in 2022. The growth of the BFSI segment is attributed to the increasing payment transactions and growing adoption of online A2P messaging in the BFSI industry.

Financial institutions and banks utilize A2P messaging for payment reminders, balance statements, notifications, one-time passwords, and anti-fraud alerts. By announcing transaction information, consumer actions, and needs-related retail banking operations, an A2P messaging system aids them in connecting with and establishing a strong relationship with clients. Due to the ubiquity of smartphones and the ongoing expansion of internet users, tech-savvy customers demand speedy services due to which a number of banks and financial institutions are increasingly adopting A2P messaging.

The media & entertainment segment is anticipated to witness the fastest growth throughout the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the adoption of A2P messaging by the entertainment industry involving voting-based reality shows to reach maximum viewers. Key players such as Sinch and Proximus are providing content distribution solutions such as rich content enhancement in messages, and personalized and newsworthy notifications to drive engagement with instant media alerts.

Regional Insights

The Asia Pacific region dominated the overall A2P messaging market in 2022, with a market share of over 43.0%. The growth is attributed to the increasing penetration of smartphones, the growing proliferation of internet services, and the number of internet subscribers in the region. India and China have an extensive and distributed customer base driving the demand and creating new opportunities for the A2P industry.

The growth of the market is prominently due to the increasing adoption of A2P messaging in several applications, such as customer relationship management, and promotional campaigns, among others. Furthermore, the region's untapped potential is generating new investment opportunities for telecom operators and advertisers in the region. Moreover, multinational companies focus on business expansion across APAC owing to the broad customer base and internet subscribers.

North America is expected to develop substantially by the projection period and grow at a CAGR of 2.8%. The key factor driving the A2P industry in North America is the presence of significant players such as AT&T, Genesys, and TWILIO INC., among others, which have propelled the growth. Also, a number of companies are developing a cloud-based messaging platform to provide end-to-end encryption of messages, thereby contributing to the growth of the A2P industry. 

Key Companies & Market Share Insights

The market cap is fragmented and is anticipated to witness increased competition due to several players' presence. Some prominent players include TWILIO INC., Dialogue Communications, Infobip ltd., Sinch, Proximus, Tata Communications, AT&T, China Mobile Limited, Orange, and Genesys, among others.

These companies are also collaborating with telecom operators, advertisers, and local & regional players to gain a competitive edge over their peers and capture a significant industry share. The industry players are adopting different key strategies and developments to occupy significant revenue share.

For instance, In March 2022 Infobip ltd. announced the integration of SMS and WhatsApp messaging notifications into Adobe Commerce. The integration will enable enterprises and organizations to boost loyalty and improve customer experience by adding communication channels. In December 2021, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Xandr from AT&T. The acquisition will accelerate the delivery of digital marketing, advertising, and retail media solutions for the open web. Some prominent players in the global A2P messaging market include:

• TWILIO INC.

• Dialogue Communications

• Infobip Ltd.

• Sinch

• Proximus

• Tata Communications

• AT&T

• Chain Mobile Limited

• Orange

• Genesys

A2P Messaging Market Report Scope

Global A2P Messaging Market Segmentation

This report forecasts revenue growths at global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2017 to 2030. For this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global A2P messaging market report based on component, deployment mode, enterprises, SMS traffic, application, vertical, and region:

• Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2030)

  • Platform

  • Service

• Deployment Mode Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2030)

  • On-premise

  • Cloud

• Enterprise Size Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2030)

  • Large Enterprises

  • Small & Medium Enterprises

• SMS Traffic Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2030)

  • National

  • Cross-border

• Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2030)

  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Services

  • Interactive Messaging Services

  • Promotional Campaigns

  • Pushed Content Services

  • Others

• Vertical Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2030)

  • BFSI

  • Healthcare

  • Media & Entertainment

  • Retail & E-commerce

  • Travel & Tourism

  • Others

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2017 - 2030)

  • North America

    • U.S.

    • Canada

    • Mexico

  • Europe

    • UK

    • Germany

    • France

  • Asia Pacific

    • China

    • Japan

    • India

  • South America

    • Brazil

  • Middle East & Africa