Juniper Research: RCS Active Users to Surpass 1 Billion for First Time in 2024, with 75 Billion Business Messages Delivered

BASINGSTOKE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new study from Juniper Research, the foremost experts in mobile messaging markets, has found that the global number of active RCS (Rich Communications Services) users will reach 1.1 billion in 2024; rising from 930 million in 2023. It anticipated that increasing adoption of communications platforms, such as CPaaS (Communications‑Platform-as-a-Service) will be the primary driver in enterprises leveraging operator‑led RCS channels for rich business messaging.

RCS is a protocol for rich media messaging over operator networks providing advanced business messaging services, such as chatbots and payments. Despite a continued lack of support over iOS devices, the report predicted that 50% of mobile subscriptions globally will be capable of receiving RCS business messages next year.

The new report: Global RCS Business Messaging Market 2023-2028, part of Juniper Research’s Mobile Messaging Market Intelligence Centre, offers the most reliable source of data for the market. Download a free sample.

RCS Will Generate $15 Billion in Revenue over Next Five Years

The research predicted that the growth in RCS business messaging will not cannibalise existing SMS traffic. Instead, its rich-media nature will drive new messaging use cases, such as conversational commerce. This new traffic will generate over $15 billion in additional messaging revenue for operators between 2024 and 2028. It identified North America as a high-growth region; accounting for 36% of global RCS revenue by 2028. A high reliance on mobile messaging for communication will drive adoption of RCS amongst enterprise users in the country.

Enterprise Partnerships Key to Online Retail over RCS

To capitalise on user growth, RCS vendors must develop a call-to-action model in which they receive revenue per purchase via RCS to maximise messaging revenue beyond termination. To achieve this, the report urged RCS vendors to form partnerships with the largest online retailers and promote RCS as an alternative online retail channel to end users.

This new market research suite offers the most complete assessment of the RCS business messaging market currently available; providing analysis and 5-year forecasts across 60 markets.

Juniper Research has, for two decades, provided market intelligence and advisory services to the global telecommunications sector, retained by many of the world’s leading network operators and communications platforms.