How Online Platforms Are ‘Gamifing’ Mobile Bill Payments

The best way to get us to pay attention might be through that little screen in the palms of our hands.

The pandemic has spurred us to do just about everything through our smartphones.

And as consumers, the concept of “free” and “rewards” — and redeemable points — may make consumers perk up a bit as they navigate economic headwinds.

Against that backdrop, Florida-based startup Adfone, which has developed a carrier loyalty and monetization platform, said last month that it had closed on a $7.5 million seed funding round.

The company said at the time that the funding will be used to help develop its Play2Pay rewards platform. Users reduce phone bills through playing games, watching videos or completing surveys — in short by converting engagement into rewards that work phone bills down through carrier credits.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Adfone CEO Brian Boroff said that at a high level, rewards platforms such as is offered by Adfone promote “a fun and engaging experience for the end user to pay, initially, a phone bill. It’s about monetizing the attention of that consumer and turning that into a way to defray the costs of their phone bill while discovering new and interesting brands, apps and advertisers.”

Asked about how the platform’s success is measured, he said that key indicators include the redemption rate, which tracks the percentage of points redeemed compared to points earned at any one point in time. He said the industry average for rewards platforms globally is about 13 percent and stated that Adfone has a 47 percent redemption rate.

Adfone’s revenue is generated from advertisers — where mobile in-app spend is projected to be worth as much as $200 billion annually — and is shared with wireless carriers to help reduce mobile users’ phone bills.

Drilling down into Adfone’s core market — prepaid mobile phone users — Boroff said “many people in the U.S. do not realize that 80 percent of the world’s 5 billon smartphones are prepaid.” Adfone white labels its platform under carriers’ brands. The carriers preload the Adfone platform onto devices or SIM cards.

“We’re able to access a relatively sophisticated sort of ad tech infrastructure globally that allows us to add content,” he told PYMNTS, which is personalized to the end user through targeted offers, videos and games.

In reference to data and security concerns, he said that the platform is strictly opt in, and that users share their preferences across a range of topics, such as sports, restaurants and cars as they are onboarded. The company does not provide data access to third parties. Boroff also said the firm is GDPR compliant in Europe.

“Even though we don’t have to, we take that same framework of GDPR compliance and we apply it everywhere around the world across all of its deployments,” he elaborated.

Redemptions are directly integrated into the wireless carriers billing platform and updated in real time, where bill credits, data or voice bundles are continually adjusted.

Looking ahead, he said that 5G “will have a positive impact on us, and the segment we are going after in the prepaid space.” Prepaid phone users, he said, will benefit from less latency and a better streaming/gaming experience. And gaming, he said, at 47 percent of smartphone use currently, is gaining a wide embrace among prepaid users.

With the proceeds from the funding round, the company will expand its international presence beyond Latin America, Europe and the U.S., its current markets.

“This is all about transforming payments,” he told PYMNTS, “and in the world that we live in today, cashless payments are going to become more prevalent.”