Digital Wallets Top Innovation Agenda for Media and Telecom Platforms

Businesses in the media and telecom space display strong appetites for a range of embedded finance innovations, from digital wallets to installment plans to business credit cards. Most payment facilitators (PayFacs), independent software vendors (ISVs) and marketplaces in this segment indicate robust demand for embedded loyalty and rewards program innovations and digital wallets.

Despite serving the same segment, PYMNTS Intelligence’s latest study reveals differences in these key players’ priorities and challenges. Nearly half of marketplaces and ISVs in media and telecom put operational enhancements, such as faster transaction processing and improved profitability, at the top of their innovation agendas. PayFacs focus most on customer experience, with 42% naming this a top innovation priority.

These are just a few insights explored in “The Embedded Finance Ecosystem: Media and Telecom Edition,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Carat from Fiserv collaboration. This report examines the growing role of embedded finance in the media and telecom segment. It draws on insights from a survey of 282 executives working at PayFacs, ISVs and marketplaces conducted from May 10, 2023, to Aug. 25, 2023.

Other findings from the study include the following:

Marketplaces in this sector show strong demand for loyalty programs and digital wallets.

Ninety-two percent of marketplaces are highly interested in innovating loyalty and rewards programs. Roughly half of PayFacs and ISVs report significant interest in innovating these areas. Marketplaces also show significantly more interest in digital wallet innovations than PayFacs or ISVs. These trends broadly hold across businesses already offering these features and wanting to innovate further. It is also true for those that would like to start offering them.

Many businesses in the space want to offer installment plans and business credit cards.

Although just 25% of PayFacs currently offer installment plans, 33% express a strong interest in introducing them. Similarly, 46% of marketplaces and 26% of ISVs do not currently offer business credit cards but are highly interested.

Regulation and compliance are the foremost challenges for marketplaces.

Thirty-one percent of marketplaces cite regulation and compliance as their principal challenge in bringing innovations to market. The next top innovation challenge is complex internal decision-making processes. These challenges contrast markedly with the small fraction of PayFacs that view these as major obstacles.

As the media and telecom sector intensifies its focus on updating its embedded finance solutions, its demand for innovating features such as loyalty programs and digital wallets has taken center stage. Download the report for further insights into why embedded finance innovations are crucial for customer engagement and competitive advantage.