mVAS stands for mobile Value-Added Services: paid mobile content and subscription services that are billed directly to the user's phone account or prepaid balance rather than to a card.
Definition
mVAS stands for mobile Value-Added Services: paid mobile content and subscription services that are billed directly to the user's phone account or prepaid balance rather than to a card. Common flows are WAP-click, where a single click on a landing page initiates a subscription over the mobile network, and PIN-submit, where the user enters a code sent by SMS to confirm.
Typical products are games, wallpapers, horoscopes, quizzes, antivirus and other light content, sold as a recurring daily or weekly charge.
mVAS is a distinct affiliate vertical, separate from iGaming, though it shares traffic sources, tracking tools and some of the same media buyers. Its appeal is that no card is required, so it converts well on cheap mobile traffic in markets where card penetration is low — parts of Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America — and payment friction is minimal because billing goes through the carrier the user already has.
In context
The vertical is heavily policed by carriers and telecom regulators because of a history of unclear consent and surprise billing — users subscribed by an accidental tap, or unaware they were signing up to a recurring charge at all. In response, carriers enforce stricter flows (double confirmation, clear price disclosure, easy unsubscribe by SMS), and many have narrowed or closed their mVAS programmes entirely.
Affiliates running mVAS track carrier approval status, the refund and complaint rate, and how many billing cycles the average subscriber pays before cancelling, since a flow that converts well but bills only once is not profitable after the affiliate payout.
For an iGaming affiliate, mVAS is mainly relevant as an alternative use of the same low-cost mobile traffic when a gambling offer is not available or not permitted in a market. The economics are different — smaller payouts per action, higher regulatory risk, dependence on carrier relationships — and the compliance requirements around consent are strict enough that careless mVAS campaigns are a fast route to being cut by the network.
Worked example
A WAP-click game subscription in Indonesia converts at 6% of clicks on cheap push traffic, but the average subscriber pays only 1.4 weekly billing cycles before cancelling. After the affiliate payout, the offer breaks even at roughly 1.8 cycles, so the campaign is unprofitable and the affiliate moves the traffic to a different offer in the same GEO.
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