Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Why Games Are The Killer App For Social Networks [And iDating?]

OPW - Aug 19 - In 2009, $2.2 billion in virtual goods were sold to consumers globally, and that number is expected to rocket to $6 billion by 2013. Although virtual worlds and MMOs have historically driven the growth in virtual goods, today the fastest growing segment is social games. Social gaming got its start in mid-2007 with the launch of the Facebook Platform. In 2009, social games generated $500 million revenue, primarily from social games on Facebook. There are nearly 150 social networks with over 1 million monthly uniques. When it comes to social games, smaller social networks, paradoxically, often have the benefit of size. Users of multiple social networks tend to split their time between Facebook and another social network. To these users, Facebook is an indispensable communication tool, but the other social network is essentially the local pub: A close knit community woven around shared affinities and experiences. Unlike advertising, which detracts from the social experience of a site, a successful social games strategy will simultaneously increase a site’s stickiness and significantly increase revenue.

Mark Brooks: Full disclosure. This article was written by Ravi Mehta, VP Product for Viximo, who are a former client of Courtland Brooks.

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Viximo And Virtual Greats Issue First Industry Report On Branded Virtual Goods

VIXIMO BLOG - Aug 5 - Two leaders in the virtual goods industry, Viximo and Virtual Greats, published the industry’s first comprehensive Branded Virtual Goods (BVG) Market Report. The report identifies key trends that will play a major role in the explosive growth of Branded Virtual Goods, which is projected to see a compound annual growth rate of 113% over the next three years.  The new report also provides insight into strategic business opportunities for brands, game developers, virtual worlds and social networks. FULL ARTICLE @ VIXIMO BLOG

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

VIXIMO BLOG - Aug 5 - Two leaders in the virtual goods industry, Viximo and Virtual Greats, published the industry’s first comprehensive Branded Virtual Goods (BVG) Market Report. The report identifies key trends that will play a major role in the explosive growth of Branded Virtual Goods, which is projected to see a compound annual growth rate of 113% over the next three years.  The new report also provides insight into strategic business opportunities for brands, game developers, virtual worlds and social networks. FULL ARTICLE @ VIXIMO BLOG

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Why A Virtual Goods Strategy On Valentine’s Day Will Boost Your Revenue

VIXIMO - Feb 23 - Valentine’s Day is the second biggest shopping holiday of the year, coming in second only to Christmas. The National Retail Federation estimated that, despite the recession, $14 billion would be spent on Valentine’s Day gifts in 2010.

Viximo, a virtual gift platform provider, surveyed 1,000 social networking and online dating users about their intent to purchase virtual gifts on February 14. 72% of respondents planned to send virtual goods as a gift on Valentine’s Day. 31% of people who planned to send a virtual gift on Valentine’s Day would be purchasing their first virtual good. Other findings were: Single people will send more virtual gifts than people in a relationship or marriage, and single men are likely to send 4% more virtual valentines than single women. 40% of respondents want to receive Kisses/Smiles on Valentine’s Day.

- Guest post by Brian Balfour, Founder & VP Product Marketing at Viximo

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Real Business: Selling Virtual Goods

BOSTON GLOBE - Nov 8 - Virtual worlds have been generating lots of buzz since Second Life launched in 2003 and is expected to hit $1 billion in the US. Pano Anthos flew out to San Francisco to unveil his new start-up, Hangout Industries, at TechCrunch50. Hangout intended to attract young Internet users and allow them to deck out online rooms with all sorts of branded merchandise. This week, Hangout will be beginning a limited beta test of a new version of its product, and Viximo, a Cambridge start-up, says it’s on the verge of disclosing several big partnerships. Viximo helps website operators add virtual goods to their sites. On a dating site one single might pay $6 or $12 to send another an animation of “two peas in a pod dancing around with music,’’ CEO Dayna Grayson explains. Viximo has established a network of artists who constantly create new virtual goods, and then distributes them to sites like BlackSingles.com and Zorpia, a social network based in Australia. FULL ARTICLE @ BOSTON GLOBE

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Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Nov 5th, 2009 - 4.5 mins

This is the news for the week of October 30th through November 5th, 2009. We hope you enjoy the new weekly news format. Please follow this link to enjoy the high-resolution version. Here is the news we covered for this week:

• White label dating businesses thriving in tough economy
• Mobile dating market expected to double to $1.3 billion by 2013
• Study shows online dating most popular with women over age 50
• Nominations being accepted for first annual iDate Awards

Internet Dating Industry June News - 12 Mins

June 2009 OPW News Summary from Mark Brooks on Vimeo.

This is actually the news for June. We're playing catch up. For the full experience, please click here for the hi-res version. July and August are in process.  Here's the news we covered for June.

-  eHarmony survey finds 51% of single parents believe that they and their children are better off emotionally when the parent is in a committed relationship
- Match and eHarmony success rates.
- Spark Networks revenue down
- DatingTrail.co.uk launches
- Virtual goods startups raise $69 million funding in Q1
- Great Expectations complaints
- PlentyOfFish.com and rapper Flo Rida team up
- McGinn vs Match.com lawsuit
- ChristianCafe.com and Single Christian Network combines
- IAC completes transaction with Meetic
- Meetic signs partnership with MSN for distribution in 12 European countries
-meetMoi location based mobile dating partners with ClearSky
- Virtual Greats and Viximo partner
- Attivio’s Active Intelligence Engine selected to power Deutsche Telekom’s FriendScout24

Digital Toys And Tools Generating Real Bucks

BUSINESS TIMES -- Aug 10 -- Virtual goods are fast becoming big business for real. Zynga, the online social gaming company founded in 2007, gets two-thirds of its projected $100M annual revenue selling virtual goods ranging from digital farm buildings to poker chips. In 2009, an estimated $400M to $600M will be spent on virtual goods in the U.S., and $5.5 billion globally, according to Brian Balfour, founder of Viximo. His firm provides virtual goods services to social networking, online dating and casual gaming sites. Zynga CEO Mark Pincus believes North American virtual goods activity could exceed $15 billion by 2014. FULL ARTICLE @ SF BUSINESS JOURNAL

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Viximo Seeks To Turn Virtual Goods Into Real Profit

MHT -- Aug 7 -- It’s hard enough for online retailers to get consumers to spend money on real goods and services but Viximo is betting that sites will want to get into the business of selling virtual goods. Viximo provides a white-label virtual goods store with gifts and personal accessories designed to complement online identities and messages. The company is getting traction in places such as dating sites, casual games and social networks, where virtual goods are used as gifts, incentives and add-ons to user profiles. In April, Viximo announced a $5M funding from Waltham-based North Bridge and Boston-based Sigma Partners. FULL ARTICLE @ MHT

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This post also appears on Social Networking Watch.

Virtual Goods Primer

VIXIMO -- Aug 5 -- Viximo is hosting a webinar titled, Virtual Goods Primer, which will be an overview for anyone interested in implementing a virtual goods model for their product and will cover:
-  Where and why virtual goods emerged
-  Advantages of a virtual goods business model
-  Why users buy virtual goods
-  Core things you need to implement virtual goods.

When: Wed, August 12th 2pm EST, 11am PST
Sign Up Here -  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/769184475
FULL ARTICLE @ VIXIMO BLOG

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Viximo Finds Content Is King For Virtual Goods

PR WEB -- July 29 --  Viximo, has released data from a study, exemplifying the effects content has on virtual goods revenue.  Virtual gifts were ranked using criteria such as production value, subject relevancy, and interactivity on a 1 – 5 star scale. 3* gifts, being the average, represented a quality similar to Facebook virtual gifts. Sales and conversion data were compared between the ranked goods, finding that 5* gift content drove 3.7x the revenue of 3* content.  Conclusion: the quality of goods has a profound effect on perceived value. Publishers selling virtual goods sell more and fetch higher prices by well designed merchandise tailored to their sites. FULL ARTICLE @ VIXIMO

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Top 3 Reasons Why People Buy Virtual Goods

VIXIMO -- July 14 -- The Virtual Goods industry is growing extremely  quickly. Some estimate the size of the industry  to reach $5.5 billion globally this year. Virtual goods are sold in four primary  arenas; Social Networks, Online Dating Sites, Games and Virtual Worlds.  To understand virtual goods we need to understand what drives this value system:

-  Virtual goods help users stand out from the crowd - Paying for avatar clothing, hair styles, and other accessories is natural to ensure you establish a visual identity that represents you. Users who distinguish themselves more on dating sites are getting more dates.

- Virtual goods help users express themselves - MySpace allows users to customize their profile pages to express their personal style and interests.  This feature is so popular it is widely regarded as one of a few reasons why MySpace was so successful in gaining traction.  

- Virtual Goods help users to gain an advantage - Users can purchase a “featured spot”  in search results to increase exposure to the site’s audience and thus increase their chances of being noticed by a potential mate.
FULL ARTICLE @ VIXIMO BLOG

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Virtual Greats Partners With Viximo

PR WEB -- June 23 -- Virtual Greats, a virtual goods and sales distribution system, and Viximo, which provides content, analytics, and virtual currency solutions to publishers (social networks, dating sites, gaming sites, etc) and content creators (brands, media, digital artists), today announced a partnership deal providing publishers with turnkey virtual goods solutions, including an unrivalled library of branded entertainment, sports and fashion content. FULL ARTICLE @ EMEDIA WIRE

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Five Reason Why People Send Virtual Gifts

VIRTUAL GOODS INSIDER -- June 23 -- Last year, Viximo, released its first product in partnership with BigDates Solutions, makers of the Birthday Calendar, one of small number of Verified Applications on Facebook. Viximo’s first product is a drop-in virtual gifting system that allows developers of social networks, apps, and other community based websites to add a virtual gifting based revenue stream to their businesses. When Facebook launched its Gifts program in Feb '07, many predicted that the program would be a dismal failure. During its first year, Facebook Gifts generated an estimated $15m revenue. People are willing to pay for virtual gifts. Women are responsible for 80% of virtual giftings while men are responsible for 20% of virtual giftings. Why are people giving virtual gifts?

- Virtual Gifts as Greeting Cards

- Virtual Gifts as Signals

- Virtual Gifts as Accolades - Virtual gifts can be used in the place of ratings as the basis for a reputation system.

- Virtual Gifts as Social Play

- Virtual Gifts as Reciprocation - People give gifts, in part, because they want to elicit a positive response from the recipient, and recipients tend to feel indebted to the giver until they have reciprocated in kind.
FULL ARTICLE @ VIRTUAL GOODS INSIDER

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Virtual Goods Funding Tops $69 Million

CNET NEWS -- June 14 -- Start-ups peddling virtual goods raised $69m in funding in the first quarter of 2009.

First quarter 2009 financings:

    * IMVU - $10,000,000
    * ngmoco - $10,000,000
    * Nurien - $10,000,000
    * Offerpal Media - $15,000,000
    * Ohai - $6,000,000
    * OMGPOP - $5,000,000
    * OneSeason.com - $3,500,000
    * Scrapblog - $4,000,000
    * Viximo - $5,000,000
    * Three Melons - $600,000
FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS   

Mark Brooks: Viximo is helping iDating and social networking companies capitalize on virtual goods, and are a sponsor of Online Personals Watch and Social Networking Watch.

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

New Site Sponsor, Viximo

OPW -- May 22 -- Viximo is a new Online Personals Watch site sponsor.  They offer a virtual goods platform suitable for Internet Dating sites. Cyworld and QQ alone make hundreds of millions of dollars from virtual goods. Asia loves virtual goods, and Americans are turning on to them. Facebook and Hotornot are two success stories to reference in the U.S. market. I'm told, two of the most important factors for making virtual goods work on a site are: 1. really great virtual goods, and 2. the right pricing and handling of money and virtual money. Viximo can help. We're excited about virtual goods, and virtual currency and proud to have Viximo as a sponsor. As always, we vet our sponsors. No fluff is allowed on OPW. We recommend taking a look at Viximo.

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Viximo Repositions As Content Provider With New CEO And $5M In Funding

VIRTUAL WORLD NEWS -- Apr 29 -- Viximo has restructured, with some employees let go last month and former CEO Rob Frasca replaced by Dayna Grayson (of Viximo investor North Bridge Venture Partners) as acting CEO. Viximo closed a new round $5m round of funding from North Bridge and Sigma. Perhaps most importantly, the company is refocusing itself around a new virtual goods strategy: providing content for partners to sell. FULL ARTICLE @ VIRTUAL WORLD NEWS  

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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Viximo Unveils Modular Virtual Goods Platform

BUSINESS WIRE -- Apr 29 -- Viximo, a leading provider of virtual goods services to social networks, online dating and casual gaming sites, today introduced its new modular virtual goods platform for the web and iPhone. For the first time, this “a la carte” offering will allow publishers to selectively choose from Viximo’s core services including access to its premium content library produced by Viximo’s network of 3,000 independent creators, an interactive digital storefront, merchandise payment systems and detailed analytics. The company also announced new partnerships with social networking sites wadja.com, booksie.com, and ibeatyou.com. Viximo currently reaches more than 20 million unique monthly visitors through its network of more than a dozen web publishers. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Apple iPhone Flirting App Announced By Viximo

PHONES REVIEW -- Jan 7 -- Viximo announced their TrueFlirt application for the Apple iPhone at Macworld 2009. TrueFlirt allows users to send virtual "flirts" which combine social messages with animation. FULL ARTICLE @ PHONES REVIEW