There’s no doubt that monetization solution providers like Offerpal, Super Rewards, Adparlor and others are racing each other to find publishers. The latest move in this booming field comes from the Berlin-based virtual currency monetization platform SponsorPay. Securing $5 million in Series A funding from Hasso Plattner Ventures, SponsorPay will use the investment to broaden growth in the international arena and continue expansion in the European markets. Read more after the jump.
With Google Android devices outselling the iPhone for the first time last quarter, it’s no wonder that we’re starting to hear more about payment options on the Google device. One of the new offerings for Android application developers is to monetize their application using in-app payments from Fortumo. The service allows developers to easily integrate the payment offering into their applications and will allow users to make payments for virtual goods or services from within an application or game.
A blog post from Offerpal Media today revealed that their new GamePoints.com virtual currency service has surpassed 500,000 unique visitors. GamePoints.com allows users to earn virtual currency by performing a variety of tasks, and users can then transfer those points into whichever game they’re most interested in. The site is still in beta, but the site’s virtual currency can already be redeemed in 100 Facebook applications including 8 of the top 10 most popular games.
This summer Wendy’s is looking for way to interact with customers, connect online, and donate to charities all in one program. As part of the Frosty Summer program there will be many levels of involvement and currencies (giftcards, points, prizes), think Foursquare meets Facebook meets Twitter meets online games.
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Offerpal’s Chief Revenue Officer, Mihir Shah, recently sat down with Social Times to discuss Offerpal’s latest GamePoints.com initiatives, the drive for social games to extend beyond major social networks and how Offerpal serves over 1 billion virtual coins a day. Shah also revealed several key metrics about Offerpal’s reach and answered a few questions about how the social gaming and virtual currency industries may evolve. See the videos after the jump.
Offerpal Media, one of the largest offers providers for social games, has announced today that they are launching GamePoints.com, a site that rewards members with virtual currency for use in online games. Users must shop at big-brand retailers, take part in offers, complete surveys, watch videos, trade in gift cards or other tasks to get the points. The site is your one stop shop for getting game currency by doing offers or tasks on the web.
IMVU, a 3D virtual world for teenagers, has announced they are on a $40 million annualized revenue run rate, meaning that they are profitable and cash flow positive. The company monetizes its 50 million member userbase by selling virtual goods, but the unique element is that the virtual goods are created by users themselves. There are over 4 million items in the IMVU catalogue and that number grows by 5,000 items every day. They also announced that they have hired former Second Life Executive David Fleck as their VP of Marketing.
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Peanut Labs, one of the leading social media monetization companies, and Nexon, one of the top online MMO companies, are partnering to offer virtual currency to teenagers in exchange for completion of teenage-focused surveys. The goal is to collect critical research on teenage behaviors and habits when it comes to social games, and then use those to better refine their services.
Today, Offerpal released the results of a survey that targeted social gamers’ monetization activities. Specifically, the report found that 29.7% of social gamers do not have the ability or means to pay for virtual currencies with cash, and 53.3% of consumers are willing to engage in alternative payments, like offers, to earn virtual currency. The report also found some other interesting statistics related to monetization behavior.
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Super Rewards, an Adknowledge company and one of the largest virtual currency offer platforms on the web, has announced today a new version of its ad offer platform for Flash. The new platform allows players to accept any Super Rewards payment option without leaving their Flash game. Previous to this, gamers that wanted to use Super Rewards offers would have to click over to another screen, and sometimes would have to quit their current game to engage in the monetization aspect of the game. Super Rewards is stating that the new platform can be integrated into a Flash game in less than 30 minutes.
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