Two years and three months ago, Sean Lindsay (Viximo’s CTO) and myself started Viximo in the tiny loft coworking space known as Betahouse. Since then it has been a whirlwind of a ride. The virtual goods market has grown and evolved to beat even our expectations. We have some great milestones to talk about, but first let’s spend a little time talking about where the virtual goods market, and Viximo, stand today.
The Virtual Goods Market Is Exploding
Over two years ago, Viximo took a bet that virtual goods was going to become THE way to monetize the social web. In 2008, we saw some slight growth, but in 2009 it was as if someone hit the warp speed button. Today, we now estimate that in 2009 $1 Billion dollars was spent on virtual goods here in North America. Some estimates suggest that number will grow to $1.6 Billion in 2010, but from what we are seeing we wouldn’t be surprised if it doubled to $2 Billion. I think it’s safe to say that virtual goods have officially hit the scene.
A Massive Opportunity For Thousands of Web Publishers
While much of the early virtual goods success has focused around large companies like Facebook, Zynga, Playfish, Playdom, and Myspace, there is life outside the top 1%. Companies, such as MyYearBook.com and Fubar.com, have had significant success with virtual goods. These are companies that while having substantial audiences, struggled to drive real profits from old business models such as online advertising. Virtual goods is an opportunity for more than just the top few. There are thousands of publishers including social networks, online dating sites, casual gaming sites, and even old school forums that have a giant opportunity sitting in front of them with virtual goods.
Virtual Goods Is Not Easy
But just because it’s a great opportunity, doesn’t mean it’s easy. There are a lot of pieces to the virtual goods puzzle. Payments, analytics, virtual currency, apps and games, content, merchandising, optimization, and more are all needed to be successful. Each piece, individually, isn’t difficult, but in the aggregate it can be very challenging, especially for companies that don’t have unlimited resources such as Facebook or Myspace.
Viximo Makes Virtual Goods Easy
There are many solutions on the market which provide a small individual piece of the overall virtual goods puzzle, but Viximo is the first, and currently only, solution that brings together everything a publisher needs for virtual goods in one complete, easy to implement, customizable solution. Over the past two years, we’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. We help manage our partners virtual economies based on our expertise maximizing revenue. Overall, Viximo is the easiest way for a publisher to drive revenue and engagement from virtual goods.
Viximo Publisher Network Grows to 60 Million Monthly Users
The focus of being the only complete virtual goods solution provider has resonated in the marketplace. We are fortunate enough to have some great partners, with the recent additions of BlackPlanet.com, FanIQ.com, Smartdate.com, and more. In addition to previous partners, such as Fotolog and Zorpia, our publisher network now reaches over 60 million monthly unique users. We are excited to hit this growth milestone and look forward to growing even more.
Welcoming Dale Strang as CEO
To help us continue this growth, we are welcoming Dale Strang as our new Chief Executive Officer. Dale comes with an extensive background in interactive entertainment, gaming, and publishing. He held executive positions at IGN entertainment, Ziff Davis, and most recently at ad network startup 5to1. Everyone at Viximo is excited to add Dale to the team as we continue to grow with the ever expanding virtual goods market.
We want to thank everyone who has helped contribute to our success. An official copy of the press release regarding our new partners and Dale Strang can be found here.
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Do you want to implement a virtual economy? Already selling virtual goods and want to increase your revenue? Viximo provides publishers and brands virtual goods solutions that help them establish and grow new revenue through virtual goods. Our solutions have proven to drive more virtual goods revenue and engagement, then managing on your own. To learn more about our solutions, visit our website or email us at publishers@viximo.com.
