Building A Virtual Economy

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Slide title goes here… Offerpal Media Inc. Confidential MySpace devJam Anu Shukla Founder & CEO, Offerpal Media, Inc.

description

Presentation by Anu Shukla at the MySpace devJam on February 5th, 2009

Transcript of Building A Virtual Economy

Page 1: Building A Virtual Economy

Slide title goes here…

Offerpal Media Inc. Confidential

MySpace devJamAnu ShuklaFounder & CEO, Offerpal Media, Inc.

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I. Workshop: Building a Virtual Economy

II. Panel Discussion: Best Practices for Virtual Currency Monetization

III. Apps Review: Real World Apps Critiqued 

IV. Updates: What’s New with the MySpace Platform?

V. Networking: Open Bar 

Agenda

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Offerpal Background 

• The first social advertising platform: launched October 2007

• 800+ publishers across multiple platforms

• 2,000+ advertising offers in 54 countries 

• 2.5+ million offers conducted every month

Platforms

Applications

Worlds

Games

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UserEngagement

>$150 eCPM

<10¢ eCPM

CPM Banners

CPC Adsense

Monetization for  Virtual Currency and 

Digital Products

Monetization

<$1 eCPM

Card Games $400

MMORPGs

Tamagotchi Games 

Racing

Owning

Pets

Green

$225

$200

$175

$150

$100

$75

eCPM

Category

• Network‐wide eCPM: $150 – 200 

• Average publisher payout: $75/day/1,000 users

• Conversion rate: >5% (40x better than traditional CPA)

• Revenues per completion: >$5.00 

Offerpal Payouts

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Building a Virtual Economy:A Step-by-Step Guide

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Give it a name: 

• “Baby Bucks”

• “Favor Points”

• “Chips”

• “Green Bucks”

• “Coins”

• “Tokens”

• “Jewels”

• “Treats”

Step 1: Define Your Currency  

• “Wishes”

• “WeePoints”

• “Moola”

• “Munny”

• “Rewards”

• “Vouchers”

• “Boosts”

• “Credits”

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Step 2: Define Your “Sources” 

Let users earn currency by:

• Logging in• Inviting friends• Completing tasks• Completing offers

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Step 3: Define Your “Sinks” 

Let users redeem currency by purchasing:

• Decorative Goods• Virtual Gifts• Functional Goods/Services

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Step 3: Define Your “Sinks” 

Decorative goods:

• Geared toward self‐expression

• Virtual clothes, accessories, backgrounds, toys, etc.

• Prevalent in virtual worlds and social communities

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Step 3: Define Your “Sinks” 

Virtual Gifts:

• A form of social expression• Leads to reciprocity and viral 

growth• Popular on social networks, 

especially “social utility” apps

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Step 3: Define Your “Sinks” 

Functional Goods: 

• Meaningfully alters the user experience

• Virtual weapons, protection, more turns, more time, etc.

• Found mostly in MMOGs, RPGs and other social games

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Step 4: Onboard With Offerpal

On‐board in 4 Simple Steps:

1. Sign up2. Add new app3. Configure & test4. Go live

(Total time: 10 – 15 min.)

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Step 4: Onboard With Offerpal

On‐board in 4 Simple Steps:

1. Sign up2. Add new app3. Configure & test4. Go live

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Step 4: Onboard With Offerpal

On‐board in 4 Simple Steps:

1. Sign up2. Add new app3. Configure & test4. Go live

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Step 4: Onboard With Offerpal

On‐board in 4 Simple Steps:

1. Sign up2. Add new app3. Configure & test4. Go live

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Step 5: Integrate Currency Into User Experience

• Build currency into the game mechanics of your app

• Place currency where it makes sense contextually

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Step 6: Make it Easy to Find

Promotion = Monetization

• Add a tab to “Earn Currency”

• Include balance in a status bar

• Use newsfeeds, notifications and other messaging opportunities

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Step 7: Use Ad Inventory

Promotion = Monetization

• Use banners, prestitials, reg‐path offers or other forms of display ads

• Currency‐driven banners generate 10x click‐through rates of non‐incentivized banners

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Step 8: Introduce New Goods/Services

Keep your economy fresh: 

• Add new virtual goods/services regularly –monthly if not weekly

• Come up with innovative new goods/services

• Think like a traditional merchant and “merchandise” your products for easy browsing

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Step 9: Maintain a Balanced Economy

Tips for a healthy economy: 

• Don’t issue too much currency• Balance sources and sinks• Keep an eye out for “gold farming” 

and fraud• Adjust the exchange rate• Manage inflation • Monitor trades or exchanges, if 

allowed

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Step 10: Optimize, Optimize, Optimize

• What are your most popular “sources” and “sinks”?

• Which audience segments are most active in your virtual economy?

• Which promotions are most effective?

• At what levels are users most engaged in your virtual economy?

• When are users most likely to complete ad offers?

• Etc. 

Publishers should measure, test and analyze: 

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Step 10: Optimize, Optimize, Optimize

Our platform engine automatically maximizes performance based on: 

• Profile data• Behavioral targeting • Proprietary algorithms

Our integrated testing framework allows us to conduct:

• A/B split testing• Exchange rate testing• User interface testing• Offer rotation testing 

Offerpal maximizes revenues on your behalf …

Measurable success metrics include: 

• Revenues • eCPM• Click-Through Rates• Take Rates• Exchange Rates• Conversions• Revenue/Click • Revenue/Completion

0

100

200

300

400

Old UI New UI: Most Popular Offers

New UI: All Offers

Revenue Per UI

Revenue

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What’s Next: Mobile Applications 

Social websitesMMOGsDigital merchants…

iPhone Integration: 

• First advertising platform on the iPhone

• Reaches 10+ million iPhone users 

• More than 15,000 applications already on the iPhone platform 

• Free‐to‐play, ad‐supported apps are most popular

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Questions?