Social Games on Facebook: Worth It?

Arseny Lebedev Large Animal Games, New York City

My Talking Points Entry Commitment Monetization Pitfalls

Entry

Commitment

Monetization

Pitfalls

ENTRY

“ Social games are games designed to be played together with friends .” – Kristian Segerstråle, Playfish

“ Social games are games designed to be played together with friends .” – Kristian Segerstråle, Playfish

Facebook By The Numbers 80+ Mn users 6 th most trafficked website 85% of college students use it 24,000+ applications 95% of users installed at least one application Sources: Facebook.com and comScore

80+ Mn users

6 th most trafficked website

85% of college students use it

24,000+ applications

95% of users installed at least one application

Facebook Demographics Source: Facebook Social Ads

Involvement Levels

Acquiring Users

Integration Points Source: Facebook Ecosystem , O’Reilly , March 2008

COMMITMENT

Evolution of Facebook Layout Before After

MONETIZATION

Business Models Third Party Ads Branded Sponsorship

Ad networks on Facebook

Some Calculations… 10 Mn installs 600,000 Active users 600K DAU = 1.7 to 2.5 Mn Impressions / Day At $.35 CPM: $11,000 to $26,000 / Month At $3 CPM: $150,000 to $210,000 / Month Source: Adonomics.com

10 Mn installs

600,000 Active users

Some Calculations… 38 Mn Installs 1.9 Mn Active users 1.9 Mn DAU = 6 to 9 Mn Impressions / Day At $.35 CPM: $40,000 to $90,000 / Month At $3 CPM: $680,000 to $810,000 / Month

38 Mn Installs

1.9 Mn Active users

PITFALLS

Growth Average: 50 Average: 6,800 Source: Facebook Ecosystem , O’Reilly , March 2008 Application growth over 11 weeks

Growth 5%/day growth rate

January, 2008 1 50 DAU February, 2008 1 216 DAU May, 2008 1 17,446 DAU April, 2008 1 4,037 DAU March, 2008 1 934 DAU June, 2008 1 75,399 DAU

January, 2008

1

Application Spam

When Facebook Gets Mad … Source: TechCrunch, July 7, 2008

A Gold Rush