BWI: Americans Gave an Estimated $30 Million in Virtual Gifts this Holiday Season, According to Digital Goods Purveyor, PlaySpan

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: PlaySpan India Pvt Ltd
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 01:09 PM IST (07:39 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Entertainment; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Banking & financial services, Business services, Information technology; Technology
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Americans Gave an Estimated $30 Million in Virtual Gifts this Holiday Season, According to Digital Goods Purveyor, PlaySpan


Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Wednesday, January 13, 2010 -- (Business Wire India) -- PlaySpan, the global leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, and issuer of three digital goods reports in 2009, today provides an estimate for what is expected to be the largest virtual goods gift giving season on record.

The company that empowers digital goods for over 1,000 online games, virtual worlds, and social networking applications projects that Americans spent an estimated $30 million on virtual gifts this past holiday season, November and December 2009.

According to Inside Virtual Goods: Tracking the US Virtual Goods Market 2009-2010, the digital goods business in the U.S. is projected at $1B in 2009. PlaySpan's own internal survey also found that one in five of its digital goods buyers also gave virtual gifts. About 15% of all virtual gift giving occurred during the November and December months. These estimates project that $30m of digital goods were given as virtual gifts during the holiday season.

PlaySpan's research also found that nearly 1 in 12 Americans purchased a digital good in 2009, with the average price of a virtual gift estimated around $3 per transaction.

"The holiday season delivered a spike to our marketplace and according to our data, other digital goods companies reaped the benefits of increased consumer interest in virtual gifting. The visible effect is that there were a few more empty stockings and missing presents under the tree this year, and we expect this to be a growing trend over the next few holidays," said Eric Hartness, Chief Marketing Officer of PlaySpan.

For more information on the digital goods industry or PlaySpan itself, please contact Eric Hartness at eric.hartness@playspan.com. PlaySpan partnered with Frank N. Magid Associates, Inc. http://www.magid.com and VGMarket, http://vgmarket.com, to conduct and analyze the digital good studies.

About PlaySpan

PlaySpanT is the global leader in monetization solutions for over 1,000 online games, virtual worlds, and social networks. PlaySpan's patent-pending in-game digital goods commerce and micropayment platform enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users, and extend the loyalty of existing users.

PlaySpan also offers global payment solutions through its subsidiary PayByCash® with 85+ payment methods in 180 countries. The ULTIMATE GAME CARD® is used by consumers to pay for 1,000 online and social networking games. It is available in about 45,000 retail locations across North America and growing rapidly worldwide.

Social network payment solutions are available through Spare Change©. Acquired by PlaySpan in April 2009, Spare Change is the first and leading payments platform designed specifically for social networks. Featured on over 700 applications, across Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo, Spare Change empowers developers to successfully monetize their applications through micro payments. The Spare Change platform enables users to make safe, convenient, and friendly 1-click purchases through a variety of funding sources.

PlaySpan is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Charlottesville, Virginia, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mumbai. Investors include Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC and Novel TMT Ventures. The company won the 2009 OnHollywood Category Award for Best Gaming Company.

For more information about PlaySpan, visit: http://corp.playspan.com

For more information about Spare Change, visit: www.sparechangepayments.com


CONTACT DETAILS
Vinayak Rao, PlaySpan India Pvt Ltd, +91 9820045958, Vinayak.rao@playspan.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, MARKETING, BANKING, BUSINESS SERVICES, IT, TECHNOLOGY

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