MIAMI HERALD - Feb 12 - Virtual gifts have become a $1 billion industry in the U.S. and $5 billion worldwide.
Snap
Interactive runs the Facebook app. "
Are You
Interested?'' which introduced
a gift store two months ago. CEO Clifford Lerner said the
app. is raking in "a couple thousand dollars a day'' just from
gift purchases starting at $1.25 for a heart, to $20 for a picture of an engagement ring or gold
bricks. "We've actually seen that the higher cost of some of
these gifts, the more we actually sell,'' Lerner said. "If a girl is
not interested in a guy, and she sees he spent $20, she's probably
going to respond. And that's worth it to the guy, just to get a
response.'' Mark Brooks, a social
media and Internet dating consultant, has seen companies recently
introduce new features like virtual goods or mobile dating services. As
the online dating space becomes more saturated, finding extra revenue
is more important. "It's more difficult to get started, it's
more difficult to make money in this market,'' Brooks said. "Virtual
gifts are definitely in right now.''
PlentyofFish discovered that as a gift's adorability factor increased, so could the
price. "The cuter they are, the more receptive they are,'' said Kate
Bilenki, Director of Love at PlentyofFish.com. "Teddy bears, hearts,
bunnies, cute things like that.''
Avid Life Media's HotorNot.com got the virtual gift ball rolling in the
dating scene back in
2002 by selling virtual flowers which now
cost $2 to $10 each. At AshleyMadison.com users can send a virtual
bottle of champagne or hotel room key. "The growth rate is
phenomenal,'' said Noel Biderman, president of
Avid Life Media. "If it has the right impact, people will pay to
replace words.'' AshleyMadison has 5.2 million
members and has seen spending on virtual
gifts jump from 2.4% to 4.1% of total user revenue in the
past year.
This kind of success is persuading
other sites to give it a spin. First Beat Media
oversees more than 100 niche dating sites like BikerPlanet, GothScene, LatinaRomance
and TattooLovers. It's testing virtual gifts. "Seeing a ton of icons of roses and chocolates
from other suitors on your page might turn people away from contacting
you -- doing more harm than good," said Stephen Ventura, director of
operations. "We're
approaching it very cautiously,'' Ventura said. "We feel it might
detour some folk from the relationship finding process.''
FULL ARTICLE @ MIAMI HERALD
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