The Virtual Economy and Online Gamers

Social intelligence provider Sometrics released some interesting numbers today, indicating that the virtual economy (not the real economy) is really booming.

Sometrics announced it has "dispensed" (still looking for some clarification on that) more than 1 trillion virtual currency credits to game users through its Offer Solution, which delivers offers and surveys to help game publishers increase advertising revenue from free-to-play gamers. Sometrics is connected to more than 100 million game user accounts in 228 different countries and the company's products currently reside on hundreds of games, with an inventory of more than 7,500 advertiser-based offers.

Sometrics generates eCPMs as high as $700-$900 for its partners. Its Offer Solution reaches across social games, MMOs and virtual worlds, partnering with top publishers in each market - including Playdom, LOLapps, IMVU, K2, NHN, among others. "A year ago we made a deliberate shift in our business to capitalize on what we saw as an emerging trend toward using virtual currency as a way to generate real revenue for publishers of online games and virtual worlds," said Ian Swanson, Sometrics co-founder and CEO. "We've been able to adapt as new needs arise and user behaviors evolve. Our success shows that we're on the right track."