Social networking platform turned social games platform hi5 has recently announced the addition of their own “Advanced Monetization Platform for Maximizing Social Gaming Revenue.” Dubbed SocioPay, the platform seeks to maximize revenue for social games by determining the optimal monetization solution for every commerce opportunity. More specifically, hi5’s SocioPay targets specific players that are less likely to purchase, and instead serves up advertisements as an alternative to a lost sale. Hi5 is expected to demo the SocioPay system at the upcoming Game Developers Conference this March 1st, in San Francisco; specifically at 11:15am in the Moscone Center’s North Hall, Room 122.
In addition to being an in-house solution for hi5, Vice President Monty Kerr notes that early testing of the system has resulted in a 200%-300% increase in revenues when compared to traditional commerce and lead-generation services. “The key innovation is that SocioPay extends beyond the hi5 platform; allowing developers to see dramatically increased revenue wherever their social games are distributed — even on other social networks,” comments Kerr in a statement.
Hi5’s thinking here is not only to increase the revenues of developers, but to obviously use the tool as an attractive draw to said developers. President and CTO Alex St. John adds, “We’ve received a lot of requests from developers to help them mitigate the commerce losses they are experiencing with currency and payment solutions on other social networks, and this is certainly an area where we can provide significant support.”
If the Socio naming sounds familiar, you’ll remember that hi5 is on the verge of launching SocioPath, what they call the “next generation social gaming platform,” with an expected release date to coincide with the upcoming GDC. Hi5 is touting the new service as a way to liberate social games from their dependence on social networks via viral acquisition, a feat that social games leader Zynga has been hard at work at for a while now. If hi5 is able to pull it off, the one-two punch of new hot ticket, and powerful monetization tool might just make them the go-to choice for developers looking to cash in on their creations.
“By utilizing the SocioPath platform for our title, Bush Whacker, we’ve been able to take down the barriers to entry and acquire more new users directly into our game. hi5 is driving a new model for virally acquiring audience into social games that is effective and will be instrumental in helping us achieve our growth goals for 2011,” said David Whittaker, Co-founder of DJArts Games in a statement.
Tags: hi5, monetization, social network
