Popular social networking avatars developer Meez has recently announced that they’ve inked a deal with MySpace to provide it’s users with a virtual meeting point where they can play games and interact together in a virtual world inside the MySpace home. Running on Java, Meez Nation won’t require users to download any additional software. Likewise, a portion of Meez’s monetization, pre-roll and banner ads, integrates seamlessly with MySpace’s current platform.
Meez will naturally also be capitalizing on their other form of monetization: virtual goods sales. Using their proprietary form of virtual currency, “Coinz,” users can make RMT’s to fully customize their avatars. In addition to purchasing currency directly from Meez, users can also pick up pre-paid “Coinz” cards at major retailers such as Target and Best Buy. Users can also earn virtual currency by participating in ad supported games – a win/win for Meez. Meez CEO John Cahill stated that virtual goods sales constitute 30 percent of the company’s revenue, but also notes that Meez “hasn’t yet had the conversation” with MySpace execs to discuss a revenue sharing model based on ad generated revenues.
If we rewound to April of 2008, this deal might be a fantastic score for Meez, but in late 2009, this integration can only be described as: Meh. While social games developers reaping profits hand over fist on the ‘other’ social networking giant, why would Meez take the MySpace route over Facebook? CEO Cahill explains that a “significant” number of Meez’ 3 million monthly visitors actively spend time on MySpace as well. He also notes that MySpace’s target demo is more closely inline with Meez’, a predominantly female, teen group. Furthermore, Cahill comments that the way and manner of connections on MySpace is a better choice for Meez integration, “Many people use Facebook to stay in touch with real friends; MySpace is more about discovery—meeting new people that like the same music, movies or games that you do. Meez Nation creates a similar friend-discovery space.”
Cahill is also quick to point to a recent Nielsen study that place MySpace at the top of the social networking pile in terms of video streams. Since a portion of Meez’ revenue is derived from pre-roll advertising, he considers MySpace to be the right choice. He noted a Warner Brothers promotion that received 50,000+ views per day when run as part of a campaign in Meez Nation.
But here’s the rub: The same Nielsen report provided a plethora of usage statistics that clearly indicate that Facebook is blowing MySpace out of the water, at least in terms of time spent on the site. Since April 2008, Facebook has seen a steady increase in activity, amounting to a 699 percent increase. While at the same time, MySpace saw a 31 percent drop in time spent on the site. So while Cahill can justify the Meez integration with MySpace as much as he wants, just by looking at the numbers, he’s chosen the wrong platform. The target audience may be more closely inline, but at the end of the day, isn’t product integration about expanding markets and thereby, posturing your product in the biggest marketplace? Even if video content consumption is higher on MySpace, is Meez now a video provider? Or virtual world builder? Or virtual goods vendor?
Or….as there’s no hint of exclusivity in this agreement (remember, the Rev Share conversation hasn’t even been put on the table yet), perhaps this just a stepping stone to get ready for ‘The Big One”?
