GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 4 - April 2008

Online gaming meets social networking | GPWA TIMES 33 Social networking for entertainment PerfSpot’s niche in the social net- working market is entertainment. The site has distribution deals with a number of outlets, including the BBC, Disney, Comedy Central, NBC, CNN and AOL. And it currently has more than 200 million video clips to search through and watch. Another popular feature on PerfSpot is PerfNights. PerfSpot hires pho- tographers around the world to take pictures at popular clubs and party spots. Then they give people cards telling them they can see their pic- tures on PerfSpot. “We’re the place to party and have fun,” Gray says. And the notion that PerfSpot has members who want to have fun is why PefSpot is offering free poker and is adding free slots, blackjack, roulette and bingo (the new games had not been launched at press time, but were scheduled to ar- rive prior to April 1). “Our users have an affinity for gam- bling sites, video and music,” Gray says in explaining the decision to add games to the site. The social marketing of online gambling “Social networking creates the envi- ronment to learn the game through virtual friendships,” says Edward Gonzalez, PerfSpot’s vice president of sales. “We’re not trying to compete with online casinos. We’re trying to build an interest level. Let them start playing for free, learn the game and then go to our partners to play for money. We want the user to get hun- gry for our client’s interface.” And by clients, PerfSpot means online casinos and poker rooms. These com- panies can reach PerfSpot customers via two avenues. The first is contextual banners served inside the game room. The second is through co-registrations. Each time a new user registers in the poker room or casino, which are only available to the 18 and older crowd, he or she will have to go through an additional registration procedure. The first registration is to confirm account information and verify the user’s age. The second part of the registration, or the co-registration, brings up a screen with 10 offers for online gamblers. Ad- vertisers have the option of including their logo and up to 150 words of text to PerfSpot, which already offers free poker (shown above), plans on offering free bingo by April 1.We asked them why, and here was their response: “It’s about demographics. The bingo demographics show a more female audience, primarily between the ages of 25-35. Of that group, 54% are housewives and 48% have children between 6 and 17 in the household. So it’s a way for us to reach an audience that poker, which is predominantly male, doesn’t give us.“ Which of the following do you use your Internet connection for? Source: Ofcom research, October 2007