IMVU, the avatar-based teen and young adult online hangout, hit a number of milestones recently and the virtual world's CEO and president Cary Rosenzweig is on a personal mission to be sure the tech, investment , and media communities knows. The last time Rosenzweig promoted growth at the company was in June of '08. He said disclosure of current financials and user metrics at the company was overdue.
Chief among the wins Rosenzweig is touting is the top line revenue stats the chat-focused site is driving -- a run-rate of $25 million, projected off revenue tallied during the July-September quarter. Rosenzweig is also enthusiastic about the site's registered user count, which now stands at 40 million.
There are few business models that can compete with those stats, and after a round of interviews -- conducted on both coasts, in person and by phone -- last week ("to share our excitement about virtual worlds, virtual goods, and a virtual economy") there won't be many doubters who might question whether a sophisticated 3D interface, an invitation to users to create and sell user-created in-world artifacts, broad use of prepaid cards as a payment option, and text chat can't be spun into a veritable cash cow.
Rosenzweig volunteered the following stats in a phone call he cast as a "peak under the covers" at IMVU.
Rosenzweig (at the far right in the photo, mohawks signaling a celebrating staff) said the site, which is significantly more popular with females and draws an audience which is predominately based in the U.S., is generating revenue at run-rate of $25 million, based on a July-September revenue tally of more than $6 million. A run rate is a projection of financial performance based on an extrapolation of current results over a certain future period of time and is somewhat notorious for the fact that most industries are seasonal, but the legitimacy of IMVU's run rate is bolstered by the fact that September is traditionally the slowest month of the year for the company yet is included in stats that make up the $25 million figure.
Rosenzweig says the company is profitable, has 40 million registered users and about 6 million average monthly uniques. Engagement stats for the company are as follows: users average 1 hour + per day on the site, the site recently clocked a high 80,000 simultaneous users online, there are an average 770,000 chat sessions per day, and 175,000 virtual items are sold daily.
Another growth stat: A year ago users had created and archived 1.5 million virtual goods in the IMVU catalog while now there are 3 million virtual items for sale. Four thousand new items are created daily, says Rosenzweig.
Because so much of what generates cash for the site and its users is created by the community, margin for the company is high. In fact, there are only two full-time artists on the IMVU staff. "We're not paying for these [virtual] items, so our margin is high," Rosenzweig said. He calls the community, which gives back a percentage of sales to IMVU "explosively creative.
Part of Rosenzweig's mission is to prove to virtual world observers that the business model is strong and offers "real potential." And that even when compared to another explosive area of growth, social games, an avatar-centric model that taps a long-tail model where virtual goods have a long shelf live is alive and well. "Don't count us out," Rosenzweig says of IMVU.
Comments