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20% of Facebook gamers spend money, an average of $35 per month

Goldman Sachs have published their eighth annual Internet survey, and Nic Brisbourne has published some highlights over at the Equity Kicker.

The key ones for me were:

  • More people would consider cancelling their Pay TV service to save money than their ISP (21% to 10%) – oh dear, Sky
  • The dominant activities on social networks are messaging (72% of respondents), photo sharing (55%) and games (27%)
    • and 20% of those gamers spend money, averaging at $35 per month
  • Two thirds of consumers prefer pay per use revenue models, one third prefer subscription services

This data applies to the US only, but is valuable nevertheless. I find the news that Average Revenue per Paying User (ARPPU) is $35, with a 20% conversion rate, to be mindboggling, and fabulous news for moving into the social gaming space.

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Posted by Nicholas Lovell on March 2, 2010 · Filed under Social Games, Statistics, social games

  • delnergaard
    I imagine that figure is the annual spend.

    If it were monthly spend, Zynga would be making over $560Million, per month, just from Farmville. Over $6.5Billion per year... from playing at being a farmer. I don't think so.

    Still, that being annual spend rather than monthly, still represents a that $560Million+, if their players are typical of that 20% that spend.

    There's certainly money to be made from social gaming. It may not have reached that level yet, but... give it time and it just might.

    Del.
  • I agree that figure seems very high. I haven't seen the original Goldman's research to be able to comment on its validity, unfortunately.
  • tadhgk
    I can buy that 5% of users (20% of 27% is 5%) spend per month. But $35?? Not a hope. More like $3.50.
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