Habbo Hotel - 7 Million users worldwide

Habbo Hotel, the childrens virtual playground, that is one of the case studies in our book, was developed by Finnish company Sulake. Sulake has just released data on how Habbo Hotel is doing. The internet based virtual playground which is free to use in its basic form, but has paid services which are paid for by mobile phone premium-SMS text messages. Within its 13-16 year old target user segment Habbo Hotel is achieving over half of its total age target in countries from Finland to the UK.

Worldwide Habbo Hotel has reached the 7 million user level. The average user spends 40 minutes per session - and heavy users over 2 hours per day. What of the money? Out of its 7 million users, Habbo Hotel is earning 29 million Euro (35 million USD). The average user generates 5 dollars per year or 42 cents per month to Sulake, the owner. As premium SMS text messages only bring about half to the content owner, the kids playing Habbo Hotel spend on average about 84 cents per month buying Habbo Hotel virtual goods and paying for them by premium SMS.

Habbo Hotel once again, more than any other internet service - proves that any content provider can generate significant payments of tiny amounts on a per-usage basis - rather than forcing users to get PayPal accounts or credit cards, by using the method of mobile phone payments.

Comments

[Lars]

Hi Tomi:

Thanks for the specs.. 8-)

Thought I'd point out (in case you missed it - Gasp!) that Sulake just signed a JV deal with SoftBank here in Japan.
http://www.wirelesswatch.jp/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1963

They should easily add another one or two million users and it would be a good guess that their ARPU will be somewhat better.. even if only because of the more favorable local carrier standard revenue share.

Cheers,

Lars.

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Lars!!

Thanks for the update. I spotted it soon after I had posted that blog. Yes, Sulake (Habbo Hotel) signed a deal with the Japanese internet and telecoms giant Softbank. Habbo Hotel was already in Japan prior to that, but this should greatly boost the visibility and success of Habbo Hotel in Japan, and probably around the region.

Thanks for writing.

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[David Cushman]

Tomi; did you see this today? http://www.brandrepublic.com/login/index.cfm?fuseaction=Login&resource=BR_News&articleType=news&article=603454

It's about emi aiming to 'break' their latest boy band on Habbo Hotel

I haven't heard of that approach to Habbo Hotel in particular before. Like the article says - I guess it's all about the right demographic.

[David Cushman]

Just occurred to me I could make the link much more easily. Sorry