Welcome to Gaia! ::

Good news everyone! Though I'm sure some of you already know this, but I still wish to say it, Lanzer isn't the reason for the rise in money grabbing tactics that currently grips Gaia. Lanzer, though does have a say in what goes on, does not control anything to do with the money that comes in. This whole ordeal has been brought about by Gaia's CEO, Craig Sherman.

For some reason, I actually let out a little sigh of relief when I heard about this. Lanzer, L0cke, and Vo started this place off as a small thing, their baby as it were. The thought of them turning to money over users disgusted me. However, knowing that they don't have much control on the whole sponsor thing brings me a bit of joy inside. So, yes, don't curse Gaia, don't curse Lanzer, go out and curse dear Mr. Sherman.

And just to give you an idea about why he's the one to blame.... He became CEO in May 2006. Wouldn't you say that's when things started to go downhill?

EDIT: Ah, he just keeps getting worse.... I found an interview with him, and... Just read...

YP: How does Gaia integrate marketing partners or advertisers? What would you say to brands interested in getting into this space?

CS: A major plank in Gaia's business model is sponsorships. Note though that sponsorships will always be secondary to our core mission of building and maintaining an engaging hang-out for teens. That means you won't see billboards and ads flogging products plastered all over Gaia. Instead, we will work with partners to create experiences that are fun and meaningful to our users as well as beneficial to sponsors. Gaians form a huge and savvy community of teenagers that will respond well to like-minded brands who 'get it.' With input from Gaians, we started by creating a white-list of brands that are authentic to the members of the site and therefore are the companies we want to work with.

In this spirit, Gaia recently conducted a promotion with New Line Cinema to promote its movie "The Last Mimzy." Gaians could conduct a short quest that involved previewing the film's trailer and retrieving a virtual Mimzy plushie to accompany their avatars. It was a relatively modest promotion, but it was extraordinarily well-received by the community. Not only were the number of users who participated huge, but they were truly engaged. For example, a number of Forums sprang up to discuss themes addressed in the movie.

So to sum up from Gaia's perspective: brands interested in getting into the space need to understand the community they are entering, and create an experience that is authentic to that community.

YP: How much of your revenue comes from teens or their parents paying for virtual goods? What are your biggest sellers?

CS: Gaia's revenue is multi-faceted. In terms of virtual goods, Gaia sells two or three monthly collectibles per month for $2.50 each. Gaians often keep the objects and sell them later in Gaia's auction marketplace for Gaia Gold, the non-convertible currency of the site. As the collectibles get older, they become scarcer and more valuable. The second primary category of revenue comes through sponsorships, an example being the "Last Mimzy" promotion mentioned above. Finally, Gaia also earns revenue through selling physical merchandise. We've taken some of the most popular virtual items from the stores in Gaia and created real-world versions, which are sold through the website. The "OMG" cap has been really popular.

We can’t provide a precise breakdown for the share of revenue provided by virtual goods, but it’s a key source; hot sales items include plushies, clothes, pets, wings, etc.

As long as Gaia doesn't go Neopets on us I'm not too fussed.
We need/want gaia and gaia needs money.
(wow first post in some time I should lurk less surprised )

Hruum.
I just try to ignore the advertisements and quests.
That does kind of relieve me though...

Eh. Maybe so biggrin

It's the whole deal about "white listed" brands that bugged me. He says he wasn't going to over dose Gaia on sponsorships and they were going to be sponsorship that users like. MTV was definitely not something Users liked, and it seems it got put up in a lot more places than it should of been. It's no longer optional for users to view MTV advertisements, unless they avoid shopping.

Well, to be perfectly blunt, the GCD isn't exactly the whole Gaian userbase. My guess would be that the CB and GD have the majority of users between them. Looking at the whole thing objectively, I have a feeling that the vast majority of users DO like MTV. Just because some people look down on them as noobs or whatever doesn't make them not exist (not saying I don't wish they didn't exist... but anyway).

I'm sure you've already heard every possible defense of the MTV sponsorship, so I'm not going to reiterate them. But I will say that you not wanting to believe something doesn't make it a lie. And while it may seem like Gaia is catering to the little brainless mainstreamers, you have to look at the things they do for the rest of us, too. Like the recent item updates, which have featured historical clothing from a couple of different cultures. Very non-noob, if you ask me. (I mean the two before the bath/rain stuff, obviously)

Also, the MTV shop is still optional. If you don't want to go into it, then don't. It's not like it took the place of Ian's shop, where it's the shop that loads automatically. Yeah, it's in the sidebar, but unless you're so preoccupied with hatred for MTV that you can't help glaring at it continuously, you barely notice it at all.

"As long as Gaia doesn't go Neopets on us I'm not too fussed."
Oh my god if they did that I would bust out laughing. xD

Well at least we have found the source to point the blame on.

But then again, the sponsorships have not been bad, except MTV...

It will help the site so that each and everyone of us do not have to pay to be here now.