Duncan’s posterous

From: "Chris Yee Loy" <chris@launchgroup.com.au>

Date: 22 August 2008 12:10:57 PM

To: <Duncan@nichenet.com.au>

Subject: Media Release: Oz Teens Choose their Favourite Online Playground - Habbo 

MEDIA RELEASE

It’s a Virtual Life: Australian Teens Choose Habbo & Their Favourite Brands

Habbo is Australia’s favourite teen website

 

20^th August, 2008 – Wondering what and where your kids are spending their time online? Where else but of course the world’s largest virtual world for teens – Habbo.

 

Habbo, www.habbo.com.au, is the preferred online playground for Australian teenagers, who spend over twice as much time on Habbo than any other teen websites. Habbo users spend on average 1.04.25([4]) hours per user session in comparison to Myspace with 27:32 minutes per user session, Bebo with 26:37 minutes per user session, Facebook with 21:14 minutes per user session, You Tube with 20:02 minutes per user session, Dolly.ninemsn.com.au with 7:27 minutes per user session and Mtv.com.au with 6:28 minutes per user session.

 

Since its Australian launch in November 2004, 3.3([5]) million registered Habbo characters have been created. Habbo Australia enjoys 235,748([6]) unique visitors and receives22,827,377([7]) million page impressions per month. .

 

Jeff Brookes, Regional Director Asia Pacific, Sulake, explains “The popularity of virtual worlds and social networking websites for Australian teenagers is growing at a rapid pace and we are pleased that Habbo is viewed by Australian teens as the most popular online playground.

 

“What Habbo offers users is a unique environment that is specifically tailored to teenagers. The iconic pixel graphics and speech bubble script gives Habbo its unique style and it is a professionally moderated environment, so teenagers can socialise in a friendly and safe atmosphere. Users join by creating a fully-customized online avatar called a Habbo. Habbos can explore public hang outs, play a variety of games, connect with friends, decorate their own rooms, and have fun through creativity and self expression.

 

“Switched on Australian advertisers have already recognised that Habbo provides a strong branding environment, which is perfectly suited for driving interaction with the notoriously elusive teen market. We have some exciting campaigns and partnership announcements rolling out within the next 12 months, so those wanting to target teens, stay tuned. Keen to share insights, this brand savvy demographic are very receptive to polling which we do on a regular basis to understand their social and consumer habits and to ensure we maintain the highest quality user experience. We will be releasing these unique insights on a regular basis”, said Mr Brookes.

 

Habbo annually polls users worldwide to discover the top teen brands and the values and attitudes of teens. Australian teens choose the following brands as their favourites in the 2008 Global Habbo Youth Survey[8]:

• Favourite Beverage: Coca Cola – 38%
• Favourite Clothing : Billabong- 14%
• Favourite Fast Food Restaurant: McDonalds – 31%
• Favourite Shoes: Converse – 14%
• Favourite Mobile Phone: Nokia – 37%
• Favourite TV Channel: Network Ten – 40%
• Favourite TV Program: The Simpsons – 16%
• Favourite Web Page (other than Habbo): You Tube – 48%, MySpace – 46%
• Favourite Band/Musician: Fall out boy- 9%
• Favourite Magazine: Girlfriend – 23%
• Favourite Online Game (other than Habbo)- Runescape – 18%

 

Founded in Finland in 1999, when two young men, Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä, made an online application called Mobiles Disco for their friends' band. Mobiles Disco was purely a free time project, but, once launched, this multi-user online community was a huge success. After noticing the thrill of such a concept, Aapo and Sampo decided to try their wings and develop their idea of a new kind of way to meet friends online a bit further. Today Habbo is one of the world’s largest virtual game sites with 103 million registered Habbos across 31 communities and countries.

-      Ends-

For more information please contact:

Emily Venardos 
Launch Group
T: 02 9270 0200/ 0413 743 737

E: emily@launchgroup.com.au 

 

 

About Habbo

Habbo is a richly colourful, multi-dimensional virtual community and game environment for teens. Users join by creating a fully customized online character called a Habbo. From there, they can explore many public hang-outs, play a variety of games, connect with friends, decorate their own rooms, and have fun through creativity and self expression. Currently there are Habbo communities in 32 countries on six continents. To date, 100 million Habbo characters have been created and 9.5 million unique users worldwide visit Habbo each month (source: Google Analytics).

www.habbo.com.au

 

About Sulake:

Sulake is an interactive entertainment company focused on online communities, casual multiplayer games and social media. Sulake’s main product is Habbo, a new type of youth brand, which is based on one of the world’s fastest growing online communities for teenagers. Sulake has headquarters in Finland and local offices in 18 countries. Currently the company has close to 300 employees worldwide.

www.sulake.com

 

 

launch management group

Chris Yee Loy
e:  chris@launchgroup.com.au
p:  + 61 2 9270 0290     
m: + 61 432 963 502
a: 36 Young Street (cnr Bridge St) Sydney NSW 2000
p: PO Box R1812, Royal Exchange NSW 1225 
w: www.launchgroup.com.au

________________________

 

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[4] Hitwise June 2008

[5]  Sulake Statistics June 2008

[6] Nielsen//Netratings June 2008

[7] Sulake Statistics June 2008

[8] Global Habbo Youth Survey, April 2008