Yon's weekly pulse on the next Internet
Yon's weekly pulse on the next Internet
Roblox’s annual investor day lays foundations for the platform’s expansion into an advertising economy and a shopping economy in 2024-2025; OpenAI's board puts in question the direction of the company
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Roblox’s annual investor day lays foundations for the platform’s expansion into an advertising economy and a shopping economy in 2024-2025.
With many people including the media this year questioning the emergence of the metaverse or the evolution of the Internet from 2D to 3D, the performance and growth of Roblox is a signal of things to come. The platform rises above the noise and continues to show consistent growth.
After sharing my key takeaways following Roblox third quarter earnings, I’m sharing highlights from Roblox’s annual investor day.
Gen-Z
Gen-Z (ages 13-25+) now represents ~50% of Roblox’s DAU (34 million DAUs) with 2.5 hours of engagement per day -> this data points supports the continued growth of the platform with aged up demo and further cements Roblox’s leadership of the emerging 3D social platforms category. Worth noting also that Gen-Z are 40% of global consumers. Big things to come…
Gen-Z is the #1 top spending age group on Roblox
17 experiences are visited by Gen-Z users per month
11 min avg time spend by a Gen-Z DAU inside branded experiences
Discovery Distribution
38% in top 1,000 engaging experiences were created in the last 12 months
+23% average playtime generated from homepage
Developer Payout Distribution
Top 10 studio earn $27m avg per year
Top 100 earn $970k avg per year
Top 1000 earn $65k avg per year
Distributed Platform Success
Blade Ball crossed 1B plays in 4 months. Fastest in platform history
93 experiences crossed 1B plays
9 experiences that crossed 1B plays were created in the last 2 years
Brand Experiences & Activations
Since 2019, 400+ brands activated on Roblox through different modalities. Great to see both NARS and e.l.f. receiving a shoutout in Roblox’s keynote!
2023 YTD:
1.8B visits to branded experiences
185m+ hours spent in branded experiences
$30m+ in virtual items spending and ad product sales
Roblox’s Strategy with Brands
Improve portals and sponsored experiences
34% of eligible brand activations purchasing portals YTD
Select advertisers include: Walmart, Paramount, iHeart Radio, Nascar, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Spotify
90%+ net new users driven to experiences created by brands
Sponsored experiences: ~2x in conversions from premium positioning test
Video ads
Rolling in H1 2024: video ads launch and market education
H2 2024: 3rd party demand partners, 3rd party verification, 1st party brand lift
Real-World Commerce
Here it comes. Testing in H2 2024 and rolling in 2025. Boosting conversions and allowing brands to drive both virtual and real world results. Unclear how this will look like but this is a major expansion.
Other things I read this week…
OpenAI’s Board Pushes Out Sam Altman, Its High-Profile C.E.O. (New York Times) + good commentary on this by
Pushing Buttons: Why Fortnite is suddenly the most popular game in the world once more (The Guardian)
Dacoco’s Alien Worlds teams up with sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson on AI Web3 metaverse (VentureBeat)
Microsoft Teams adds AI backgrounds as it moves to the metaverse (PC World)
Inside Marques Brownlee’s tech review studio: The YouTube star on gadgets, growth, and staying chill (Fast Company)
How Brands Can Successfully Engage Gen-Z In The Metaverse (Forbes)
Podcasts
This week on Into The Metaverse:
EP.77: We talk about Open AI’s release of GPTs and the eventual marketplace that will house them, the new AI Pin from Humane and if it could potentially replace our smartphones, and the launch of the e.l.f. UP! Experience on Roblox.
EP.78: Yon and Chris Heatherly discuss the backlash towards Web3 and NFTs in recent years; why switching costs matter so much in the modern economics of gaming; IP management in a digital-first world, and more.