Following significant success, Trafficonomy is preparing for even more

These achievements come at the end of a very successful year, in which it became the online game supplier to major South African web portals like IOL, Ananzi, Media24 and Aardvark. On the international front, its Skillpod brand was rolled out in the form of online gaming networks in the US, UK, India and New Zealand, drawing thousands of enthusiasts to its gaming sites and portals.A visibly please Mark van Diggelen, CEO of Trafficonomy, was eager to mention some of the more recent milestones: “Trafficonomy’s own game site has achieved 50,000 registered users in the past 3 months, with around 200,000 unique users per month across all our game sites. In addition, 80% of these players return to play on a daily basis,” he says. These are the kind of numbers that are making more and more advertisers sit up and take notice, and Trafficonomy is certainly seeing the results. “We average 2 million banners served every month, and this is increasing at a rate of 20% - to 25% per month,” continues van Diggelen.Trafficonomy has now expanded its gaming portals into Canada and India as well, with further new initiatives going live in the USA, Ireland, Europe and Canada within the next few weeks. These are aimed at capitalising on both the growing market and the interest in the existing Trafficonomy properties.The significance of these achievements and expansions can be brought into perspective when one considers that advertising in and around online gaming is considered to be one of the most important growth areas of the global online advertising industry. The influential Yankee Group estimates that spending on in-game ads will reach $92 million by 2008. International marketing companies are now treating this advertising avenue as an important part of any comprehensive marketing campaign, particularly due to the demographic characteristics of the online gaming enthusiasts. Not only is this where the elusive 18 – 34 male market can be accessed, but the international gaming community is also predominantly female. This feature was first highlighted by Nielsen Entertainment’s annual Active Gamer Benchmark study in 2006, which found that 64% of gamers internationally are female. This is ascribed to the nature of the games – puzzle and word games are immensely popular with this gaming segment.“Perhaps one of the most surprising – and certainly one of the most welcome – aspects of our consumer base is that it does not consist mainly of male teenagers, as many people would expect. The people who play on our sites range between the ages of 25 and 55, and 60% of our consumers are female gamers,” van Diggelen points out. Trafficonomy has also recently launched a number of new brands, including GameDiva.co.za, which has a strong focus on female gamers in South Africa. There is also Skilldog.com, aimed at international consumers and somewhat slanted towards the male demographic, and PepSnap.com in the Canadian market.As a result of their consumer base demographics, and all of these new initiatives, Trafficonomy expects its online advertising numbers to continue growing. “All advertisers are trying to reach the communities that we serve,” notes van Diggelen, “so we are very confident that this coming year will see even more advertising growth, as our communities keep growing, and as we roll out more portals to serve existing and new consumer areas.”Contact Details:Company: Trafficonomy (Pty) LtdDomain: www.trafficonomy.com Contact Person: Mark van DiggelenEmail: info@trafficonomy.comTel: (012) 844 0980