Comments for Warcraft and Twilight Fans Make Wikia Profitable

Warcraft and Twilight Fans Make Wikia Profitable

2009-09-09T04:00:00Z

According to this year's Comscore stats, consumer publishing platform Wikia has surpassed DIY social network competitor Ning for monthly unique visitors. Since July 2008 the company's traffic has more than doubled from 2.8 million to 6.5 million unique US visitors per month. Despite abandoning Wikia search in early March, it seems Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has built another great company. As of this evening, Wikia's CEO Gil Penchina is announcing the company's profitability due to its custom sponsorships program.

]]> Says Penchina, "I'm sick and tired of hearing about these dead pooled companies. In this type of economy we're excited to announce our growth and profitability. I think we're about to see a bunch of success stories. Silicon Valley is finally getting its mojo back."

Best known for its "enthusiast" wikis, Wikia hosts more than 50,000 fan sites including the Star Wars Wookieepedia, Harry Potter Wiki, Twilight Saga Wiki and World of Warcraft WoWWiki. In addition to some of the larger fan sites, Penchina also points to the Cannon Hacker Development Wiki, Recipes Wiki and Pet Diabetes Wiki as great examples of Wikia contributors.

While Wikia hosts nearly 3 million pages of content with a number of niche community sites, it's the fan pages that drive the majority of advertising and marketing revenue. Wikia's small team of less than 10 sales staff create packages that consist of everything from branded banner ads to embedded shows and contests. In addition to sponsors like World of Warcraft, a number of television studios are also in partnership talks.

Says Penchina, "In many cases, these sites are like small franchises and the editors are really dedicated. The input we've had from editors regarding advertising are suggestions I generally agree with." In the World of Warcraft Wiki the community has asked that no advertisements be permitted that might negatively affect game play. For this reason, Penchina's team does not allow advertisements for WoW gold.

By providing an environment where die hard fans and premium brands can coexist, Wikia is doing a great job maintaining its authenticity while also turning a profit. While the service has struggled to establish itself as a separate brand from its Wikipedia origins, it appears that the fan communities have done everything they can to make it a success from the ground up.

Comment from Dubai Iphones on 2011-04-19

2011-04-19T11:59:00Z

Despite abandoning Wikia search in early March, it seems Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has built another great company. As of this evening, Wikia's CEO Gil Penchina is announcing the company's profitability due to its custom sponsorships program.

Comment from ugg brand boots on 2010-10-19

2010-10-20T02:44:59Z

owiki is great, and its no wonder its doing well cos the whole nation is playin that game, so they were always going to be over taking many of the 'big' companies out the

Comment from Rogue Leveling on 2010-09-01

2010-09-01T13:51:29Z

wowiki is great, and its no wonder its doing well cos the whole nation is playin that game, so they were always going to be over taking many of the 'big' companies out there.

Comment from WoW Profession Guide Reviewer on 2010-08-24

2010-08-24T19:04:32Z

I'm a WoW player (obviously) and I use WoWwiki a lot. A lot of people complained mercilessly when the ads were put up, but I don't really find them to be a problem. They're moderated so that no gold purchasing websites accidentally pop up (since it's against Blizzard's TOS).

From a business point of view, two markets will always be profitable (outside of porn LOL). Basically, there's the evergreen markets like weightloss and dieting that people will always be willing to spend money on--and the obsession market, where things like WoW and Twilight falls. I predict a wonderful financial future for the WoWwiki--and unfortunately probably for the Twilight wiki too. Hell hath no wrath like fangirls fighting over their favorite pairing.

Comment from rogue leveling guide on 2010-07-28

2010-07-28T08:42:47Z

I wonder if the trend will be the same next year. Especially Cataclysm will be an indicator whether Blizzard can increase the number of players, hold it constant or loose players over time.

Comment from Rogue leveling Guide on 2010-01-18

2010-01-19T00:05:31Z

World of Warcraft WoWWiki has been a great resource for fans and I'm delighted to hear Wikia is on the rise. Thanks.

Comment from Marshalle on 2009-10-05

2009-10-06T06:31:33Z

Many players like Wang Kang Yi, pays real cash for virtual good, to quicken their progress in online games. The game Gyromancer is rumored to become the most addictive game of all time, which is hard to believe in the era of World of Warcraft. PopCap Games and Square Enix are releasing the game, and it's slated for release in 2010. The game is essentially Bejeweled with a fantasy/MMORPG and a few additions. (You know, elves and warlocks and talking trees, that kind of thing.) Essentially, teams of players meet online and solve puzzles akin to Bejeweled in order to complete aspects of game play. (Essentially – fill in this crossword puzzle and this bad guy blows up!) Still, Bejeweled is one of the most played games of all time. This means that a lot of people will line up payday loans to buy Gyromancer and keep it up online.

Comment from James on 2009-10-05

2009-10-05T21:39:03Z

WoWWiki users didn't say no to ads that would negatively affect gameplay (not sure how ads on a wiki could do that any way). WoWWiki needs to maintain a good relationship with Blizzard (maker of World of Warcraft) who is against WoW gold ads, so WoWWiki follows suit. Just a clarification.

- James

Comment from thekohser on 2009-09-09

2009-09-09T20:18:20Z

So, where is the actual hard data from Gil Penchina? All I know is that if they are posting (let's say) $100,000 in quarterly profit... that means it's going to take 35 years for the initial venture investors' $14,000,000 to be recuperated.

I think this is just a whiter shade of smoke, and a more polished array of mirrors.

Comment from disque dur externe on 2009-09-08

2009-09-09T06:50:08Z

Oh that was an awesome news Dana Oshiro.. I really dont know about this so thanks for providing this nice article overhere. Actually i am a big fan of Warcraft so its really a very nice new for me, thanks again Dana....

Comment from 机票网 on 2009-09-08

2009-09-09T06:08:42Z

The power of fans!