Today's Ypulse interview is with Seth Lieberman, CEO of Pangea Media, the quizmasters we have been working with on our recent Checking the Pulse feature.
Pangea is a sponsor of the Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup where Seth will be in attendance and available for discussing more details about Pangea. This interview is a part of their sponsorship.
Ypulse: Tell us a bit about what Pangea and what it is you offer….
Seth Lieberman: Pangea Media is the largest quiz and quiz technology company on the web. We operate a proprietary network of quiz-focused properties that include professionally generated content, user generated quiz content (UGC) and social media applications. Our casual entertainment focus creates a simple but engaging framework with users across all demographics and verticals and provides a powerful methodology for integrating advertising. One of Pangea’s most popular websites is Quibblo, a quiz community focused on teens and tweens. On Quibblo, users create and take quizzes to express their opinions around a variety of topics, and share that content with friends on site and through social media channels.
YP: Quizzes?! Why quizzes?
SL: Yes, Quizzes! People like quizzes, polls, personality tests and surveys. They like to see their individual results and how these results relate to the world around them. They like to share their results with others and see how others respond to quizzes that they create. Quizzes are part self-discovery, part fun and highly engaging.
By integrating quizzes and marketing messages, Pangea offers a more compelling value proposition for advertisers: a targeted, engaged market and ads that are integrated into the fabric of the site. Teens and advertisers love how they can engage with each other and have conversations about products and brands on Quibblo. Quizzes set up the perfect structure for branding, direct response and contextual display.
YP: Tell me more about how you integrate quizzes and advertising…
SL: Brand name advertisers take advantage of our "Adverquiz," a custom quiz featuring a product or brand. For example, when the "Hotel for Dogs" movie came out, DreamWorks sponsored an Adverquiz where users took a custom personality quiz to learn which “character” from the movie they most resembled. Likewise, MGM recently ran an Adverquiz campaign as part of the DVD launch of the movie "Legally Blondes." Both campaigns had viral functionality built in to maximize the distribution of results and sharing among users.
YP: Which topics inspire the most enthusiastic response from young quiz takers? Could you describe a recent Pangea survey or poll that received a really passionate response?
SL: One of the most exciting things about Quibblo is the enormous range of topics that teens touch on a daily basis. From serious issues such as teen pregnancy and global warming; to personal issues such as relationships; to discussions about celebrities and music; teens are always talking on Quibblo. We recently ran a quiz on teens' relationships with their parents and received more than 3,000 responses in just a few days. Meanwhile, with prom season in full swing there is much discussion around dates—particularly same sex couples. Here are some of the recent topics (and sentiments) on Quibblo:
- Teens (34 percent) confess to sneaking out of the house
- MySpace is preferred to Facebook (76 percent versus 24 percent).
- Shopping at the mall is preferred (88 percent) over eBay (12 percent)
- The majority (68 percent) say they and their families are "not as green as we could be"
YP: What else?
SL: Our quiz space is booming: We have had more than 100 million quizzes completed on the Pangea Network and 300,000+ quizzes created by our users. Our top quizzes have attracted more than 350,000 responses. Advertisers are paying attention with brands such as Kohl's, Netflix, and Clearasil advertising on the Pangea Media sites.
More on Pangea
Pangea Media is one of the largest casual entertainment networks on the Internet with over 13 million unique visitors per month and more than 50 Web properties. Through their sites, they engage millions of users each day across a wide variety of demographic and psychographic audiences. Pangea is profitable, growing and has recently completed several acquisitions. Founded in 2006, Pangea Media is headquartered outside of Boston, MA.